Alexander faces Holyrood suspension

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The recommendation to exclude Ms Alexander for one sitting day was agreed by the committee after a three-hour meeting.

By a one-vote majority the committee, which on Wednesday ruled that Ms Alexander broke the law, decided a sanction was necessary.

The MSPs voted to exclude her from all proceedings of Parliament on the first Wednesday after this recommendation has been ratified by the Scottish Parliament, which is currently in recess until September 2.

After deliberating in private for more than two-and-a-half hours, the Standards Committee went into public session for the final stages.

One by one, the seven MSPs on the committee - two Labour, three SNP, and one each from the Tories and the Liberal Democrats - said whether they believed Ms Alexander's conduct warranted a sanction, and if so, what this should be.

The three SNP members and Lib Dem Hugh O'Donnell agreed a sanction was needed, while the two Labour members and Tory Jamie McGrigor did not. They then decided on the penalty along similar lines.

The three SNP MSPs and the Lib Dem voted for a one-day exclusion while the others abstained.

The decision to apply a sanction came after the committee decided that she broke the law by not promptly declaring details of donations to her party leadership campaign last year.

She was found to have broken the 2006 Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament Act by not registering donations above the £520 threshold as "gifts" within the required timescale.