MSPs and MPs would be barred from sitting in two parliaments at the same time under plans to be debated in Holyrood this week.

The proposal to bar politicians having 'dual mandates' - sometimes referred to as 'double jobbing' - is being put forward by Conservative MSP Graham Simpson and follows a row inside his own party after former leader Douglas Ross served as both a MSP and an MP at the same time.

Rules in both the Welsh Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly prevent MSs and MLAs from also sitting as MPs.

Mr Simpson has tabled an amendment to the Elections Bill which is to be discussed by the Scottish Parliament's standards committee on Thursday. It also calls for MSPs and MPs not to be allowed to sit as councillors, and for members of the House of Lords to be able to take a leave of absence if they are elected to Holyrood.

“Being an MSP is a full-time job and should be seen as such," Mr Simpson told the Herald on Sunday.

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"Working for the people of Scotland in the Scottish Parliament is an honour and you should not be able to juggle it with sitting in a chamber elsewhere.

“Members of the Welsh Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly can’t sit as MPs and nor should members of the Scottish Parliament.

“So if that is accepted then it is also right that we close the loophole that allows MSPs to also be councillors and members of the House of Lords. My amendment on the Lords would allow members to take a leave of absence from there during their term as an MSP.

MLAs at Stormont are not allowed to be MPs (Image: PA) “I hope to get support for this so that these measures are in place before the next Scottish Parliament elections in 2026 so that any MP with designs on being elected to Holyrood would have to stand down from Westminster if they are returned here.”

Mr Ross had seats in both parliaments from May 2021 to May 2024, as MP for Moray and MSP for Highlands and Islands.

But a row broke out among the Scottish Conservatives ahead of the July general election when Mr Ross, who had previously said he would step down from Westminster to focus on his role leading his party at Holyrood, then decided he would stand for re-election for the new seat of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East. His announcement led to the de-selection of former minister David Duguid as the candidate. Mr Duguid was under going hospital treatment at the time but had insisted he still wanted to be the candidate.

Mr Ross said he would stand down as an MSP if re-elected to the House of Commons.

The controversy led to Mr Ross to announce his resignation as Scottish Conservative leader - though in the event he failed to win the Aberdeenshire seat and continues as a backbench Conservative MSP.

Alex Salmond, the late First Minister and SNP leader, had "dual mandates" for both Holyrood and Westminster

Mr Salmond held a dual mandate from May 2015 to May 2016, as MP for Gordon and MSP for Aberdeenshire East, and twice previously between 1999-2001 and 2007-2010.

Both Mr Ross and Mr Salmond donated their reduced MSPs' salaries to charity while they sat as MPs.

Former Scottish Conservative MP David Duguid (Image: PA) The SNP changed its rules in July 2020 to require MPs to stand down from Westminster before standing as a candidate for Holyrood.

The move was widely seen as a way of preventing Joanna Cherry, then MP for Edinburgh South West, from bidding to become the party's Scottish Parliament candidate for Edinburgh Central at the 2021 election.

Angus Robertson, an ally of then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who lost his Westminster seat in 2017 was hoping to be the party's candidate for the seat.

Following the rule change, Ms Cherry decided not to stand to be the Edinburgh Central candidate with Mr Robertson later selected and then elected as the MSP.

But she described the party's rule change as "unreasonable" as it meant the MP and their staff would be unemployed in order for the former MP to be eligible to stand.

She said: "It is unprecedented in our party's history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate.

"It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic. I am not prepared to do it and so unless circumstances change, I won't be seeking nomination for Holyrood in this election."

Her colleague Neil Gray announced his resignation as an MP in November 2020 to become a Holyrood candidate. He was elected as an MSP for Airdrie and Shotts in 2021 and is now the Scottish Government's health secretary.

There has been speculation about whether Stephen Flynn, the SNP's leader at Westminster, will stand at any point for Holyrood.

He is seen as a possible successor to SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney.

However, not being an MSP is regarded as an disadvantage to any ambition he may have to become SNP leader as he could not be First Minister if he sat only in Westminster.