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Tuesday, 13 March, 2001, 17:12 GMT

Lib Dems dressed down by McLeish


Jim Wallace in the Scottish Parliament
Dissident Liberal Democrats have been warned "enough is enough" after voting against the Scottish Executive.

First Minister Henry McLeish read the "riot act" to the Lib Dems when he met Labour MSPs in Edinburgh for the first time since the executive's parliamentary defeat last week.

Mr McLeish's meeting became a post-mortem examination of what led to the surprise loss on a key vote on a fishing industry aid scheme.

The vote was lost through a combination of absent Labour MSPs, four Lib Dems voting against the executive and the controversial use of a casting vote by the presiding officer.

Henry McLeish and Rhona Brankin
Feelings against the Lib Dems have been running high in the Labour ranks since then, and there is a belief the junior party should recognise it is getting policy gains from its coalition role.

Mr McLeish said: "We have to learn the lessons of what happened last Thursday. Coalition is not easy. But enough is enough."

He went on: "A coalition means a coalition. This is not a coalition between Jim (Wallace) and I.

"It is not a coalition of personalities. It is a coalition of policies and parties.

"But we now need a more mature approach to the coalition. We need to move to a new era in coalition."

No voting problems

MSPs heard that Mr Wallace had been told of the anger felt among Labour ranks over the way his party had voted.

Meanwhile, a technical check has given the all-clear to the Scottish Parliament's electronic voting system.

Some MSPs had complained their votes were incorrectly recorded last Thursday, but an official bulletin has revealed no glitches were found.

On Tuesday the Scottish Tories called for Lib Dem deputy education minister Nicol Stephen to be "hauled over the coals".

Tavish Scott
The Tories claimed neither he or Tavish Scott voted in the second of three votes on the fishing scheme, even though both were present and voted with the executive on the two other votes.

Chief whip James Douglas-Hamilton said: "Now that Tavish Scott has resigned, Nicol Stephen must surely follow for publicly opposing the executive line.

"Mr Stephen's claim that his failure to vote was due to a flaw in the electronic voting system holds no water."

But a Lib Dem spokesman said: "Last Thursday Nicol Stephen voted for the executive amendment, and with the executive on other votes.

"This was not recorded by the voting machines. Mr Stephen has written to the parliament authorities to question why his vote was not registered."


Related to this story:
Minister resists fish cash calls (13 Mar 01 | Scotland) Fishermen make 'burning' protest (13 Mar 01 | Scotland) Coalition row rumbles on (11 Mar 01 | Scotland) Brankin defiant over fishing deal (10 Mar 01 | Scotland) Fish row claims first casualty (10 Mar 01 | Scotland) Fish row strains coalition (09 Mar 01 | Scotland)


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