Religious representatives campaign update

November 16, 2014

Unelected Religious Representatives

It was announced in today’s Sunday Herald that a members’ bill from Independent MSP John Finnie (Local Government Accountability and Transparency Bill) will not proceed. The consultation garnered 207 replies, and unfortunately only 17% of the responses favoured removing this undemocratic privilege.

Quoted in the Sunday Herald article, Finnie said: “Given the nature and source of the bulk of responses received – many pro forma letters – I do not envisage getting sufficient support from parliamentary colleagues and do not intend to proceed with this proposal.”

This is very disappointing news, especially since a recent petition to the Scottish Parliament on the same subject was closed on 6 May 2014 because of this members’ bill.

It is not the end of the matter, and we will continue to work with our members, partners and parliamentarians to end this arcane practice.

Relationships, Sexual Health & Parenthood Education – Campaign Update

Thank you to all who have taken the time to sign and share our petition. We as you will have seen, the list of supporters for our campaign is long and distinguished. We have already had very productive discussions with the Scottish Green Party, Liberal Democrat Party and Labour Party.