COUNCILLORS in the local authority where Derek Mackay started his political career have unanimously agreed he should quit as an MSP.
No objections were raised to a motion put to the SNP-run Renfrewshire Council which deemed the former finance secretary “unfit” to serve as one of the area’s representatives at Holyrood.
Mackay stepped down from the Scottish Government after it emerged he had been messaging a 16-year-old boy.
A motion tabled by Labour group leader Eddie Devine read: "Renfrewshire Council believes that Derek Mackay should resign with immediate effect as MSP for Renfrewshire North and West Constituency.
"He has shown, by his behaviour with inappropriate texts to a 16 year old boy, that he is unfit to hold the office of MSP."
As no objection was made, the motion was agreed by the full council without a vote.
READ MORE: Who is Derek Mackay – the man who resigned as Finance Secretary?
Mackay stepped down as Scottish Finance Secretary just hours before he was due to unveil his Budget for 2020-21, after a newspaper reported he had sent hundreds of messages to a 16-year-old boy.
It comes more than two decades after he began his career in politics, being elected as a councillor in Renfrewshire in 1999.
It made him the youngest male councillor in Scotland, having been elected at just 21.
The SNP have suspended Mackay from the party and removed the party whip at Holyrood pending an investigation into his conduct.
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