Devolution has largely failed in Scotland and Wales and some powers need to be returned to Westminster. This is a precis of a controversial article by Lord Frost in the Daily Telegraph last week that continues to provoke outrage. Leading members of the SNP have denounced it. Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf has vowed to ‘defend our democracy’ in the face of the attack, and Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, has called it evidence of ‘a deliberate, co-ordinated attempt to reverse devolution, …and force Scotland under Westminster control.’ Even some Tories and unionist commentators have slammed Frost’s piece either as outright ‘nonsense’ or a tactical error gifting the seemingly moribund SNP a ‘lifeline’ in the form of fodder for its ever active grievous machine.
They are wrong, and Lord Frost is right. Devolution has been a disaster for Scotland, offering unchecked power to one of the lowest quality cohorts of politicians the UK has ever seen, with lamentable consequences for the country.
Where to start? Its Byzantine seat allocation system, which almost no one understands, has allowed a party that few people vote for (the Scottish Greens) to virtually dictate national policy. Thanks to them we very nearly had open season for any biological male, including convicted rapists, to access women’s spaces. We also nearly had a bottle deposit return scheme that was opposed by nearly every drinks company in the country. And if they get their way, one of the country’s most profitable sectors, oil and gas, will be effectively shut down.
With good reason did Billy Connolly call it ‘the wee pretendy parliament’
It is unaccountable, like a perpetually indulged petulant teenager its endless mistakes are underwritten by mother Westminster. Its workings are opaque and mysterious with the failure to adequately separate powers or allow for adequate scrutiny almost incentivising secrecy and corruption. Tory MP David Davis had to use parliamentary privilege to reveal ‘whistleblower’ evidence about the Alex Salmond affair. The nation had to rely on Westminster to block the mad Gender Recognition Reform Bill (GRRB).
The standard of debate is often pitiful. A representative example would be when former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon got her notes mixed up and gave totally unrelated pre-scripted answers to questions – twice – and almost nobody noticed. Lorna Slater, Green minister for the ‘circular economy’ simply walked out rather than face a tough question recently, and wasn’t obliged to return. With good reason did Billy Connolly call it ‘the wee pretendy parliament’.
To boot, it is ruinously expensive. The massive overspend on the ugly building (£414 million – ten times the original budget) was a harbinger of things to come. The Scottish government’s budget is now £60 billion. If they had just left the hole dug for the foundations and poured money into it ever since if would have achieved as much and at least have saved us an eyesore and 24 years’ of insufferable windbaggery.
But what may escape the SNP hierarchy and some commentators is that these views are increasingly widespread north of the border. If Yousaf hopes an attack on devolution and Holyrood by a prominent Tory will lead to grass roots outrage and arrest in their plummeting fortunes, it may be in vain.
For who now has any respect for the Holyrood parliament? Not many in the Highland and Islands waiting for vital ferries that never arrive. Not many in the business community who seem to be under constant attack. Not many who drive on roads that are never upgraded, or use the failing NHS, or have issues with their failing schools, or simply have some regard for how Scotland is perceived on the world stage.
And not even hardcore nationalists it seems, who only ever saw the parliament as a vehicle for true independence. Influential pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland regularly highlights the farcical proceedings at Holyrood. It also condemned the passing of the GRRB, contrary to the wishes of the majority of the people of Scotland. Prominent nationalist and Alba supporter Craig Murray has described the devolution settlement as ‘a moral sink’.
It may be that the only truly committed defenders of the devolution settlement are those that directly benefit from its largesse, what Murray calls the ‘troughocracy’. The SNP benches, he attests, are stuffed with faux nationalists far too comfortable with the present circumstances to genuinely pursue the cause they so fulsomely espouse. And why would they? A comfortable sinecure, a platform to pontificate, almost unlimited funds to play with and extensive powers of patronage to exploit. All with very little accountability. What’s not to like? Hooray for Holyrood!
For those lucky few, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; or, perhaps more accurately, if it is broke but it works out well for us, don’t fix it. And viciously attack anyone who tries, on the grounds of ‘defending democracy’.
I’m unconvinced that Lord Frost pointing out some uncomfortable truths will save the SNP from oblivion or jeopardise the Union. The same argument was put forward over the government’s Section 35 order blocking the GRRB and look how that worked out. Scottish Tories take note: a little honestly, a commodity in short supply in Scottish politics in recent years, might be just what is required right now.
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