Second rate parliament stuffed with third rate politicians, unpopular Nicola Sturgeon at the Political Studies Association conference in Glasgow floats the idea that more MSPs would be needed in an independent Scotland, this might be a lifeline to SNP cult, but the pressing issue should be removal of the Holyrood list system

Dear All

In case you missed it, the Political Studies Association are in Glasgow a holding a conference, some big names from the world of politics are attending to enlighten the academics. There is a question and answer session with Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP, whether there is value to that event, I leave it up to you.

One of the range of topics which might have perked your interest was ‘The (Dis)United Kingdom in Interesting Times’, the main point is the desire by people for sovereignty, the issue of populism is high on the people’s agenda, they don’t want politicians tell them how to live their lives. The new political landscape is seeing old parties effectively dying off, because they have no place in today’s society, it is very much a rejection of control freakery.

Yesterday, I blogged on how Scottish Labour’s problems, their task to recover is so huge and so time consuming, their current modus operandi is just not worth salvaging. Fixing Scottish Labour is an entire project all in itself, and to be clear when I read this:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/15218403.Leaked_emails_reveal_Scottish_Labour_tensions_in_run_up_to_Holyrood_referendum_debate/

I am not interest in the leak, whoever did that was stupid, what I am more interested in is the claim that in a debate, it is more important to present a pretence of a united front than allow others of different opinion to state another view. If democracy is about anything, the use of debate and alternatives views in a party is a sign of health.

This is why Scottish Labour will not progress, the same people who brought the party to its knees are more keen to fireguard their own positions by use of authority than allowing Scottish Labour to grow. Just as we have seen in England, we will see in Scotland, the emergence of two Labour Parties within the same organisation.

A small point on the SNP, they are already doomed, they don’t tolerate other voices in their ranks as seen by the comments from MSPs calling to challenge Nicola Sturgeon, please note the people doing so are at the end of their careers. In the SNP, selection isn’t based on merit, it is based on cronyism and promoting people with no ability to threaten the leadership.

Anyway back to the Political Studies Association in Glasgow, if you haven’t heard about them or their conference, don’t worry it isn’t cheap to go and attend;

Standard Rates
Member = £235
Postgraduate Member = £125
Non-member = £320
Postgraduate Non-member = £165

Gulp!

They are also handing out volt power banks for free with their names of them as a freebie, I got one, you never know, it might come in handy. The big thing about events like these is listening to the conferences talks, networking and quizzing the academics afterwards.

One of the speakers at the Political Studies Association event in Glasgow was unpopular Nicola Sturgeon, apparently if she ever gets her way and achieves an independent Scotland, she thinks that Holyrood will need more MSPs.

Pre-devolution, we had 59 MPs to represent the interests of Scotland and its voters, now in this day in age, we have 59 MPs and 129 MSPs to do the same job, so either we didn’t have proper representation pre Holyrood or now we have too much representation. The problem with representation now is a political class divorce from the needs of the public; this is shown by the election results. If Scotland is on a journey, it isn’t towards independence, it seems to me that the journey for Scots is to find new political parties who can meet the challenges that voters face in their every day lives…. and still do the day job of government.

Sturgeon’s call for more MSPs in my opinion is a lifeline to a load of cretins that she and others would which to foster on us to give them a payday.

Would under Nicola Sturgeon each ward have an MSP?

Would under Nicola Sturgeon a constituency be broken down into two wards which would seem more practical so that an MSP would have 45,000 voters?

Would there still be a list system to top up?

What would the effect be on local government and councillors?

How many new MSPs would be needed in total?

So, there is a lot of questions that Sturgeon’s suggestion throws up about how governance is enacted in Scotland if the SNP could ever managed to trick the people into voting for her nightmare.

I don’t believe that Nicola Sturgeon’s case holds water, if there is a case for needing more representation then it seems obvious that increasing the staff of MSPs would be a better solution, more productive and cost effective. The Holyrood Parliament for years has rightly been seen as a very poor second to Westminster which led to many people claiming that the place was filled with third rate politicians in a second rate parliament.

And the standard of legislation and debate is suspect, has Holyrood made people’s lives better?

Do you feel that you live in the highest tax place in the UK is better?

Do you see the streets lined with gold or do you see what I see homeless people living rough, abandoned to their fate, the SNP concerned more about middle class welfare-ism to deliver an election victory?

Gimmicks and low grade pap is served up to the public with the expectance of there should be universal applause and gratitude for the delivery of so little done by so many.

The most pressing reform I want to see at Holyrood is the complete removal of the list system as the most undemocratic piece of nonsense ever invented.

The public have no way to remove a bad list MSP.

Not even given the option via the ballot box.

Holyrood is designed to create a false air that democracy works; it allows people who the public would never consider to be allowed to make laws because of a rigged system.

Just because it is rigged legally doesn’t hold water, the list system is a scandal that plagues Holyrood since it opened in 1999.

As well as throwing a lifeline to the SNP’s cult members currently not MSPs, Sturgeon managed to get in her current grievance on Brexit and her wish of getting a vote permitted on her preferred timetable for a second Scottish independence referendum.

She can whistle for that agenda, Brexit is rolling, the letter’s in and the talking has started. Speaking of talking, did you know that the SNP have had about 80 discussions with people and officials in Europe about SNP membership?

80 discussions, no headway, nothing achieved, no objectives reached, no progress.

If there is a vote and the SNP position is a choice between the UK and the EU, the people will back the UK, the loss by the SNP will be greater because the UK is a country and the EU is a political organisation which is falling apart.

European people like the people of the UK want to rediscover their sovereignty again, they want control of their laws, full control, they want to freely trade, they like the UK don’t want a political elite dictating to them. They are just starting their journey, their awakening; it will take time to see the mainstream parties in Europe start the process of failing to accrue votes.

Their downward spiral will need a tipping point; the vehicle which will probably usher this in will be terrorism. At some point, there will be an event so huge that the national psyche of a country will be affected which will see a political party collapse. In Scotland, we witnessed a collapse of Scottish Labour, independence was the banner but lack of social justice was the driving force. Sustained pressure built up against Scottish Labour to a point when the collapse came it was pretty much total.

In a political sense the demise of Scottish Labour was due to their complete disconnect from the public and their problems. They wrongly thought that the public would continue to allow them to take them for granted as they pushed their agenda and not a people’s agenda onto voters.

Finally, Nicola Sturgeon told the Political Studies Association annual conference, that EU membership had been a “significant issue” in the 2014 independence referendum.

What utter delusional rubbish!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University