Labour MSPs yesterday gave the green light for a revolt on disclosure rules which would see one million Scots having to submit to intimate background checks in order to do volunteer work.
Members of the Holyrood Finance Committee made clear they were unimpressed by the small print of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill, brought in after the Bichard inquiry findings into the Soham murders. Across the party divide members made clear they were unconvinced a huge new bureaucratic system that would force up to one in four Scots to submit themselves to costly checks was the right way to proceed, particularly given evidence about the likely impact on the numbers volunteering.
Wendy Alexander, in particular, was scathing about the plans, repeatedly asking witnesses from the executive to justify the logic of the scheme.