Official Report · Committee
No More Page 3 (PE1521)
The next petition is PE1521, by George Eckton and Jane O’Donnell, on no more page 3 in The Scottish Sun and the Scottish Parliament. Members have a note by the clerk and the submissions.
I bring to members’ attention the fact that I have recently been appointed to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and that I am on record as supporting the no more page 3 campaign. I invite contributions from members.
I am minded to suggest that we close the petition on the basis that we have fulfilled what was asked of us, which was that we draw the matter to the Scottish Parliament’s attention. We have done that. I suppose that we could, if we wished, make a further representation to the SPCB. Ultimately, our responsibility was not to resolve the issue but to highlight it in the Scottish Parliament. I believe that that has been successfully done, so I am not quite sure what the next step for the committee would be in taking forward the petition.
I certainly support the no more page 3 campaign. A week or so ago, it looked as if the campaign had been successful as regards its overall objective, but that does not seem to have been the case.
As Jackson Carlaw said, the committee has done what it was asked to do. I think that we might stray into dangerous territory if we were to decide that a particular publication could not be sold in the Parliament building. That decision should be left to the SPCB.
Do members want to refer this petition to the SPCB, or do we want to close it?
My view is that we have written to the SPCB, which has discussed the matter, and that we should therefore close the petition. That does not reflect my view on the issue of substance, but I think that we have taken the petition to its logical conclusion.
Do members agree to close the petition?
Members indicated agreement.
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