A SCOTTISH Tory MSP has been cleared of claims she breached rules by hitting out at the SNP’s “high tax agenda” for punishing businesses without declaring she owns a hotel.
Rachael Hamilton, who represents Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, made the comments during First Minister’s Questions last year – sparking a complaint to an outside ethics watchdog.
But Holyrood’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee (SPPA) has now unanimously found she did not break the MSPs' code of conduct.
Ms Hamilton owns the four-star Buccleuch Arms Hotel in Melrose with her husband Billy.
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During FMQs in November, she said: “We hear today that the number of Scottish retailers going bust is on the rise according to research conducted by French Duncan and, among other cost pressures, a rise in business rates are being blamed.
“When will the First Minister realise that her Government’s high tax agenda is punishing our high streets and take urgent action to support Scotland’s retailers?”
The original letter of complaint, which was published in the Sunday Mail, insisted that by failing to register her outside interests, Ms Hamilton had “failed to comply” with the code of conduct.
The issue was referred to Bill Thomson, the Scottish Parliament’s Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life.
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Bill Kidd, convener of the SPPA Committee, said: “The committee is unanimous in the decision reached on the complaint.
“It agrees with the findings in fact and conclusion of the commissioner that Ms Hamilton did not breach the statutory or the code of conduct requirement to make an oral declaration of her interests in relation to the parliamentary question that she asked on 29 November 2018 at First Minister’s Questions.
“It is unsatisfactory that details about this complaint appeared in the media before the committee had received a copy of the commissioner’s report and undertaken its consideration.
“This is not the first time this has happened. The committee must be able to carry out its work without external comment.
“We intend, therefore, to reflect on whether any further improvements can be made to protect the confidentiality of the complaints process.”
Ms Hamilton was previously fined more than £50,000 for breaking the law on workplace pensions.
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