Fiscal studies hotel fire report

The hotel hosted the Scottish Parliamentarian of the Year awards

The procurator fiscal in Edinburgh is studying a police report on the Labour MSP Mike Watson, who has been charged with wilful fire-raising.

The fiscal will decide whether or not the case should proceed to court.

Lord Watson was charged after police investigated reports of a fire at Edinburgh's Prestonfield House Hotel early on Friday morning.

The incident followed the Politician of the Year awards ceremony. The MSP has been suspended by the Labour Party.

The party's action means he cannot take the whip in the House of Lords or the Scottish Parliament.

Mike Watson: Suspended by Labour

A Labour spokesman said: "Mike Watson has been suspended from the Labour Party pending the outcome of the current legal process."

He can continue sitting as a Labour peer in the Lords and as an MSP and will also be able to attend branch meetings of his local Labour Party in Cathcart.

Lothian and Borders Police said: "A 55-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with an alleged incident at the Prestonfield House hotel in the early hours of Friday 12 November."

The Glasgow Cathcart MSP has denied any wrongdoing.

He was Scottish tourist, culture and sport minister from 2001 until a reshuffle in 2003 prompted a return to the backbench.