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MSPs asked to back election move MSPs agree election control move
(about 10 hours later)
Scottish ministers will attempt to win support from MSPs over plans to shift control of elections to Holyrood. MSPs have agreed a deal arguing that the day-to-day running of Scottish Parliament elections should be shifted from Westminster to Holyrood.
The Scottish Government call came after last year's election fiasco, which was dogged by delays and saw about 140,000 ballot papers rejected. The Scottish Parliament also supported holding council and Holyrood elections on different days.
MSPs will also be asked to support talks between Scottish and UK ministers in implementing the findings of the Gould report on the poll problems. The call came after last year's election fiasco, which was dogged by delays and saw about 140,000 ballot papers rejected.
It recommended transferring control of elections from Westminster to Holyrood. An expert report later made a series of recommendations for improvements.
Denied votes Following a debate at Holyrood, Scottish ministers accepted a Labour amendment which watered down their demand that complete control should be ceded to Holyrood.
Parliament will be asked to endorse the move following a government-led debate at Holyrood on Thursday. The answer is not to continuously tinker with a system that is basically flawed Iain SmithScottish Liberal Democrats
After the Holyrood and local government elections, the Electoral Commission-sanctioned inquiry, headed by independent expert Ron Gould, said voters were "treated as an afterthought".After the Holyrood and local government elections, the Electoral Commission-sanctioned inquiry, headed by independent expert Ron Gould, said voters were "treated as an afterthought".
He said there should be separate election days for Holyrood and local councils and that future elections should consider the voter above all else.He said there should be separate election days for Holyrood and local councils and that future elections should consider the voter above all else.
First Minister Alex Salmond has blamed UK ministers for the problems. Bruce Crawford, minister for parliament, said a handover of responsibility had not yet been "seriously" discussed.
Scottish Secretary Des Browne later said he was "sorry" if people had been denied their vote. "So far the UK Government has not identified the serious structural problems that Gould has identified, never mind the logical way forward he has described," he said.
"Instead it has declared itself unconvinced."
'Bogus' argument
However, Labour's Andy Kerr said Holyrood was responsible for some of the "key decisions", such as the combined ballot paper, that led to the election problems.
"To somehow blame other parliaments for the situation we found ourselves in, when decisions were taken through this Parliament, by whatever way and whatever means, clearly puts in doubt the approach that is being taken currently by the SNP on this matter," he told MSPs.
Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said holding the Holyrood and council elections on the same day was "the biggest folly" behind the polls fiasco.
"The Scottish Conservatives firmly believe this decoupling will increase local government accountability," she said.
But the Liberal Democrats' Iain Smith said the Conservatives' argument was "bogus", as he made the case for using the single transferable vote in Holyrood elections.
He went on: "The answer is not to continuously tinker with a system that is basically flawed but to change it to a system that the voter has shown they can understand."