MSPS debate ‘selfish’

MSPS are set to clash over Baroness Thatcher within mi n u t e s of her funeral next week, after Green and Independent MSPs announced a debate to discuss her legacy of “selfishness”.

In a swipe at one of the late Prime Minister’s most infamous remarks, the debate’s title is There Is Still Such A Thing As Society, a riposte to her comment: “There is no such thing as society.”

The Scottish Tories said the event appeared designed to cause “upset and controversy” and accused the Greens of being narrow-minded.

The timing is a fluke, as the funeral falls on the one day of the year on which the five-member Green and Independent group is given time for a debate of its choosing.

The Wednesday afternoon session starts at Holyrood shortly after the ceremonial funeral service for Thatcher at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, which starts at 11am.

First Minister Alex Salmond and Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson will attend. With Tricia Marwick, Holyrood’s politically neutral Presiding Officer, also due at the service, the Thatcher debate will be chaired by one of her deputies – Tory John Scott or the Labour leftwinger Elaine Smith.

The event has the potential to generate angry scenes such as those in the House of Commons on Wednesday, when MPs were in theory recalled to pay tribute to the former Tory leader, only for some to attack her record and character.

Hampstead Labour MP Glenda Jackson was jeered by Tories for saying Thatcherism had brought “the most heinous social, economic and spiritual damage upon this country”.

Glasgow Green MSP Patrick Harvie said he wanted all parties to contribute to an “honest debate” at Holyrood about Lady Thatcher.

“Margaret Thatcher has died, but the tragedy for huge numbers of people is that Thatcherism as an ideology still lives,” he said.

“We aim to encourage honest consideration of the legacy of Thatcherism, the core elements of which – competition and selfishness