SNP accused of Holyrood power grab as junior MSPs land key jobs
Opposition claims Sturgeon undermining authority of Parliament’s committees
THE SNP has been accused of launching a parliamentary power grab after handing a string of Nationalist MSPs jobs as aides to the senior ministers they are supposed to hold to account.
The Government was accused of moving to undermine Holyrood’s authority after it emerged that when senior ministers appear before committees they face questions from own parliamentary liaison officer (PLO).
These are junior MSPs appointed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to assist senior, more powerful colleagues in their roles.
Education Secretary John Swinney’s assistant, Jenny Gilruth, was made a PLO after she was put forward to sit on the education committee. Colleague Kate Forbes was made aide to Finance Secretary Derek Mackay after she secured a place on the finance committee. The pattern is repeated across every Cabinet brief.
Opposition parties said the backbenchers would face a clear conflict of interests when performing their supposed function on committees, such as grilling ministers, holding the Government to account and issuing potentially critical reports and amending legislation.
Green Party MSP Ross Greer said: “Many of these new PLOs are capable MSPs who could make a really significant contribution to their committees, but it is hard to see how that is possible when they are on the committee scrutinising their own bosses.
“The conflict of interests is clear and the public will be disappointed to see parliamentary scrutiny of the Government eroded in this way. Holyrood needs progress on the wider agenda of reform to improve scrutiny but the Government could at least show Parliament more respect by allowing it to do its job as effectively as possible.”
The revelations come amid wider concerns Holyrood’s once esteemed committee system is failing.
With the role of a PLO in part to be the “eyes and ears” of a minister in Parliament, the move also ensures each Cabinet Secretary will have an insider on the committees that could cause them the most problems. The aides are also allowed access to confidential Government information while fellow MSPs serving on committees are not.
Academics again raised concern Holyrood’s committees were proving far less effective than those at Westminster. In the UK Parliament the equivalent of PLOs, Parliamentary Private Secretaries, are banned from participating in any business associated with the department or minister they serve.
Yet the aides have all been handed a crucial parliamentary role directly linked to their boss’s brief at the Scottish Parliament.
Paul Cairney, Professor of Politics and Public Policy at Stirling University, said no Scottish Government had yet been willing to “let go” and allow the supposedly independent role of committees to develop. He added: “Devolution came with the promise of ‘new Scottish politics’ rather than ‘old Westminster’. Yet, it inherited the most important Westminster practices, including a tendency of the party in government to dominate public policy and receive often-minimal challenges from parliament.”
An SNP spokesman said: “In no sense do the responsibilities held by PLOs prevent them from participating fully in the scrutiny of legislation and of government that is undertaken by committees in the Scottish Parliament.”