New Presiding Officer Kenny Gibson vows to be 'imaginative' with plans to shake up Holyrood
Kenny Gibson is the new presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament after winning a vote of MSPs.
Kenny Gibson has vowed to be “imaginative” as the new presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament after fighting off competition from three other MSPs to replace Alison Johnstone.
Mr Gibson, who will give up his SNP party affiliation to take up the neutral position, pledged to be “firm in the chair when necessary”.
His predecessor, Ms Johnstone, who has now left the Scottish Parliament, received criticism, often from the Scottish Tories, over her perceived handling of MSPs breaking the rules or issues with behaviour.
Ms Johnstone’s exchange with former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross led her to eject Mr Ross from the chamber, while she reprimanded former SNP constitution secretary Angus Robertson for a ministerial statement being leaked, cutting his announcement short in the chamber.
In 2021, she compelled now former Tory MSP Tess White to publicly apologise to Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Question after wrongly accusing the former first minister of anti-English sentiment.
But Mr Gibson has billed himself as a presiding officer intent on reforming Holyrood and potentially allowing more noise from MSPs and requiring ministers to answer more questions.
Former deputy presiding officer Liam McArthur, alongside SNP MSPs Stuart McMillian and Clare Haughey also put themselves forward for the presiding officer role, with an election held in the Holyrood chamber with a secret ballot.
Mr McMillan was eliminated in the first round of the election after only securing six votes. In the second round of voting, Mr Gibson secured 48 votes, ahead of Ms Haughey on 44, while Mr McArthur’s 36 votes saw him eliminated.
In the final round, Mr Gibson secured victory with 74 votes to 54 and immediately took his place in the presiding officer’s chain in the Holyrood chamber.
SNP MSP Clare Adamson and Labour’s Katy Clark were elected deputy presiding officers.
Speaking in the chamber after his victory, Mr Gibson said: “I want to thank every one of you who participated in this process”.
He also offered “belated congratulations about winning your election” to the returned MSPs.
Mr Gibson added: “Thanks for all those who voted for me through thick and thin. It has been quite a stressful afternoon.
“I’m looking forward to working with every single person in this chamber to take this parliament forward.
“I think there’s so much more we can be as a parliament than we have been in the past.
“I’m certainly going to do my utmost to work with you in taking us forward.”
Speaking to journalists at Holyrood after being named the presiding officer, Mr Gibson said: “One of the things I’m so delighted about is that I got support from right across the parliamentary chamber. I think that’s really important.
“We’re going to be an inclusive parliament but also a parliament that works for everyone. That’s not just the people of Scotland outside but also within, I want to make sure that every party has a role to play in this parliament in making it better.”
He added: “I intend to be imaginative and I intend to be innovative.
“But I’ll also be firm in the chair when necessary. I want to make everything somewhat more enjoyable than perhaps it has been in the past.”
Mr Gibson acknowledged that the Scottish Parliament “had got dull”, but said his immediate focus was on “basking in my victory”.
Asked about his own colourful language used in parliament in the past, Mr Gibson said he was “a repentant sinner”.
Mr Gibson has been MSP for the Cunninghame North constituency since 2007 and previously represented the Glasgow region at Holyrood from 1999 to 2003 in the first Scottish Parliament.
In the last session of parliament, Mr Gibson was convener of Holyrood’s finance and public administration committee, gaining a reputation for holding his ministerial SNP colleagues to account. Between 2011 and 2016, Mr Gibson also convened the Scottish Parliament’s finance committee.
Mr Gibson’s election as presiding officer comes as MSPs were sworn in at the first sitting of the Scottish Parliament since the election.
First Minister John Swinney compared the “calm and elegance” of the Scottish Parliament to the “utter chaos” of Westminster.
Mr Swinney said he felt “enormous pride” to be the first MSP to be sworn in as the leader of the largest party at Holyrood.
He compared the system in Edinburgh to the one in London as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer battles for his premiership.
Mr Swinney told MSPs that “the contrast could not be greater between the calm and the elegance of the Scottish Parliament, with a government with a clear and commanding lead, able to take forward its steps to establish itself, and the utter chaos in the Labour Government in London”.
Mr Swinney said he was “delighted” to be the first person to take their oath at Holyrood.
“It felt at times like a bit of a surprise during my political life, so I’m delighted to have done that,” he said.
“I’m feeling enormous pride at the huge scale of achievement in becoming the largest party again by such a commanding margin, seeing so many wonderful new colleagues in my own party and many new members across the spectrum coming in, but delighted to be leading the largest party and taking the oath as the leader of the largest party.
“I’m delighted to have got to this point where I’ve led the SNP to a fifth successive victory and to have a commanding position in Parliament, and I look forward to forming a government next week, which will be a very exciting prospect.”
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