Mcleish warns ‘level of hatred’ in Holyrood ‘not healthy’
Mcleish has weighed in on the row among MSPS over Nicola Sturgeon’s conduct, warning that the “level of hatred” in Holyrood is “not healthy”.
Theformerfirstministersaid that politicians had to tackle the “corrosive atmosphere” in thescottishparliament.hetold the BBC’S Good Morning Scotland: “Politics is a tough, ugly andunforgivingtrade,andthat was shown yesterday.
“I also think that there's a corrosiveatmospherestillaround. You know I had hoped that 22 years on, a bit of that hatred, a bit of the partisanship, a bit of the tribalism, would have disappeared - but it was on full view yesterday. We've had 22 years of very progressive parliamentary government in Scotland. I think a lot of good decisions have been made - it's made a good start as a young Parliament - it's evolved.
“But,”hewarned,“thedanger isthatwhenpersonalitiesstart to trump discussions of policy [and] principles.”
Mr Mcleish said: “Much of the resentment that's offered hereisbecauseof14yearsofthe SNP in government. That's to their credit, they've been very successful.”
He added: “You can only beat thesnpattheballotbox-notin leakinginformationfromcommittees, not in a way of trying to undermine institutions that we're all very proud of.”
His remarks came after forhenry mer MP George Galloway and Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross both revealed theyhadreceiveddeaththreats in recent days. Speaking at The Scotsman’s election hustings on Tuesday, Mr Galloway, who is standing as a candidate on thesouthscotlandlist,saidthe “constant division” in Scottish politics needed to end “before somebody gets hurt”.