Rumpus over room without a view

Some seats in the public gallery have restricted views

Problems with public gallery seating in the new £431m Holyrood parliament building have led to an attack by a leading Nationalist MSP.

Parliament officials have admitted that almost a tenth of the seats have a restricted view.

Fergus Ewing said visitors cannot see the MSPs from an entire section of the gallery because the view is blocked.

Mr Ewing said the building's architects should be asked to explain why the view is impaired from those seats.

Twenty three of the 225 seats in the new chamber have mainly been empty throughout the first week of the new parliament, said Mr Ewing.

Some visitors have had to rely instead on television screens hanging from the roof.

I hope the architects will provide a detailed statement as to why these 23 seats are in the room but have no view Fergus Ewing MSP

Some MSPs raised fears before the move that the new building did not have enough seats to accommodate the 700,000 visitors expected in the first year alone.

Mr Ewing said: "The chamber has attracted widespread and justified acclaim. However, it has emerged that an area of the seating offers a view of virtually none of the chamber at all.

"Members of the public who are shown to these seats may well complain and the security staff will have to suffer the brunt of these complaints in these early days."

The MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber added: "I hope the architects will provide a detailed statement as to why these 23 seats are in the room but have no view."

A spokesman for the Scottish Parliament replied: "Around 20 seats in the very back row of the gallery do have restricted views, and visitors are directed to other seats by Parliament staff until the gallery is full.

"Television monitors above these seats will however ensure that visitors can follow business."