Holyrood's new Presiding Officer says he's a 'repentant sinner'

Mr Gibson, who represents Cunninghame North in Ayrshire, won after three rounds of voting by all 129 MSPs in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon.

He takes the reins from former Scottish Greens MSP Alison Johnstone, who had held the office since 2021, and will earn a salary of over £130,000 a year.

He saw off challenges from Scottish Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur, and from two other SNP MSPs, Stuart McMillan and Clare Haughey. In the final round he won against Ms Haughey by 74 votes to 54.

Speaking to LBC after his election he said the "era of a dull Parliament is at an end" - and that his election would have been "unexpected for the Scottish Government".

Mr Gibson has built a reputation for holding the government to account as chair of Holyrood's finance commitee over the last decade. He has also voted against key Scottish Government legislation such as the Gender Recognition Reform Bill and voting for independent MSP Ash Regan's bill to make the purchase of sex illegal in the last parliament.

He said: I'm absolutely delighted especially as I got support from right across the parliamentary chamber which I think is important. We need to be an inclusive parliament which works for everyone and I want every party to feel it has a role to play.

"I intend to be imaginative and innovative but firm in the chair where necessary and make everything somewhat more enjoyable. It had got dull, so let's hope that era has come to an end."

Asked how he would deal with MSPs who use unparliamentary language he said: "It would depend on the circumstances but I will explain how I intend to lay down the rules for parliamentarians and I expect them to follow them and if they don't follow them then there will be repercussions.

"Right now though I'm basking in my victory which would no doubt have been unexpected for the Scottish Government."

And on his own previous language - he said "I am a repentant sinner, a poacher turned gamekeeper, absolutely."

The Presiding Officer role involves overseeing debates at Holyrood along with the weekly session of First Minister’s Questions. His first role was to oversee the election of two deputy POs, telling MSPs there was an hour between nominations closing and the first vote so candidates could "press the flesh".

Mr Gibson's election came after all 129 MSPs - including his wife Patricia, a former SNP MP - were sworn in at Holyrood.

The leaders of Scotland’s main political parties took the oath first, with the SNP’s John Swinney taking the opportunity to declare his “primary loyalty” to the “people of Scotland.

The oath of office includes MSPs pledging their “true allegiance” to King Charles and his successors.

Mr Swinney, however, said: “Before I take my oath, let me pledge that the primary loyalty of the Scottish National Party is to the people of Scotland, in line with the constitutional principle of the sovereignty of the people.”

Reform UK’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord was followed by Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar, then the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, the Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay and finally Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton.

During his swearing in, Ross Greer declared his “ultimate loyalty” is “not to King or Crown, but to the people of Scotland”. Similarly, Ms Mackay said: “My oath is to the people of Scotland, who are sovereign.”

Green MSP Q Manivannan, who is in the process of applying for a new visa to serve a full parliamentary term, referred to Scotland as their “bonnie, bonnie home”.

As well as taking oaths in English, a number of MSPs used additional languages with the SNP’s Karen Adam using British Sign Language – which she learned as a child to help her communicate with her deaf father.

Green Highlands and Islands MSP Ariane Burgess took her oath in Scottish Gaelic, while North East Scotland MSP Maggie Chapman spoke in Shona, the most common language in Zimbabwe, where she was born and brought up.

New Liberal Democrat MSP Yi-pei Chou Turvey, who was born in Taiwan and raised in Brussels, took her oath in both Mandarin and French, while fellow newly elected Lib Dem Sanne Dijkstra Downie, who grew up in the Netherlands, used Dutch.