 | 'At the last election Mr McConnell polled nearly half the vote with the SNP on a respectable
25%. In the by election the Nationalists will need a swing of seven per cent to take the seat, verturning a Labour majority of almost 6,000.' STV News, 25 th June 2008. |  |
FORMER first minister Jack McConnell is under pressure to quit parliament to take up a post in Africa.
A House of Commons committee said it would be "unsatisfactory" for him to be an MSP while preparing to be Britain's high commissioner to Malawi.
McConnell has been lined up to take over the job in February next year.
But he has been reluctant to say when he will resign his Motherwell and Wishaw seat.
Critics claim Labour fear a tricky by-election while the SNP are riding high in the polls.
Westminster's foreign affairs committee backed the decision to give McConnell the job, but said he should make it clear when he would quit Holyrood.
Their report said: "It would be unsatisfactory for Mr McConnell to continue to perform the duties of an MSP at the same time that he is preparing to undertake the politically impartial duties of a British diplomat.
"We recommend that the Foreign Office and Mr McConnell should resolve this issue swiftly."
Yesterday McConnell said the Foreign Office would decide when he went to Africa.
He added: "They do not normally make public any arrangements until close to the handover, so I'm happy to leave it to them."
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said they would be responding to the committee's report "in due course".
But the SNP accused Labour of "running scared" of a by-election in Motherwell and Wishaw, where McConnell has a majority of nearly 6000.
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