A KEY member of Wendy Alexander's leadership campaign team has said a one-day parliamentary ban was the 'final straw' for the former Scottish Labour group leader.
Strathkelvin and Bearsden MSP David Whitton was speaking after Ms Alexander resigned as leader on Saturday, just days after the Scottish Parliament's standards committee ruled that she had broken parliamentary rules by failing to register donations o
n the MSPs' register of interests.
The committee recommended that she should serve a one-day ban on the first Wednesday of the next parliamentary session in September.
David Whitton was part of Ms Alexander's leadership team that accepted a donation of £950 from Paul Green, a Channel Islands tax exile, in August of last year.
The donation was not immediately registered - although Ms Alexander always insisted that she had simply acted on advice given to her by the Parliament's lawyers - and started the row that ended in her resignation.
Mr Whitton told the Herald: "I am not happy about her resignation, but it was a decision she had to make herself.
"She has had to go through nearly a year of these allegations even though she did nothing wrong and has always tried to be open and transparent about everything. The one-day ban was the final straw and was a politically motivated decision taken by the standards committee.
"The electoral commission took no action after carrying out their investigation and the procurator fiscal was asked to investigate but found no basis for criminal charges.
"It is only the standards committee, that is dominated by the SNP, that decided action should be taken."
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