A DECISION over whether the next Scottish Parliament will be in place for three or five years will be taken at Holyrood.
The Scotland Office has said that powers to set the date of the next Holyrood election after 2016 will be transferred north under a fast-tracked legal measure known as a Section 30 order. It means that voters will know how long they will be electing MSPs for when they go to the polls next May.
The issue is currently unclear as Holyrood usually sits for a four-year term, meaning another election would have been due to take place in 2020. However, this would have meant a clash with the next General Election, which is not allowed. It leaves open the prospect of a Holyrood election being held in 2019 or 2021.
A number MSPs believe the next parliament should only sit for three years, to avoid a repeat of the problem in 2025 and return Holyrood to a four year cycle.
Mr Mundell said it was a matter of agreement between the UK and Scottish governments that voters should know the length of term they will be electing MSPs in next year's election.
"This is a sensible move which ensures clarity for voters in Scotland by giving the Scottish Parliament the power to set its own parliamentary terms," he said. "It will ensure Holyrood elections take place separately from others in future."
Wider controls over Scottish elections will be included in the Scotland Bill, designed to implement the post-referendum Smith Commission recommendations on further devolution.
The Scottish Parliament's Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick, who The Herald revealed last month had written to the UK Government to press the issue, welcomed the announcement, pointing out that party leaders at Holyrood backed the move.
She said: "I wrote to the Secretary of State for Scotland, with the support of all party leaders, about the May 2020 election date clash with Scottish and UK parliaments. I am pleased he has agreed to the request for a section 30 order.
"When the people of Scotland vote in 2016, they need to know how long the term of office will be for those they elect."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government to agree the terms of an Order that will ensure that the Scottish Parliament can determine the date of its own election following the one in 2016, to avoid a clash with the UK general election in 2020."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article