Former Conservative Agriculture spokesperson Peter Chapman MSP has been cleared by of any wrongdoing by the Scottish Parliament’s misconduct committee. It unanimously stated there was no evidence that the MSP’s conduct amounted to paid advocacy.

The northeast MSP had referred himself to the conduct committee after a complaint was made over his failure to declare an interest before lobbying councillors on the building of a new abattoir in Aberdeenshire. Chapman has a number of fixed-value shares in Aberdeen Northern Marts, which is part of the group seeking to build the new slaughterhouse.

“I am pleased that the committee has unanimously agreed with the Commissioner that there was no breach of the code of conduct,” said Chapman.

“I held my hands up at the time and admitted this was an honest mistake. I also made no secret of my shareholding in ANM, which was fully declared in my register of interests. Stepping down from my front bench role was one of the hardest decisions I have ever taken, but I believed it was the right thing to do. I did not want the proceedings to impact upon the rural brief at such an important time when unimpeded scrutiny of this SNP government is required. I hope a line can now be drawn under this and I can get on with representing the people of the northeast, something I’m very passionate about.”