Rachel Breen
Rachel called to the Scottish bar in 2023, having previously practised as a solicitor. She specialises in public law and commercial disputes. Rachel called to the Scottish bar in 2023, having previously practised as a solicitor. She specialises in public law and commercial disputes.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2023
Experience
- Axiom Advocates (2023 - Present)
Qualification
- LLB (Law with French Legal Studies) (2017)
Education
- University of Glasgow (2013-2017)
1 Contributions by Rachel Breen
PRACTICE NOTES
Scottish Parliament: elections, government formation and powers, bill procedure, legislative competence and consent, key institutions, and Brexit’s impact on devolution
This Practice Note offers an overview of the Scottish Parliament. It outlines how its members are elected and how it uses its power to make laws. In that setting, it also sets out how the Scottish government is formed, and the roles it performs.
Which voting system is used in Scottish Parliament elections?
Elected representatives in the Scottish Parliament are called Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The voting method in use, the Additional Member System, blends a straightforward ‘first past the post’ constituency ballot with a proportional element.
On election day, every voter has two votes:
one for an MSP to represent the voter’s constituency (eg Edinburgh Central), and
another for a political party or individual on a regional list (eg the region of Lothian)
There are 73 constituency Members and 56 regional Members. The ‘first past the post’ system selects the MSP for each constituency. Afterwards, the ‘list’ votes are used to allocate MSPs to parties (and individuals) on the list, so as to bring greater proportionality between the votes cast for each political party and the number...
Public Law
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