Scottish legislators snub Queen Elizabeth
Posted on: Thursday, 2 July 2009, 15:35 CDT
More than one-third of the members of the Scottish Parliament failed to show up for a speech by Queen Elizabeth II marking the body's 10th anniversary.
Officials were drafted at the last minute Wednesday evening to fill the places of the missing members so the queen would not be addressing a phalanx of empty seats, The Times of London reported.
There were 48 no-shows out of 129 members of Parliament. The high absence rate appears to have been because the ceremony celebrating the body's first session on July 1, 1999, occurred in the middle of the long summer break and the parties did not make any special effort to get members to attend.
The Conservatives had the best attendance rate with 13 of 16 members present, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 11 of 16. Only 29 of the 46 Labor members showed up and 26 of 47 from the Scottish National Party. One of the two Greens and the only independent member were also no-shows.
Some members fear the Scottish Parliament may get snubbed in the future after so many members snubbed the queen.
After this, will Buckingham Palace look so kindly on an invitation from this place?
one member asked.
Source: United Press International
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