THE General Election is about choosing the next UK government. A statement of the obvious? It is a notion those who have only been to exposed to SNP rhetoric might have missed.
Take this, from Nicola Sturgeon's speech to the SNP conference last month: "As long as Scotland remains part of the Westminster system, we will be your allies in seeking to shake up and reform that outdated and discredited system once and for all.
"Westminster needs to change.
"To be more responsive to the needs and demands of ordinary people, wherever they are in the UK."
The SNP has always been supremely skilled in the way it uses language to frame a debate. The First Minister was not really talking about "Westminster" at all in her address but about the UK or the UK government. But of course, if you are taking a swipe why not invoke a word that is tainted by the MPs' expenses scandal specifically and disillusionment with politicians generally? A large proportion of those who voted No last September did so out of fondness for the UK or Britain but even they roll their eyes at the thought of grubby old Westminster.
It was instructive to see Scottish Greens leader Patrick Harvie discussing Westminster last week in its proper context as a parliament, a place where laws are made and governments held to account. And it was highly illuminating to see him compare the place favourably with Holyrood, something that would be heresy for an SNP MSP. Writing in The Herald's Agenda column, Mr Harvie made the point that, for all Westminster's ills, its committee system functions better than the Scottish Parliament's. At Holyrood, he said, proper scrutiny has been whipped into oblivion leaving a situation where the Scottish Government is "marking its own work".
Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick, too, considered the differences between Holyrood and Westminster in a lengthy and thoughtful speech to the David Hume Institute last week. Explaining her proposal to strengthen the committees by putting them under the leadership of elected conveners, she said: "What I am setting out is not different to what is operating within the House of Commons, some would say with some real success."
The Presiding Officer is adamant that electing conveners by a secret ballot of all MSPs (they are party appointees at present) would create a "cultural shift" at Holyrood. More independent-minded MSPs would come to the fore, she believes, setting their own agenda and carving out high profile public roles. She wants "not just politicians but parliamentarians".
Mr Harvie is not opposed to elected conveners but doubts the reform will end the problem of MSPs being so tightly controlled by party whips, with all that that implies for a committee's ability to challenge the government of the day.
For all their differences, though, they and a growing number of MSPs agree on the need for change. After all, it would be tragic if "Holyrood" ended up as a term of abuse to be bandied in conference speeches.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article