Scottish Parliament's Founding Principles Under Attack
Wed., October 26, 2005. 13:00.
Move to deny legal support to backbench bills 'an attack on founding principles of parliament'
Green MSPs are furious that the Scottish Parliament's Corporate Body (SPCB) is set to impose new rules which Greens say will stifle democratic debate and undermine the founding principles of the parliament.(1) The proposal, to be voted on in the parliament today, Wednesday 26th, will deny legal support to backbench members bills if they are deemed to be too big, complex or too wide in their scope. (2)
The move is seen as a direct attack on one of the founding principles of the parliament, that of 'power sharing', a principle that seeks equality of relationship between the Parliament and Executive.
Greens accuse the Executive of trying to stifle debate and backbench democracy in the parliament and are particularly disappointed that the Libdem on the SPCB put the power of the Executive ahead of the democratisation of politics. The Libdems are also criticised heavily by Canon Kenyon Wright, a leading member of the Constitutional Convention, which helped establish the Parliament, who has expressed his dismay at this 'centralisation of power'.
Green Party Business Manager Chris Ballance MSP said: "It appears that some bills are more equal than others. No matter how popular a proposal is or how much need has been demonstrated for legislation in that area, it can be killed off by the Corporate Body if they can say it is too complicated. The message is clear- apparently small parties, independents and backbenchers should not attempt to think too big. We are deeply concerned about the implications of this for Scottish parliamentary democracy."
Canon Kenyon Wright said: “The parliament's founding principles of sharing power and participation are at stake here. This move could well be seen as an attempt to squeeze out small parties and independents so that there is very little real debate over challenging political ideas. The larger parties must consider their position and voting intentions on Wednesday very seriously. If they agree the proposals they will stand accused of seeking to protect their own positions at the expense of democracy. I am very surprised that the Liberal Democrats in particular are willing to countenance this apparent centralisation of power.”
Greens fear a worrying trend, as this move follows the recent St. Andrew's Day Bill fiasco, where the Executive used its voting power to overturn the recommendations of a Parliamentary Committee.
Chris Ballance added: “The question here is who is making these decisions and why? This kind of shadowy, backroom politics is anti-democratic and completely at odds with the vision of the Constitutional Convention and the Consultative Steering Group which established the Scottish parliament.”
The rationale given for the new rules is that the Non-Executive Bills Unit (NEBU) is overstretched. NEBU has suffered overload since the parliament began, but in recent years has been allocated more staff and is dealing with fewer bills. Greens want to know why the SPCB has moved to place further restrictions on bills rather than investigate how to free up more resources for NEBU. Chris Ballance MSP has written to the parliamentary authorities seeking an explanation and tabled an amendment for the debate. (1)
Canon Kenyon Wright added: "The Executive seems to be unwilling to countenance a parliament that can think and act for itself. If proposed legislation is supported by MSPs across the political spectrum then what needs to be done should be done to bring that legislation before parliament for debate. The Executive never seems to have a shortage of expert legal support, so why should the parliament suffer?"
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. Parliament is set to debate the following Corporate Body motion:
*S2M-3411 Mr Duncan McNeil: Report on Prioritisation of the Non-Executive Bills Unit’s Workload—That the Parliament endorses the prioritisation criteria set out in paragraphs 7 to 9 of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body’s 2nd Report, 2005 (Session 2): Report on the Prioritisation of the Non-Executive Bills Unit’s Workload (SP Paper 434) and therefore agrees the recommendations in paragraph 19 of the report.
Chris Ballance has tabled the following amendment:
*S2M-3411.1 Chris Ballance: Report on Prioritisation of the Non-Executive Bills Unit’s Workload—As an amendment to motion (S2M-3411) in the name of Mr Duncan McNeil, leave out from "endorses" to end and insert "notes the prioritisation criteria set out in paragraphs 7 to 9 of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body’s (SPCB) 2nd Report, 2005 (Session 2): Report on the Prioritisation of the Non-Executive Bills Unit’s Workload (SP Paper 434); notes with concern that one of these criteria proposes to refuse drafting support based on "the potential size, scope and complexity of a Bill"; further notes with concern the implication that Members’ Bills must therefore be small, narrow in scope and simple in order to receive drafting support from the Parliament; believes that this is the wrong approach to the question of resources within the Non-Executive Bills Unit and that it undermines the founding principles of the Scottish Parliament, in particular that of power sharing, and calls on the SPCB to review its recommendations in order to ensure that all Bill proposals receive fair access to drafting support."
The report can be read here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/spcb/reports/spcbreport-05-02.pdf
2. This issue has been hotly debated behind the scenes in parliament since before 2003. The Procedures Committee responded to the problem early in the current session by raising the threshold for Member's Bills and requiring proposals to demonstrate more cross-party support. Greens backed this move because it reduces the number of proposals being processed by NEBU by a democratic, accountable and transparent mechanism. However, despite this the SPCB has pressed ahead with its proposal to deny support to Bills based on their "potential size, scope and complexity."
Contact the Scottish Greens' press team on 07909 933 074.