Proper scrutiny

I was interested in your article “Scottish Parliament needs second chamber, claims Lord Mcconnell”, (14 May).

The suggestion is that nominees will be sought from local authorities and other such sources. But the prob - lem is that MSPS will likely treat any such chamber as inferior, in the way they currently disregard Holy rood committees, the information commissioner and, indeed, local authorities themselves.

The risk would be that another tier of advisers is created, who are ignored as and when MSPS feel like it, or if it does not suit the political agenda of the day. Political parties in Scotland could easily place tame personnel sympathetic to their cause in key positions.

For proper scrutiny to take place, it would be much better if MSPS were kept on edge a bit more. The Westminster parliament already exists. There already is a Scottish Affairs Committee, and there already is a Scottish Secretary sitting in the UK Cabinet. If we want an effective mechanism to oversee Holyrood, surely the answer would be to give that function to Westminster.

Indeed, Westminster fulfils some of those functions today, but these could be expanded. Done properly, this would keep our more up pity MSPS in their place, and strengthen the union as well, and give our Scottish MPS a higher profile.

There is no point in inventing new layers of government when we could simply use the ones already in existence. VICTOR CLEMENTS

Aberfeldy, Perthshire