A REFORM UK MSP has accidentally backed calls for further powers to be devolved to Scotland.
Kim Schmulian was listed among the MSPs supporting a motion from SNP MSP Keith Brown which explicitly calls for "serious consideration" to be given to devolving responsibility for driving tests to the Scottish Parliament.
Brown, the MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, lodged the motion amid concerns over lengthy waits for practical driving tests and difficulties learners have faced securing appointments.
It states that problems which were initially presented as a temporary backlog have become a "longstanding problem" affecting learner drivers across Scotland.
It concludes that "should the UK Government prove unable to deliver a driving test system that meets Scotland's needs, serious consideration should be given to devolving responsibility for driver testing to the Scottish Parliament".
Reform MSP Schmulian was listed as one of 17 MSPs supporting Brown's motion alongside a number of SNP politicians.
Her apparent support sits in contrast with Reform UK's position on devolution.
The party has pledged to reduce the size of the Scottish Parliament and review the division of powers between Holyrood and Westminster every 10 years.
Its Scottish manifesto also ruled out another independence referendum for at least a decade and proposed cutting the number of MSPs from 129 to 113.
Reform pledged to establish a joint Holyrood-Westminster committee to carry out a formal 10-yearly review of Schedule Five of the Scotland Act, which sets out matters reserved to Westminster.
However any suggestion that Reform had undergone an unexpected conversion to further devolution was short-lived.
Asked by The National whether Schmulian had supported the motion by mistake given Reform's position on devolution, a party spokesperson replied simply: "Mistake."
The motion was debated at Wednesday's meeting of the Scottish Parliament, where Schmulian's gaffe did not go unnoticed.
Introducing the debate, Brown revealed that the Reform MSP's subsequent withdrawal of support had briefly threatened to prevent it from taking place at all.
For a Members' Business motion to be selected for debate, it must have cross-party support.
Brown said: "I understand for the first time since I've been here, nearly 20 years, this debate nearly never happened because a member who signed it from the Reform Party then withdrew her name.
"I don't know if that was a mistake, if she hadn't read the motion, didn't like it in some way or was trying to spike the debate."
Schmulian's withdrawal meant the motion temporarily lost the cross-party backing required, with its remaining supporters all coming from the SNP.
However, Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman subsequently added her name to the motion, allowing the debate to go ahead.
Conservative MSP Finlay Carson also appeared to poke fun at the episode.
He said: "I congratulate Keith Brown on getting cross-party support, then losing cross-party support and then gaining it again."
