Holyrood’s too dull... but don’t blame me, says Jack McConnell
‘It has not provided a challenge to Ministers’
FORMER First Minister Lord McConnell has branded the Scottish parliament ‘dull and uninspiring’ as it approaches its 20th anniversary.
He admitted Scottish debates had struggled to catch the public imagination, and said Holyrood had suffered from a desire to be different from Westminster.
In particular, Lord McConnell called for reform of the committees at Holyrood, which he says are failing to challenge Ministers effectively.
In an interview yesterday, he said: ‘In throwing away some aspects of the Westminster system – because Scotland wanted to be different – we lost some procedures that led to better quality debate, more accountability for Ministers and more independent thinking.
‘The committee system has not provided a challenge to Ministers in the way that it does from time to time at Westminster. Debates and question time in the chamber have struggled to catch the public imagination – they are too set out in advance and lack spontaneity.’
Last week at Westminster, amendments by influential backbenchers such as Graham Brady and Yvette Cooper vied to influence the direction of Brexit.
But Lord McConnell told The Times such free-thinking from backbench politicians would be unlikely to happen at Holyrood.
‘The Westminster parliament is at its best when people are using their experience and their passion to try to influence public debate and their colleagues, and that doesn’t happen at Holyrood and it’s a shame,’ he said. Yet he was reluctant to shoul- der much of the blame for Holyrood’s failings, despite being one of the original MSPs in 1999, a former Scots Labour leader and First Minister from 2001 to 2007, when his party lost to the SNP.
He said: ‘Labour had a responsibility as the biggest party, but the problems were more generational and about the changing nature of politics than one party. I don’t blame the SNP’s discipline, or Labour for the fact that some parliamentarians failed to rise to the occasion in the way that Scotland had hoped for.’
Former maths teacher Lord McConnell said the Scottish parliament should, at least, receive ‘good grades’ for the standard of legislation it has passed over its two decades. He added: ‘The principal purpose of devolution was creating legislative autonomy to Scotland: Scots making laws for Scotland. On that, devolution has delivered.
‘It has dealt with reform in criminal justice and land, ownership and use, and public health for the most disadvantaged.
‘It has passed legislation that there would never have been time for at Westminster, so for the primary purpose of the parliament it has been broadly successful.’
Last night, the SNP hit back in defence of the parliament.
Perth and North Perthshire Nationalist MP Pete Wishart said: ‘No parliament in the world is perfect and Holyrood continues to make progressive reforms.’
But he added: ‘Compared to the undemocratic and archaic practices at Westminster, the Scottish parliament is a leading light in openness, transparency, accessibility and accountability around the world.
‘In contrast, the House of Lords where Baron McConnell sits as a fully-paid, unelected Labour peer, accountable to no one, is in desperate need of being abolished.’