Daily Record
Jul 29 2004
THE Scottish Socialists are the most active MSPs at Holyrood, according to an on-line survey.
Every MSP's contribution was assessed by taking into account speeches in the chamber, voting records and other activities around parliament.
The SSP come top of the league table, followed by the SNP and the Scottish Greens.
The coalition parties of Labour and the LibDems came next, while the Scottish Tories trailed in bottom place.
The average contribution per MSP for the SSP was 226.3, the SNP came next on 195.1 and the Greens scored 189.1.
Labour came in at 140.1, closely followed by the LibDems on 138.6 and the Tories trailed the field on just 124.1. The survey by politics.co.uk also analysed the topics most discussed at Holyrood.
Constitutional issues came top with an index score of 3209, followed by the NHS on 784, personnel issues on 385 and public health on 357.
Rural communities came next on 252, then energy on 225 and education on 224.
Children scored 212, the criminal justice system 208 and the issue of roads was last on 192.
The SSP claimed the survey was vindication of the work record of their MSPs, who give half of their pay to the party.
Nationalist MSP Stewart Stevenson had attacked the SSP's lack of attendance in the chamber, singling out Rosie Kane.
SSP leader Tommy Sheridan said: 'Clearly, Scotland's Socialist MSPs represent the best value for money.'