(492)  SSP DROPS JUDICIAL REVIEW OF PARLIAMENT BAN

On 31 August 2005 the Scottish Socialist Party abandoned its judicial review challenge to the decision of the Presiding Officer to impose a month-long ban on those of its MSPS who took part in a G8 protest in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament on 30 June (see No 482).  The party has apparently received legal advice that for its petition to succeed there would have first to be an apology for its actions, which it is not prepared to give.  Furthermore the proceedings could cost up to £100,000, an amount that a party funded by the subscriptions of working-class people could not contemplate losing.”  The party requested the Presiding Officer to refer the matter to the Standards Committee of the Parliament