Time to end all the theatricals and get Holyrood working

WHEN the Scottish Parliament opened its doors in 1999, it was meant to be different.

- Stephen Kerr

The architects of devolution promised a modern, open, accountable Parliament. They told us this was to be Scotland’s great democratic renewal: a chamber where ideas would clash but respect would remain, where ministers would be challenged and the truth would emerge from robust debate not political choreography.

Instead, what we have today is a hollow performance. Some call it “scripted theatre” That's unfair to theatre. At least actors read their lines with conviction.

The tragedy of Holyrood is that it was built to encourage consensus and scrutiny but has evolved into a stage-managed echo chamber. Its semicircular chamber was meant to signal a break from Westminster's ‘adversarial "benches.

Instead, it has become a semicircle of silence, punctuated only by the rustle of pre-written speeches and the ritual murmur of “I call [insert MSP name]. You have four minutes.”

THE beating heart of any democracy is debate. But in Holyrood, debate has been replaced by recitation. MSPs are routinely confined to four or six minute slots, enough time to read a press release, not develop an argument. The logic, we're told, is to protect “family-friendly hours.” But the price of this scheduling is a parliament where legislation shaping the lives of millions is debated with the depth of a puddle in Princes Street.