I really did need to take a second read of the Scotsman story today about the SNP’s “elected dictatorship” to make sure that I had got the jist of this good ole-fashioned “SNP-accused” piece of journalism.
To help me put it in context I had a quick look back to the 2005 UK General Election result. I read that twice too. Labour, the largest party with just over 40% of the constituency vote, had a majority of 66. Since I read it twice, let’s put it another way. A party polling 5% less than the SNP did in 2011, obtained a majority proportionately larger.
Yes you read that correctly. Less and larger. But no-one suggested at that time that in a UK context this would lead to poor unaccountable government.
But in Scotland according to Hugh Henry and the Labour Party things are different - the Scottish Parliament is “effectively powerless to hold Alex Salmond's SNP government to account.”
This breathtaking arrogance surely knows no boundaries! Are they really that out of touch with democracy in this country? And are they so lacking in confidence in their OWN capabilities as opposition members?
Going back only 4 years, the council elections of 2007 saw west-central Scotland emerge out of decades of totalitarian one party rule into something approaching 21st century multi-party democracy. Chairman Mao and Comrade Stalin would have been quietly content with the way the Labour party had been stifling democracy and debate over a period of approaching 50 years in parts of this country.
Having briefly, until illness intervened, served as a councillor in the past, I have firsthand experience of what it feels to be the only opposition councillor on a committee. I remember one of the Labour councillors asking me once, “Why do you ask so many questions?” to which my reply was, “Why do you ask so few?” He couldn’t answer that one as it was an alien concept to him and his ilk.
Race through the agenda, get to the end, claim the allowance and off home was the order of the day. Don’t rattle any cages and claim your chairmanship of the Auchenshuggle East Bowling Pensioners Miners Welfare Liaison committee as a reward for long service. Dampen expectations but replace a few rotten windows as a sop to the peasants. That’s how it felt and I dare say might still feel in some parts even still.
Well I’ve got news for Mr Henry and his cronies. Those days are well and truly over and the sooner you come to terms with the magnitude of what happened in 2007 and again in 2011 then the better it will be for our democracy.
We didn’t get another rainbow parliament with its breadth of political views. That was a shame in my view.
We didn’t get a minority government with its hands tied over important issues. That wouldn’t have been the end of the world.
We certainly didn’t get a return to the past and perpetual Labour governance. That would have been a disaster.
What we did get, whether Mr Henry and his cronies like it or not, was what we voted for.
And that surely has to be good for democracy not bad.
I’m quite happy to say that I’ve never been Mr Salmond’s number one fan. He can come over as arrogant and sometimes dismissive of alternative points of view, a love or hate figure. He certainly produces these two emotions in many of my friends. I have to say however that I think some of his performances during, and immediately before the election demonstrated that he has recognised and worked on that aspect of his persona no end.
But say what you like he is pretty damned good at what he does. And one of the things he is good at is making Scots feel better about themselves, their country and where they’re headed.
And in comparison with the ghost-like figure of the Labour leader, the out-of-place and frankly out-of-touch tweediness of his Tory counterpart, and the leader of the Orkney and Shetland party, he is in a different league. And we’re not talking just the one division apart either.
I’m pretty relaxed about Trishia Marwick as Presiding Officer too. I remember her from my activist days and she’s nobody’s stooge. It’s a big step up but I am confident she is up to it. It’s not her fault that the calibre of the opposition benches is of a somewhat lower level than the majority party.
Mr Henry and his colleagues will have no-one to blame apart from themselves if they do not hold this government to account. That’s the job of opposition. And to attempt to create this non-story so early in the life of this Parliament is a sad reflection of the limits to their ambition and possibly abilities.
The people have spoken and they put Alex Salmond and not Hugh Henry in charge. That is the reality of the situation.
