'Free vote' call on Alexander ban

Wendy Alexander quit as leader after the committee's reccomendation

Former Scottish first minister Jack McConnell has called for all MSPs to have a free vote when deciding the fate of Wendy Alexander this week.

She quit as Scottish Labour leader after failing to declare donations to her leadership campaign on her MSP register of interests in time.

Holyrood's standards committee recommended she be temporarily excluded from parliament.

All MSPs will vote on Ms Alexander's suspension on Thursday.

Mr McConnell, who has been investigated and cleared by the standards committee on several previous occasions, said every MSP should reach their own conclusion, rather than towing a party line.

He said: "It's very, very important that the standards committee and the standards system in the parliament remain free from party politics and that all cases are judged on the facts and the evidence and the rules.

"I think it would be a very bad day for the parliament if the standards committee and the standards system became part of the partisan debate and partisan decision making that goes on."

As first minister, Mr McConnell was cleared of wrongdoing over his holiday at the Majorcan home of broadcaster Kirsty Wark, a friend of the family.

And in 1999, while finance minister, the committee ruled there was no evidence he had been influenced by the lobbying arm of public relations firm Beattie Media, in the episode which became known as the Lobbygate controversy.