The Scotsman, on UK Politics, 8 November 2026

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'Insufficient evidence of wrongdoing' in Kenny Gibson bullying complaints, says SNP

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The bullying allegations against Kenny Gibson “provided insufficient evidence of wrongdoing”, the SNP has said after it was accused of failing to take action. The Nationalists said that “concerns were raised with the party” about Holyrood’s presiding officer and these were “thoroughly investigated” - but “no disciplinary action was taken.” It comes after the Sunday Mail reported that a dossier of complaints has been sent to SNP bosses by solicitors.

The SNP had been accused of failing to take action. Cunninghame North MSP Mr Gibson had represented the SNP in the Scottish Parliament for more than two decades before becoming presiding officer after May’s election. An SNP spokesperson said: “The SNP has a zero-tolerance approach to bullying in any form and takes any allegations seriously. "Concerns were raised with the party and were thoroughly investigated. They provided insufficient evidence of any wrongdoing and as such no disciplinary action was taken."

Two SNP officials in Mr Gibson’s constituency were said to have resigned over his alleged behaviour. Another 19 members, activists, and councillors signed a letter complaining about him June 2019. The complainants were advised to send statements to independent solicitor Lesley Johnston at law firm Kennedys Scotland. Mr Gibson became the Scottish Parliament’s presiding officer in May. The job pays £130,000 a year. A senior Scottish Government minister said on Sunday that the SNP took the bullying allegations against Mr Gibson “very seriously”.

Ivan McKee said that “anything would be fully investigated” by the party. The Cabinet Secretary for Public Sector Reform told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show: “The party takes these kind of allegations very seriously. Of course, it does, and anything would be fully investigated. “Now, I'm not involved in running the party specifically that level, but ”

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What we found (1)

The Scotsman reports the SNP's statement that bullying complaints against Holyrood presiding officer Kenny Gibson gave insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, and it keeps that claim attributed to the party in the headline and body. It reports the resignations, the 2019 letter and the solicitors' dossier, but every quoted voice is the SNP's. The piece closes on a minister's assurance with no complainant's account set against it.

  1. One side gets the space

    Minor

    “I think it's very clear that the party, of course, would take these allegations very seriously.”

    Why this matters
    The Scotsman ends the article on Ivan McKee's general assurance that the party would take the allegations very seriously. He also says he is not involved in running the party. No complainant's account follows.
    The impression it gives
    A reader may come away believing the complaints were handled with care, because the SNP has the closing word.
    The context
    The article itself reports that two constituency officials resigned and 19 people signed a letter in 2019. It reports that a solicitors' dossier has now reached SNP bosses and that the party is accused of failing to act. None of the complainants is quoted. They appear only as numbers, while the SNP is quoted across ten sentences.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“Another 19 members, activists, and councillors signed a letter complaining about him June 2019.”
    • Elsewhere in the article“The SNP had been accused of failing to take action.”

    Show it in the article

What it gets right

  • “'Insufficient evidence of wrongdoing' in Kenny Gibson bullying complaints, says SNP”

    The headline puts the finding in quotation marks and attributes it to the SNP. It does not present the party's conclusion as established fact.

  • “over his alleged behaviour”

    The Scotsman keeps the allegations against a named person as allegations and does not state them as proven.

  • “the Sunday Mail reported that a dossier of complaints has been sent to SNP bosses by solicitors”

    The article names the source of the new reporting rather than passing it off in its own voice.

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