The Sunday Whip

Well, what a way to end 2008. A consensual Wednesday, followed by a Thursday which saw, of all things, a free vote. Needless to say, that made putting this Whip together a bit more of a challenge. Still, one had to come sooner or later.

Anyway. Wednesday has been its usual consensual self. In fact, you have to go back a month, to the day before the Glenrothes By-Election to find a Wednesday when a vote was taken. It'll be interesting to see if that pattern continues in 2009, but for now, let me just say that there was nothing of controversy. The Business Motion was nodded through, along with a change to the programme for the following day. MSPs noted the Finance Committee's report on the Draft Budget for next year, and members unanimously agreed that the Local Government & Communities Committee should take the lead in looking at the Scottish Government National Planning Framework for Scotland 2 (Proposed Framework).

Thursday had a little more meat to it, but 12 MSPs missed it: Ted Brocklebank (Con, Mid Scotland & Fife), Labour's Shadow Cabinet Secretary Without Portfolio Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston), Patricia Ferguson (Lab, Glasgow Maryhill), Shadow Rural Development Minister Karen Gillon (Clydesdale), Hugh Henry (Lab, Paisley South), Shadow Health Secretary Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley), Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead (Moray), Margo MacDonald (Ind, Lothians), Tricia Marwick (SNP, Central Fife), LibDem Environment Spokesman Liam McArthur (Orkney), Public Health Minister Shona Robison (Dundee East) and Elaine Smith (Lab, Coatbridge & Chryston).

First came the Government motion on Drink Driving, which faced a Labour amendment which itself had an amendment proposed by the Tories. The Tory amendment succeeded by 99 (SNP/Labour/Tory) votes to 15 (LibDem) with two Green abstentions, but the amended Labour amendment fell, by 61 (SNP/LibDem/Green) to 55 (Labour/Tories). The motion, which was left unscathed, then passed by 66 votes - the SNP, LibDems and Greens along with five Labour MSPs: George Foulkes (Lothians), Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland), Shadow Sport Minister Frank McAveety (Glasgow Shettleston), Jack McConnell (Motherwell & Wishaw) and Shadow Children's Minister Karen Whitefield (Airdrie & Shotts) - to one - the Tories' Health Spokesperson Mary Scanlon (Highlands & Islands), with the remaining 49 Labour and Tory MSPs abstaining:

That the Parliament expresses concern that one in nine road deaths in Scotland is related to drink driving; calls on the UK Government to reduce the 80 mg limit, which was set over 40 years ago, to a 50 mg limit in line with much of Europe; wishes Scotland's police forces success with their campaign over the festive season, and sincerely hopes that no one has their Christmas and New Year destroyed by those who choose to ignore the anti-drink-driving message.

Then came the Government motion on Organ Donation, which faced an amendment from Labour's Shadow Public Health Secretary Richard Simpson. This amendment saw the free vote, and it fell by 64 votes to 48, with four abstentions. Although only the Greens achieve unanimity (which isn't difficult for them, to be honest), the splits in each of the major parties where far from even and there did appear to be a prevailing view. I'm going to break this down by giving each party a paragraph. I'll state what the prevailing view was, and who dissented from it. For the avoidance of doubt, I'll re-state who was absent. Therefore, if you don't see a name that you are looking for, they went with the majority view in their party. Also, for the record, this is how the motion would have read if the Labour amendment had passed:

That the Parliament accepts those recommendations of the reports of the UK Organ Donation Taskforce that are designed to remove existing barriers to donation, and that, in light of the growing shortage of organs for transplantation, Scotland should, within the existing legislative framework, take all possible steps to almost double its number of organ donors, as our contribution to the challenge of increasing organ donation rates across the United Kingdom from the present level of 13 donors per million population to 24 donors per million population by 2013.

Of the 44 SNP MSPs present, 40 voted against the Richard Simpson amendment. Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland), Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop (Lothian) and Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) voted in favour; Kennth Gibson (Cunninghame North) abstained. Richard Lohhead, Tricia Marwick and Shona Robison were not in the chamber.

Of the 40 Labour MSPs present, 29 voted in favour of the amendment. Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North & Leith), Cathie Craigie (Cumbernauld & Kilsyth), Shadow Finance Secretary Andy Kerr (East Kilbride), Shadow Enterprise Minister Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central), Jack McConnell, Parliamentary Business Manager Michael McMahon (Hamilton North & Bellshill), Peter Peacock (Highlands & Islands), Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) and Karen Whitefield voted against it; Marlyn Glen and Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) abstained. Margaret Curran, Patricia Ferguson, Karen Gillon, Hugh Henry, Cathy Jamieson and Elaine Smith were absent.

Of the 15 Conservative MSPs in the chamber, 12 voted against the amendment. Justice Spokesman Bill Aitken (Glasgow) and Nanette Milne (North East Scotland). Gavin Brown (Lothian) abstained. Ted Brocklebank was absent.

Of the 15 Liberal Democrat MSPs present, 14 voted in favour of the amendment. Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) voted against it.

Both Greens voted against the motion, while Margo MacDonald was absent.

While the amendment fell, the motion was passed unanimously:

That the Parliament accepts the recommendations in the second report from the UK Organ Donation Taskforce and notes in particular that the move to a system of opt out should be reviewed again in five years' time in light of the progress with implementation of the recommendations in the taskforce's first report, which are designed to remove existing barriers to donation, and that, in light of the growing shortage of organs for transplantation, Scotland should, within the existing legislative framework, take all possible steps to almost double its number of organ donors, as our contribution to the challenge of increasing organ donation rates across the United Kingdom from the present level of 13 donors per million population to 24 donors per million population by 2013.

And that's it for this year. I'll be back in a couple of days with the Christmas Whip, but other than that, we'll all have to wait three long, whip-less weeks for our next fix.