Anger at the ‘Pretend Parliament’: Sturgeon facing growing pressure to abandon Holyrood 'power grab', if Holyrood mattered this would be a major problem, but as more people learn Holyrood is second rate, why should we expect better, the talent isn’t there in the SNP leadership of Nicola Sturgeon and it shows

Dear All

Stupid people afford all of us the opportunity to comment on their stupidity, and the SNP have done much to set tongues wagging!

Unpopular Nicola Sturgeon is facing growing cross-party pressure to abandon a move to make backbench MSPs aides to the ministers they are also supposed to hold to account.

As I have previously said the SNP is a cult and as such they live inside a bubble where no real independent thought is tolerated or welcomed as such we have seen them rising due to the demise of others and we will certainly see them fall.

And when the fall comes it will be spectacular.

One has to wonder who thought that making backbench MSPs aides to the ministers sit on a committee holding their bosses to account was a good idea. Clearly it is a bad idea, and clearly this is a conflict of interest which is damaging to democracy.

As we know the SNP don’t care about democracy or rights or common decency, they are substance lite gimmick politicians.

In an unusual step, four Conservative convenors of the justice, economy, rural affairs and delegated powers committees have written to Nicola Sturgeon to complain about the latest power grab.

It’s a power grab to gag committees functioning properly.

You cannot scrutinise SNP Ministers if said ministers are your boss.

Kezia Dugdale, the leader of Scottish Labour, said the First Minister should reintroduce a ban on ministerial assistants serving on committees linked to their boss's brief. Anyone with half a brain would see the logic of this, but the SNP are turning Holyrood into a sham parliament, a national embarrassment just as they have done in the Scottish Government.

Apparently every opposition party is angry, so what happens if Sturgeon doesn’t budge, well I would say that why play along with a farce, abandon the committees totally, stage a boycott.

A boycott of all committees to prove a point, if there isn’t going to be democracy and accountability they is no point in being played for a fool.

The Liberal Democrats and Greens have also called for a u-turn on this morally dubious decision but how much notice does the SNP take of them!

Conservative convenors stated in a letter:

"It is now clear that several SNP PLOs are sitting on committees which have a substantial link to their minister's own portfolio. This means we have SNP MSPs in parliamentary committees, charged with scrutinising legislation, who are also appointed by those same ministers to help that legislation pass. We believe this amounts to a clear conflict of interest which needs to be addressed”.

They added:

"As new conveners, we consider it essential that our own committees provide the robust scrutiny of legislation which was sadly too often lacking in the last parliament. We are therefore calling on you as leader of the SNP to remove SNP PLOs from committees which have a clear link to their minister's own portfolio. We believe this would help to ensure confidence in the integrity of the Scottish Parliament, and - ultimately - lead to better law-making by your government."

Fiona Hyslop, Culture and External Affairs secretary, once said:

"One cannot serve two masters. One cannot be a ministerial parliamentary aide and serve on a committee."

Apparently this concept is now deemed acceptable, if this matter is dealt with, the committee system should be abandoned by parties, and once the SNP is leaft talking to themselves in committees telling each other how wonderful they are, they will find out the public won’t think so.

Will the idea of a strike take hold?

Personally I doubt it, there are many people who say that Holyrood is a lesser place than Westminster, the work produced there is also of a less quality but there needs to be a stand taken and I don’t think the political will is there for that kind of new politics!

So what is the SNP saying:

"The purpose of PLOs is to provide a link between all parties, Parliament as a whole and Government Ministers. No party holds a majority on any parliamentary committee and all MSPs are able to fully scrutinise Scottish Government ministers. This system has been in place for many years and these complaints seem more like a case of the Tories jumping on a political bandwagon."

Do you see what happens when stupid ignorant people get control of the mechanisms of democracy; it goes right out the window.

If Holyrood had meaning, you could be upset, but since it produces ‘tat’, let the idiots play their stupid silly games, it can always be flagged up later why Scottish independence must be opposed, simply put we are fighting against anti-democratic forces!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University