The Scottish Parliament is flourishing as an exciting democratic experiment

Everyone in politics should avoid the perils of self-congratulation but I do want to support the broad tenor of remarks by Gina Davidson and Lesley Riddoch on 20 years of the Scottish Parliament (Scotsman, 6 May).

In many ways it is an example of a venture that got off to almost the worst possible start but came to flourish as an exciting democratic experiment.

The loss of two First Ministers within a year, coupled with the wrangling about the costs of the building could well have played into the hands of the cynics in the early noughties.

It says something about the parliament’s durability that it has adapted to coalition governments, an administration in a heavy minority, a majority administration and now a strong minority government, albeit dependent on support from a smaller party, and all in a space of just two decades.

More than this, devolution has played a strong part in mitigating for many people the worst effects of the 2008 financial crash. Free personal care, free prescriptions, free tuition for students domiciled in Scotland, along with a still generous concessionary travel scheme for pensioners, have helped household incomes at a time of wage restrictions and recession.

Although many, including myself, feel that various governments could have used their new powers better to foster economic growth, there can be little dispute that devolved government has played a key role in terms of protecting both middle-income voters and the most vulnerable north of the Border.

New challenges face this and future governments about implementing welfare reform; but even in the midst of continued debate about the country’s constitutional future there are grounds for optimism that the changes will be well managed.

BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes

Even Lesley Riddoch, must see the representation at Scottish Parliament must change.

The list system should be abolished, since it is more about representation of the parties than the people. There are a number of first-class list MSPS, but too many are just party lobby fodder. The BBC’S new debate night programme had highlighted some of that dross.

A prime example is the Green Party, or the Patrick Harvie party, as he seems to be their spokesman on everything. Most members of the public would be hard-pressed to name any of the other five nonentities who sit beside him.

Any form of PR gives power to parties rather than people. Local government has lost accountability with the multimember ward system. Europe is a prime example, since it moved from constituency-based to PR. I can’t remember the last time that an MEP was spotted in Dumfries and Galloway.

It would be more beneficial to rural areas to have constituency-based MSPS than list MSPS. Indeed I can think of two SNP list members who did not even stay in the list constituency.

Before we talk about independence we need a parliamentary system that puts the public’s rights before the prejudices of political parties .

TOM MCAUGHTRIE