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The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Voters must be able to sack MSPs despite cost, says Simpson
His remarks came after legal academics warned the draft law could deliver 'the worst of all worlds'. READ MORE Currently, MSPs can only be removed from office if sentenced to more than 12 months in prison. Mr Simpson said the system was 'absurd'. 'If you contrast that to what happens in other workplaces, if an employee repeatedly or seriously breaches their company's code of conduct, they could be sacked. 'If an employee just did not attend their place of work without good reason, they could be removed. 'And you would expect that — and if an employee received a relatively short custodial sentence for a criminal offence, that could lead to their dismissal, especially if they are in a senior position. 'And for me, that contrast is quite jarring.' Mr Simpson raised the case of former Dunfermline MSP Bill Walker. He was convicted of a course of abusive behaviour against a series of his former partners and was handed a 12-month prison sentence — one day short of the threshold that would have seen him automatically barred from Holyrood. He initially refused to resign, raising the prospect of parliamentary authorities paying out salary to a politician spending six months in HMP Low Moss. Mr Simpson's Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill would allow voters to trigger a recall petition if an MSP receives a jail sentence of six months or more, fails to attend Parliament for six months without good reason, or is sanctioned for misconduct. If at least 10% of constituents sign the petition, the MSP would lose their job and a vote would be held. For a recalled constituency MSP, this would trigger a by-election. However, for a list MSP, a vote would only be held if they wished to stand again — to decide whether they return. If not, the seat would go to the next person on the party list or remain vacant for independents until the next election. In evidence to the committee, three Glasgow Caledonian University law lecturers warned that this model risks undermining democratic choice by holding a 'significant democratic event' with no opportunity for voters to select a new candidate. They suggested instead automatically removing MSPs who breach the thresholds and holding a full by-election open to all parties and candidates. READ MORE Mr Simpson said he had wrestled with how best to deal with regional MSPs and admitted parity with constituency members was difficult to achieve under Scotland's hybrid electoral system. 'Those of us who are elected on regional lists — if we are being honest — nobody really knows who they are going to get when they put the cross on that regional list. They just end up with who they end up with. 'Nobody voted for me individually. But if I was to be subject to a recall vote, people would have heard of me, because I have probably done something — and then it is about the individual and their behaviour, or alleged behaviour. So it is not about the party. 'I do not think it is about the individual MSP, and so that individual should, in my view, have the chance to make their case.' He rejected calls to simplify the process by automatically removing MSPs or skipping the petition stage, saying that 10% of a politician's constituents voting against them was not enough to 'kick somebody out of a Parliament'. Mr Simpson also rebuffed suggestions that MSPs who switch parties should face automatic re-election. 'I know it is controversial. I do not think it is a crime to switch parties. I am personally not in favour of having a recall in that situation.' He accepted the legislation would carry administrative and financial burdens, particularly for regional polls, but said: 'It is the price of democracy.' The legislation was first mooted after SNP MSP Derek Mackay resigned as Finance Secretary when it emerged he had contacted a teenage boy over social media — without knowing his age — and then bombarded him with more than 270 messages. He called the boy 'cute', invited him to dinner, and asked for their conversations to remain secret. The behaviour was described as 'predatory' and a textbook example of 'grooming'. Mr Mackay apologised 'unreservedly' to the boy. He was suspended by the SNP and a party investigation was launched into his behaviour. He then disappeared from public life on the eve of the Scottish Budget in 2020 and did not return to work at Holyrood after the scandal — but continued to draw a full salary of £64,700 while sitting as an independent MSP for more than a year. He was also paid an automatic grant of £11,945 for 'loss of ministerial office' and a further £53,725 'resettlement grant' when he left Parliament at the 2021 election. Financial estimates for Mr Simpson's Bill reckon a regional recall petition could cost more than £1 million, with a potential subsequent regional poll costing a further £1m. Discussing the financial implications, Mr Simpson said he had sought to reduce costs by keeping the length of the regional recall petition to four weeks rather than six. He said: 'We do need a recall system in Scotland, and that will come at a cost.'
Wales Online
3 days ago
- Wales Online
Driver who killed eight-month-old baby in pram outside Welsh hospital has sentence reduced
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A driver who struck and killed an eight-month-old baby in her pram outside a Welsh hospital, has had her prison sentence reduced at the Court of Appeal, in what was described by judges, as a "truly tragic" case. Bridget Curtis mounted the kerb and collide with the pushchair of Mabli Cariad Hall, after she pressed down on the accelerator of her automatic BMW 520d car. She had stopped outside Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, on June 21 2023, just prior to the collision. Mabli, who had just said a final goodbye to her paternal grandmother Betty Hall, who was receiving end-of-life care at the hospital, tragically sustained fatal head injuries and died in hospital days later, reports PA. Curtis, who was 69 at the time of the offence and is now 71, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving last September and was jailed for four years at Swansea Crown Court in January. At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, her barrister said the sentence was "manifestly excessive" and should be reduced, stating that the case concerned a "lapse of concentration". Three senior judges ruled that Curtis's sentence was "manifestly excessive" and reduced it to one of three years, while reducing her disqualification from driving from eight years to seven and a half years. Mr Justice Butcher, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Judge Richard Marks KC, said: "We say at once that this is a truly tragic case. "We have read the very moving victim personal statements of Mabli's parents, expressing their grief at the death of their beloved baby. "No one could fail to sympathise with them for the appalling loss that they have sustained." Curtis, who attended the appeal via video link from HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire and sat in a wheelchair throughout, had no previous convictions at the time of the incident and had held a clean driving licence for more than 50 years. Her sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court heard that on the day of the collision, she had driven her daughter to an outpatient appointment at the hospital. When her daughter struggled to find her handbag in the rear of the car, Curtis unlocked the door and turned around to assist her. But as she did so, she pressed down on the accelerator of her car, which had been left running and was not in park mode. The car reached speeds of more than 29mph and travelled 28 metres in around four seconds, mounting the kerb of a grass seating area and causing Mabli to be thrown out of her pushchair. The car only stopped when it collided with a tree, having also caused injuries to Mabli's father Rob Hall. Mabli, the youngest of six siblings, received treatment at the Withybush Hospital, as well as hospitals in Cardiff and Bristol, dying in the arms of her parents on June 25. Her mother, Gwen Hall, told the sentencing hearing that her daughter was "so bright, so beautiful, so full of love and life". She said: "She hadn't crawled yet. She had said 'Mama' for the first time only the day before. We had so much planned with her. "It was nowhere near the time for her to be taken away from us. She was my baby. My eight-month-old baby." John Dye, for Curtis, told Swansea Crown Court that she was a mother-of-four and grandmother of 10, who was "absolutely devastated" by the incident. Appearing again for Curtis at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Mr Dye said: "This is a tragic case, but the issue really was one of pedal confusion." He continued: "Objectively, this is clearly dangerous driving, but in terms of culpability, these four seconds of driving were more akin to, maybe not a momentary lapse, but a lapse of concentration." Craig Jones, for the Crown Prosecution Service, made no oral submissions to the court. Reducing the sentence, Mr Justice Butcher said: "True it is that the appellant did not intend to cause any harm, and true also that the mistake was of a short duration, but the driving was well over the threshold of dangerousness." He continued that Curtis would have known that she had stopped "in a busy area outside a hospital with potentially very vulnerable pedestrians around", and that four or five seconds "is far from being a negligible duration". He added that the court accepted that Curtis's remorse was "genuine", stating: "It was inattention and confusion as to which pedal she was pressing that caused this tragedy." You can sign up for all the latest court stories here Find crime figures for your area
North Wales Live
3 days ago
- North Wales Live
Driver who killed eight-month-old baby in pram outside Welsh hospital has sentence reduced
A driver who struck and killed an eight-month-old baby in her pram outside a Welsh hospital, has had her prison sentence reduced at the Court of Appeal, in what was described by judges, as a "truly tragic" case. Bridget Curtis mounted the kerb and collide with the pushchair of Mabli Cariad Hall, after she pressed down on the accelerator of her automatic BMW 520d car. She had stopped outside Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, on June 21 2023, just prior to the collision. Mabli, who had just said a final goodbye to her paternal grandmother Betty Hall, who was receiving end-of-life care at the hospital, tragically sustained fatal head injuries and died in hospital days later, reports PA. Curtis, who was 69 at the time of the offence and is now 71, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving last September and was jailed for four years at Swansea Crown Court in January. At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, her barrister said the sentence was "manifestly excessive" and should be reduced, stating that the case concerned a "lapse of concentration". Three senior judges ruled that Curtis's sentence was "manifestly excessive" and reduced it to one of three years, while reducing her disqualification from driving from eight years to seven and a half years. Mr Justice Butcher, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Judge Richard Marks KC, said: "We say at once that this is a truly tragic case. "We have read the very moving victim personal statements of Mabli's parents, expressing their grief at the death of their beloved baby. "No one could fail to sympathise with them for the appalling loss that they have sustained." Curtis, who attended the appeal via video link from HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire and sat in a wheelchair throughout, had no previous convictions at the time of the incident and had held a clean driving licence for more than 50 years. Her sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court heard that on the day of the collision, she had driven her daughter to an outpatient appointment at the hospital. When her daughter struggled to find her handbag in the rear of the car, Curtis unlocked the door and turned around to assist her. But as she did so, she pressed down on the accelerator of her car, which had been left running and was not in park mode. The car reached speeds of more than 29mph and travelled 28 metres in around four seconds, mounting the kerb of a grass seating area and causing Mabli to be thrown out of her pushchair. The car only stopped when it collided with a tree, having also caused injuries to Mabli's father Rob Hall. Mabli, the youngest of six siblings, received treatment at the Withybush Hospital, as well as hospitals in Cardiff and Bristol, dying in the arms of her parents on June 25. Her mother, Gwen Hall, told the sentencing hearing that her daughter was "so bright, so beautiful, so full of love and life". She said: "She hadn't crawled yet. She had said 'Mama' for the first time only the day before. We had so much planned with her. "It was nowhere near the time for her to be taken away from us. She was my baby. My eight-month-old baby." John Dye, for Curtis, told Swansea Crown Court that she was a mother-of-four and grandmother of 10, who was "absolutely devastated" by the incident. Appearing again for Curtis at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Mr Dye said: "This is a tragic case, but the issue really was one of pedal confusion." He continued: "Objectively, this is clearly dangerous driving, but in terms of culpability, these four seconds of driving were more akin to, maybe not a momentary lapse, but a lapse of concentration." Craig Jones, for the Crown Prosecution Service, made no oral submissions to the court. Reducing the sentence, Mr Justice Butcher said: "True it is that the appellant did not intend to cause any harm, and true also that the mistake was of a short duration, but the driving was well over the threshold of dangerousness." He continued that Curtis would have known that she had stopped "in a busy area outside a hospital with potentially very vulnerable pedestrians around", and that four or five seconds "is far from being a negligible duration". He added that the court accepted that Curtis's remorse was "genuine", stating: "It was inattention and confusion as to which pedal she was pressing that caused this tragedy."
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Driver who killed baby in pram during 'lapse of concentration' has sentence cut
Bridget Curtis pressed down on the accelerator of her automatic BMW 520d car after stopping outside Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, causing it to mount a kerb A driver who struck and killed an eight-month-old baby in her pram outside a hospital has had her prison sentence reduced. Judges at the Court of Appeal described Bridget Curtis' case as "truly tragic" after hearing the woman, who was 69 at the time and is now 71, had a "lapse of concentration," which caused her to press down on the accelerator of her automatic BMW 520d car after stopping. The vehicle mounted a kerb by Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, and collided into the pushchair of Mabli Cariad Hall. Mabli, who had just said a final goodbye to her paternal grandmother Betty Hall, who was receiving end-of-life care at the hospital, sustained fatal head injuries and died days later. Curtis pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving last September and was jailed for four years at Swansea Crown Court in January. Her guilty plea was despite giving "no comment" interviews to police initially, something Mabil's dad Rob Hall called "disgusting". But now three senior judges have reduced Curtis' sentence to three years, after the woman's barrister described the initial punishment as "manifestly excessive". Sitting at Court of Appeal on Tuesday, the judges cut the jail term but also increased Curtis' disqualification from driving from six years to seven-and-a-half years. READ MORE: Dog 'lucky to be alive' after tumbling down 250ft cliff while chasing rabbits Mr Justice Butcher, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Judge Richard Marks KC, said: "We say at once that this is a truly tragic case. We have read the very moving victim personal statements of Mabli's parents, expressing their grief at the death of their beloved baby. No one could fail to sympathise with them for the appalling loss that they have sustained.' Curtis, who attended the appeal via video link from HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire and sat in a wheelchair throughout, had no previous convictions at the time of the incident and had held a clean driving licence for more than 50 years. Her sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court heard that on the day of the collision, she had driven her daughter to an outpatient appointment at the hospital. When her daughter struggled to find her handbag in the rear of the car, Curtis unlocked the door and turned around to assist her. But as she did so, she pressed down on the accelerator of her car, which had been left running and was not in park mode. The car reached speeds of more than 29mph and travelled 28 metres in around four seconds, mounting the kerb of a grass seating area and causing Mabli to be thrown out of her pushchair. The car only stopped when it collided with a tree, having also caused injuries to Mabli's father Rob Hall. Mabli, the youngest of six siblings, received treatment at the Withybush Hospital, as well as hospitals in Cardiff and Bristol, dying in the arms of her parents on June 25. Her mother, Gwen Hall, told the sentencing hearing that her daughter was 'so bright, so beautiful, so full of love and life'. She said: 'She hadn't crawled yet. She had said 'Mama' for the first time only the day before. We had so much planned with her. It was nowhere near the time for her to be taken away from us. She was my baby. My eight-month-old baby.' John Dye, for Curtis, told Swansea Crown Court that she was a mother-of-four and grandmother of 10, who was 'absolutely devastated' by the incident. Appearing again for Curtis at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Mr Dye said: 'This is a tragic case, but the issue really was one of pedal confusion.' He continued: 'Objectively, this is clearly dangerous driving, but in terms of culpability, these four seconds of driving were more akin to, maybe not a momentary lapse, but a lapse of concentration.' Craig Jones, for the Crown Prosecution Service, made no oral submissions to the court. Reducing the sentence, Mr Justice Butcher said: 'True it is that the appellant did not intend to cause any harm, and true also that the mistake was of a short duration, but the driving was well over the threshold of dangerousness.' He continued that Curtis would have known that she had stopped 'in a busy area outside a hospital with potentially very vulnerable pedestrians around', and that four or five seconds 'is far from being a negligible duration'. He added that the court accepted that Curtis's remorse was 'genuine', stating: 'It was inattention and confusion as to which pedal she was pressing that caused this tragedy.'
ITV News
3 days ago
- ITV News
Driver who killed eight-month-old baby in pram has sentence reduced
A driver who struck and killed an eight-month-old baby in her pram outside a hospital has had her prison sentence reduced at the Court of Appeal, in what judges described as a 'truly tragic' case. Bridget Curtis pressed down on the accelerator of her automatic BMW 520d car after stopping outside Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, on June 21 2023, causing it to mount a kerb and collide with the pushchair of Mabli Cariad Hall. Mabli, who had just said a final goodbye to her paternal grandmother Betty Hall, who was receiving end-of-life care at the hospital, sustained fatal head injuries and died in hospital days later. Curtis, who was 70 at the time of the offence and is now 71, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving last September and was jailed for four years at Swansea Crown Court in January. At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, her barrister said the sentence was 'manifestly excessive' and should be reduced, stating that the case concerned a 'lapse of concentration'. Three senior judges ruled that Curtis's sentence was 'manifestly excessive' and reduced it to one of three years, while increasing her disqualification from driving from six years to seven-and-a-half years. Mr Justice Butcher, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Judge Richard Marks KC, said: 'We say at once that this is a truly tragic case. 'We have read the very moving victim personal statements of Mabli's parents, expressing their grief at the death of their beloved baby. 'No one could fail to sympathise with them for the appalling loss that they have sustained.' Curtis, who attended the appeal via video link from HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire and sat in a wheelchair throughout, had no previous convictions at the time of the incident and had held a clean driving licence for more than 50 years. Her sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court heard that on the day of the collision, she had driven her daughter to an outpatient appointment at the hospital. When her daughter struggled to find her handbag in the rear of the car, Curtis unlocked the door and turned around to assist her. But as she did so, she pressed down on the accelerator of her car, which had been left running and was not in park mode. The car reached speeds of more than 29mph and travelled 28 metres in around four seconds, mounting the kerb of a grass seating area and causing Mabli to be thrown out of her pushchair. The car only stopped when it collided with a tree, having also caused injuries to Mabli's father Rob Hall. Mabli, the youngest of six siblings, received treatment at the Withybush Hospital, as well as hospitals in Cardiff and Bristol, dying in the arms of her parents on June 25. Her mother, Gwen Hall, told the sentencing hearing that her daughter was 'so bright, so beautiful, so full of love and life'. She said: 'She hadn't crawled yet. She had said 'Mama' for the first time only the day before. We had so much planned with her. 'It was nowhere near the time for her to be taken away from us. She was my baby. My eight-month-old baby.' John Dye, for Curtis, told Swansea Crown Court that she was a mother-of-four and grandmother of 10, who was 'absolutely devastated' by the incident. Appearing again for Curtis at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Mr Dye said: 'This is a tragic case, but the issue really was one of pedal confusion.' He continued: 'Objectively, this is clearly dangerous driving, but in terms of culpability, these four seconds of driving were more akin to, maybe not a momentary lapse, but a lapse of concentration.' Craig Jones, for the Crown Prosecution Service, made no oral submissions to the court. Reducing the sentence, Mr Justice Butcher said: 'True it is that the appellant did not intend to cause any harm, and true also that the mistake was of a short duration, but the driving was well over the threshold of dangerousness.' He continued that Curtis would have known that she had stopped 'in a busy area outside a hospital with potentially very vulnerable pedestrians around', and that four or five seconds 'is far from being a negligible duration'. He added that the court accepted that Curtis's remorse was 'genuine', stating: 'It was inattention and confusion as to which pedal she was pressing that caused this tragedy.'
