Lord Mcconnell warns Holyrood has ‘lost its way’ on emergency Covid laws

EMERGENCY laws brought in by the Scottish Government in response to coronavirus lack proper checks and balances, a former first minister has claimed.

Lord Mcconnell said Holyrood seemed “to have lost its way” over the new legislation.

He accepted that “emergency powers were needed by ministers” when the pandemic hit in March.

But he added: “When laws passed by the Scottish Parliament to allow temporary emergency powers to deal with the urgency of a crisis in March have become more permanent and less accountable than the equivalent in Westminster

– under a government there that hardly seems to be particularly open and transparent – then the original vision of a new kind of parliament here in Scotland seems to have lost its way.

“The Scottish legislation does not contain all the checks needed for opposition to scrutinise and question ministers’ decisions, and MSPS have few opportunities to speak up for their worried constituents.”

The Labour peer made the comments in the Donald Dewar memorial lecture at Glasgow University, 20 years on from the death of Scotland’s first FM.

Lord Mcconnell, who was first minister between 2001 and 2007, suggested some controversies might have been avoided if Holyrood had been “more engaged” in decisions.

He stated: “The dithering over re-opening schools and the exams results fiasco might have been avoided with Parliament more engaged in the decisions, and perhaps some of the inconsistency in local lockdown restrictions and some of the anger and frustration from businesses, patients and others about not being heard might be avoided, too.

“Consent is precious and should not be taken for granted.”

Lord Mcconnell, a former maths teacher, was a fierce critic of the Scottish Government’s plan for “blended learning” in schools.

In his lecture, he also took a swipe at the UK Government.

Six months on from the initial lockdown in late March, he said there remained “lessons to be learned in tackling the pandemic in Edinburgh and in London”.

And he added there was also “a huge job to be done to build back better and to help the economy, our businesses and families recover”.

Calling for a new national focus on poverty, he urged the Scottish and UK governments to work together more to tackling “rising child poverty” in Scotland.

Policies brought in by the first Labour-led Scottish Executive “made a real difference to the level of child poverty in Glasgow and across Scotland”, he said.

But he went on: “Unfortunately child poverty has now steadily increased since the year before the independence referendum, with annual increases now resulting in one quarter of kids in Scotland living in relative poverty.”

Lord Mcconnell demanded: “In order to tackle rising child poverty, pride and partisan politics should be set aside.”