![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/3aadb140-e1f5-4c63-b751-2495ef64729c.jpg\")
MSPs will return to business at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday (Jane Barlow\/PA)<\/p>\nThe SNP leader said he was \u201cextremely concerned\u201d about the implications\u00a0for those using the Holyrood building, including MSPs, staff and journalists.<\/p>\n
His comments came after MSP Colin Smyth denied allegations he had\u00a0placed a secret camera in toilets in the building.<\/p>\n
The South Scotland MSP was arrested on Tuesday August 5 and charged with a separate offence of possession of indecent images, prompting his suspension from Scottish Labour.<\/p>\n
His Holyrood pass was deactivated on Thursday, effectively preventing him from accessing the building.<\/p>\n
With MSPs due to return to Parliament after the summer recess on Tuesday, the First Minister was pressed over whether the building is a \u201csafe place to work\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Swinney said to the PA news agency that as the case against Mr Smyth was live there were \u201cstrict limits\u201d on what he could say.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI\u2019m absolutely horrified by what has been the subject of revelations over the course of the last few weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m extremely concerned about what the implications for members of parliament, members of staff, journalists, for everyone who uses the parliamentary building.\u201d<\/p>\n
As such, he said it was \u201cso important that parliamentary authorities provide that clear and definitive reassurance to everybody involved\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Friday it was confirmed Police Scotland had carried out a search of toilets and changing facilities in the Parliament building, with \u201cno covert recording devices\u201d found.<\/p>\n
MSPs will return to business at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday (Jane Barlow\/PA)<\/p>\n
Those using the building were also told there will be \u201cenhanced additional checks\u201d going forward.<\/p>\n
Mr Smyth, meanwhile, issued a statement in which he rejected the allegations against him.<\/p>\n
The MSP said: \u201cThis allegation has come as an utter shock and one I strongly refute.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that \u201cfor legal reasons I can\u2019t respond to specific matters or speculation\u201d but stressed he was \u201cfully\u00a0co-operating\u201d with the authorities, saying he hoped investigations could be \u201cconcluded quickly and fairly\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Glasgow Caledonian University on Monday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: \u201cIt\u2019s deeply distressing and shocking for all of us and for people across the parliamentary estate, no doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as we became aware of the seriousness of the allegations, Colin Smyth was suspended. He now sits as an independent MSP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is, of course, an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on any questions about the Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The SNP leader said he was \u201cextremely concerned\u201d about the implications\u00a0for those using the Holyrood building, including MSPs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-389226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115129123465021294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}