MICHELLE Ballantyne states that she resigned from the Tory Party as a matter of conscience.
She, however, is a list MSP, sitting in parliament not as an individual who has been voted there by the electorate but as a nominee of the Tory Party. Her conscience seems not to extend to standing down as a representative of the party of which she is no longer a member.
If a constituency MSP resigns or dies, a by-election takes place to replace them. If a list MSP goes, their party nominates the next in line from their list to succeed them. Since Ballantyne does not have the individual franchise of the electorate and is no longer a member of the party which nominated her, why is she still there?
It strikes me that as a person without principle she is probably fairly representative of the Tories, albeit an unaffiliated one.
Les Hunter
Lanark
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