When architects were designing the Scottish Parliament chamber, they shunned the adversarial structure found in the House of Commons and opted for a hemicycle shape, favoured by other European legislatures, in the belief that the design would breed a more consensual tone.
This month, though, we have seen Holyrood mimic one of the traits more commonly associated with its Westminster counterpart. I talk of the late-night debating session, a lesser-spotted occurrence in Scotland’s parliament, that has made numerous appearances over the past three weeks as MSPs have worked into the relatively wee small hours to deliver the ‘continuity bill’. This reached its conclusion on Wednesday when, after more than 20 hours of debate and a mammoth 231 amendments, all 129 members were present to vote – another rare parliamentary occurrence – and the bill was passed by 95 votes to 32.
Scottish Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins led his party’s opposition to the bill, citing the "grave doubts” he had over its competence and called for it to be referred to the Supreme Court. The Glasgow MSP, along with each of his party colleagues, voted against the bill, claiming it was just another attempt by the SNP government to "sow the seeds of division within the United Kingdom".
We now play a waiting game to see if a legal challenge is made on the grounds that the Scottish Parliament does not have the competency to legislate on this matter, a concern that, uniquely, was also upheld by the parliament’s Presiding Officer. And the legislation might not even be required at all as the Scottish government continue dialogue with the UK government in the hope that they will reach a deal on the withdrawal bill that would render the Scottish bill obsolete.
It wasn’t the first time this week that Scotland’s two biggest parties clashed over Brexit matters. Though, in reality, the issue of what arrangements the fishing industry will adopt during the transition phase was more a case of the SNP helping fuel the row between the Scottish Conservative MPs and the UK government. David Davis’s gleeful announcement on Monday that a deal had been secured that will see the UK continue to observe the Common Fisheries Policy during this phase was met with anger from Scottish Tory MPs, who had previously demanded nothing less than full control of fishing during that period, in line with UK government promises. It led to Ruth Davidson having to pronounce her ‘disappointment’ at the outcome and a forewarning that she wouldn’t support any final deal that didn’t guarantee full British control over 'fish stocks and vessel access', something the SNP said amounted to an embarrassing climb-down.
I have written previously about the desire of the Scottish bloc of the party to be seen as the rebel child of the class; well behaved for the most part but capable of throwing the odd tantrum when they don’t get their way. After this fishing fiasco, the group – which has secured some concessions since last year’s election to demonstrate that they are standing up for Scotland – will be desperate to reclaim that reputation.
There was total unity on Wednesday when our most prominent female politicians spoke out about the abuse they have received online. Nicola Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale all recounted appalling examples of the terrible abuse that they suffer online, including threats of death and rape, as they backed Amnesty’s new “ToxicTwitter” campaign to tackle online violence and abuse against women. Their intervention followed Transport Minister Humza Yousaf and Labour MSP Anas Sarwar, who joined forces to warn of the worrying rise in racism and Islamophobia in Scotland. We can only hope that calling out his abhorrent behaviour will hasten the day when Scotland joins the First Minister and others to say that “enough is enough” when it comes to all forms of hate.
Finally, as a political anorak and someone who finds The Great British Bake Off a guilty pleasure, I enjoyed watching Ruth Davidson enter the famous tent on Tuesday. I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it yet, but all I’ll say is Ruth will be hoping her party’s poll numbers rise as high as her chocolate orange loaf.