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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Ben Borland

Falkirk MP John McNally named Scotland's laziest MP despite £82k wage

It has now confirmed that the SNP are the laziest Scottish MP group at Westminster.

The Scottish Express looked at the voting record of all 59 Scottish MPs as well as the number of times they have contributed to debates in the House of Commons.

Some have busy work lives contributing to as many votes as possible and speaking upwards of 200 times since the start of this parliamentary term in the December of 2019.

This was when Boris Johnson won his bumper Conservative majority, the pandemic was just about to take over the headlines and the UK was in the final stages of negotiating Brexit.

Others are not so hard-working, however - with our league of shame coming just days after it was announced that MPs would get a £2,200 pay rise on April 1.

We have added together their votes and spoken contributions to give the MPs a score and found the Scottish Lib Dems soaring ahead with top scores and the SNP and Alba taking up lowest 20 places in the league of shame.

Falkirk MP John McNally only racked up a total of 269 votes and spoken contributions since December 2019, making him the laziest Scottish MP.

The 71-year-old former barber is asthmatic and did not attend Westminster during the pandemic because he was shielding, although MPs were given the option of voting and taking part in debates virtually.

Something off the top? Falkirk MP John McNally was a barber before being elected to Westminster (Daily Record)

Mhairi Black, the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, was in second place. She spoke just eight times but she voted more often than Mr McNally, giving her a score of 289.

The 27-year-old has often spoken of her disdain for Westminster since she was first elected in 2015, describing the UK Parliament as "outdated, arrogant and out-of-touch" - which possibly explains her reluctance to get involved, despite being the SNP's official spokesperson for Scotland.

Douglas Chapman, the MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, is in third place, with 297 contributions. He has spoken on 16 times, although this is possibly a blessing for the SNP after he used his former role the SNP's 'spokesperson on defence procurement, peace and nuclear disarmament' to accuse British spies of meddling in the independence debate.

Angus Brendan Macneil, the controversial and outspoken MP for the Western Isles, is the crowned star of poor voting numbers with the lowest of all the Scottish MPs at 239 and a measly 62 spoken word contributions giving him a grand total of 301.

Angela Crawley , the Lanark and Hamilton East MP hit 346 which is the same as Kenny MacAskill, the Alba Party MP for East Lothian and former Holyrood justice secretary, who defected from the SNP.

The SNP's hardest working MP was Alison Thewliss, the member for Glasgow Central, who took part in 321 votes and made 274 debate contributions giving her a total of 595.

Scotland's solitary Labour representative at Westminster, the Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray was in mid-table with 402 points thanks largely to his voting record as he has spoken only 30 times since 2019.

The country's hardest working MP is Alistair Carmichael, the popular Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, who earned 670 points thanks to his bumper number of spoken contributions (271).

Two Lib Dem colleagues were in second and third place at the top of the table, with North East Fife MP and former police officer Wendy Chamberlain scoring 620 points and Edinburgh West MP Christine Jardine scoring 597.

Ms Thewliss was in fourth place overall, followed by Margaret Ferrier who was expelled from the SNP following an alleged breach of the coronavirus restrictions.

She will stand trial in August accused of travelling from Glasgow to London in September 2020 knowing she had symptoms of coronavirus and wilfully exposing others to the risk of infection.

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP, who has resisted calls for her to stand down, scored 572 points.

West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP Andrew Bowie was the hardest working Tory with 544 points.

Douglas Ross, the party leader scored a relatively modest 418, although he is also a full-time Member of the Scottish Parliament and takes part in votes and debates at Holyrood.

Patricia Gibson , the MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, scored a respectable 563 points. In 2019, she furiously denied claims she had fallen asleep while listening to a speech from her Nationalist colleague Tommy Sheppard .

A photo of Ms Gibson with her head back and her mouth open was tweeted by Livingston MP Hannah Bardell , before the post was deleted.

Former Speaker John Bercow later agreed that she had not nodded off, saying: "I have never in my time in the chair seen the honourable lady fall asleep - she is a veritable 'Zebedee', constantly jumping up and down, and that is a compliment."

Danielle Boxall, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said voters should be able to get rid of their MPs if they feel they are not working hard enough.

She said: "Voters should have the right to recall their MP for any reason - not just when parliament gives permission.

“The current system still leaves other parliamentarians deciding whether they are adequately carrying out their duties.

“Parliament should implement a proper right to recall, which lets constituents have the final say.”

An SNP spokesperson said: "SNP MPs vote on issues that matter to people in Scotland and have, by far, the best record of voting in Scotland's interests."

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