Ash Regan has failed to vote in her Holyrood debut as Scotland’s first Alba MSP.
The former SNP minister, who defected to Alex Salmond’s party on Saturday, was recorded as not voting on two amendments at her first Decision Time in her new role.
However the parliament did record her voting at the third opportunity on the main motion.
The Edinburgh East MSP cast her vote digitally with the SNP and Greens in support of the Scottish Government’s Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan.
It is understood she was due to have a meeting with the Presiding Officer about her new affiliation and so was not in the chamber at the time.
Ms Regan, who was elected to Holyrood in 2016, announced she was quitting the SNP at Alba’s annual conference in Glasgow.
She said it was “increasingly clear that the SNP has lost its focus on Independence” and she could not “in good conscience continue to be part of a party that has drifted from its path”.
Mr Salmond, a former first minister and SNP leader, formed Alba in 2021 to campaign more urgently for independence than his old party.
Although Alba now has two MPs, one MSP and one councillor, it has yet to have any candidate returned at the polls, with all its politicians coming as defectors from the SNP.
A spokesman for Ms Regan said she regarded the Tory and Labour amendments as submitted purely for opposition's sake.
He added: "She sees her role as one to scrutinise the Government with the need to talk Scotland down.
"On the final motion, she agreed with the substance proposed so she was happy to support the Scottish Government."
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