Outgoing Presiding Officer, Tricia Marwick, has called for reforms to key Holyrood committees arguing that the Scottish Parliament has “never worked” democratically. Her call comes as the Parliament reflects on the implications of a minority SNP government.
During the SNP’s spell as a majority government between 2011 and 2016 all key committees were chaired by SNP MSPs. Committees also had a majority of SNP MSPs and, unlike Westminster, the Scottish Parliament lacks a revising chamber.
Insufficient scrutiny led to concerns about the quality of legislation –particularly true of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. Legislative ambiguity led the then Chief Constable Sir Stephen House and Vic Emery, then Scottish Police Authority Chair, to both seek independent legal advice on the legislation. Sir Stephen said the confusion was down to a “gobsmacking major problem” with the way it was written.
Falling two short of an overall majority, and eschewing any formal coalition, the SNP will need to engage with different parties on different issues in order to secure support. If, for example, it wishes to give the go ahead to fracking, they will need support from the Conservatives and if they were minded to hold a second Independence referendum, it would require support from the six Green Party MSPs.
Will the new parliamentary arithmetic lead to a shake-up of the committee system? Despite Labour MSP, Ken McIntosh, being elected as the new Presiding Officer, proponents of change may be disappointed. To secure victory, the new Presiding Officer obtained strong SNP support and has indicated that he will take a cautious and pragmatic approach to reform.
Time will tell but if the SNP seeks to put long-lasting and quality legislation on the statute book, it should recognise that the committees would be enhanced by having opposition MSPs in the chair.
And critical scrutiny of proposed laws by all MSPs, including their own, would also help. Not only would this make for better legislation but it might even benefit the party at the polls.