Holyrood suspends referendum debate after Westminster attacks

The Scottish parliament suspended its debate on a new independence referendum after MSPs complained it was still sitting more than an hour after the Westminster attacks.

Ken Macintosh, Holyrood’s presiding officer – the equivalent of the UK parliament’s Speaker, told the chamber shortly before 4pm he was suspending the sitting in solidarity with “our sister parliament”.

With MSPs clearly distracted by the attacks at Westminster, Macintosh said the debate on Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a second independence referendum and the vote on her motion calling for Holyrood’s mandate would be reconvened at a later date.

Earlier his deputy, Linda Fabiani, had told the chamber the parliament’s business bureau had decided it should be “business as usual” after Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Tory economy spokesman, questioned in a point of order why it was still sitting.

By that time Sturgeon, the first minister, had already rushed out of the chamber and other MSPs were studying their mobile phones and iPads, while others left.

There were immediate complaints from other parties. Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, tweeted that business should be suspended:

Just as Fabiani was turning Fraser’s request down, the parliament’s chief executive, Paul Grice, issued a security warning to all Holyrood’s staff, MSPs and journalists saying that security had been increased “with immediate effect”.

Grice’s notice said: “We are aware of a developing situation at Westminster this afternoon and are monitoring matters very closely.

“While there is no intelligence to suggest there is a specific threat to Scotland, Edinburgh or Holyrood we have increased security with immediate effect at the Scottish parliament as a precaution. In the meantime, we would ask all building users to be vigilant whilst going about business and also when leaving or coming to parliament.”

Shortly after Holyrood was suspended, Sturgeon tweeted her condolences to the attack victims.

The decision throws significant doubt over whether Sturgeon will be able, as she would prefer, to formally call for the powers to stage the referendum before Theresa May triggers article 50 next Wednesday.

There are only two sitting days at Holyrood before then, putting pressure on the five parties to cancel other business to prioritise the final debate and votes on Sturgeon’s plan to allow her to formally write to the prime minister asking for the referendum before the Brexit process starts.

Sturgeon said she would convene a government resilience committee meeting on Wednesday evening, and said she fully supported the decision to suspend the debate.

She said there was no specific security threat to the Scottish parliament but added that her justice secretary, Michael Matheson, had been briefed by Phil Gormley, the chief constable of Police Scotland, on the attack at Westminster. She added: “We are liaising with our counterparts in the UK government and the Scottish government stands ready to support in any way we can.”

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, tweeted that the parliament’s business bureau had originally decided suspending the sitting would have sent the wrong signal:

Speaking after parliament was suspended, Fraser said he was extremely surprised it had taken more than an hour to stop the debate. “They should’ve done it a bit faster,” he said. “I just felt members in the chamber were clearly being distracted from what was a very important debate on a vital constitutional issue.

“I think it was increasingly difficult for those of us who were participating in the debate to be able to focus on that, giving it the degree of serious attention it deserved, in light of what was happening at Westminster.”