Equal Opportunities?

Labour MSP Helen Eadie has ‘resigned from two Holyrood committees in protest at the Conservatives being given convenership of the equal opportunities committee’

She has been quoted as saying "I think it's like putting Attila the Hun in charge of care in the community, and therefore I will not support the motion going through."

This does strike me as slightly odd that she would resign from the ‘equal opportunities’ committee because she disagrees with the party political membership of one of those committees’ convener. Would she exclude the Conservatives from the ‘equal opportunity’ of being a committee convener? I`m not sure I follow the logic of her actions.

If a Conservative is not to be trusted with convening the Equal Opportunities committee then what musts she think of a Conservative convening the entire parliament? If she is to be at all consistent then surely when Alex Fergusson became Presiding Officer she should have resigned her seat in parliament.

Will Patterson has considered the same issue and has concluded there must be another reason for her outburst. I would imagine that some Conservatives (Margaret Mitchell as the convener in question) will be checking the MSPs code of conduct regarding Helen Eadie’s statement. The code says that “Members must treat other MSPs and the staff of other MSPs with courtesy and respect” and that failing to do so could lead to sanctions.

While no doubt she will be cautioned within the Labour group only time will tell if the Conservatives seek to make a formal complaint to the presiding officer and the Standards Committee.