THE SNP is to replace the MPs who defected to Alex Salmond's Alba Party on the Westminster committees they sat on.
Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill will lose their places on the committees following their departure from the party in March.
Both MPs have said they do not intend to regularly travel to London now they are Alba MPs, and will only do so for crucial votes.
Hanvey, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, will be replaced by the SNP’s newest MP, Anum Qaisar-Javed, on the Health and Social Care committee, while former justice minister Kenny Macaskill will be leaving the Justice Committee.
MacAskill, MP for East Lothian, will have his place taken by the SNP’s Angela Crawley, the MP for Lanark and Hamilton East.
In a statement earlier this month, the Alba MPs confirmed they would be taking less frequent trips to Westminster following their party’s defeat in the Holyrood elections, but confirmed the party was not “abstentionist”.
Their statement said they would use the “platform” of Westminster “to utilise the resource it offers through the ability to question and obtain information. Both of those factors are critical for our party’s success.”
They also said: “Attendance in the Commons will be when it affords an opportunity to promote Scottish interests, not a routine sojourn to London. There’s plenty work to be doing in our constituencies and across Scotland, and that’ll be our focus. We’ll vote when appropriate on issues as they arise.”
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