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The Governance of Scotland forum at Edinburgh University runs an international
internship programme, and when a new intake of students from the US and
from Australia arrived in September to work with MSPs, we welcomed them
by explaining that we lived in exciting times, at the start of the second
year of devolution. Little did we know, or could we fathom, what lay ahead
of us in the latter part of 2000.
After a well-recorded bumpy ride during the first year, the Scottish
Executive tried to get back into working mode when Donald Dewar presented
the legislative programme of nine Executive Bills for 2000/01, including
a Graduate Endowment Bill, a Human Rights Bill to make Scots law compatible
with the European Convention on Human Rights, a Housing Bill aiming at
investing more in property to rent and enabling tenants to take control
through community ownership, an International Criminal Court Bill, a Regulation
of Care Bill aimed at strengthening the protection of children and vulnerable
adults (establishing two new national bodies: The Scottish Commission
for the Regulation of Care and The Scottish Social Services Council),
a Bill to prevent the accused from cross-examining the victim in person
in sex offence cases, and a Water Services Bill to increase competition
in the water industry and ensure that new entrants pay a fair share of
the cost of maintaining public networks.
But instead of sailing into calmer waters, tragedy struck when First
Minister Donald Dewar died suddenly on 11 October. There was a week of
mourning the 'father of the Scottish Parliament', but immediately after
the funeral on 18 October, the focus turned on the question of succession,
as the Scotland Act rules that a successor must be elected by the Scottish
Parliament within 28 days of a vacancy. In a brief three-day campaign
the two candidates, Henry McLeish and his cabinet colleague Jack McConnell,
competed for a majority among the Labour party's hastily summoned electoral
college. Henry McLeish won the contest, but Jack McConnell scored a much
higher percentage of the vote than expected. A few days later, Henry McLeish
was confirmed as First Minister by Parliament. He received 68 votes, fending
off challenges from John Swinney (SNP), 33 votes, David McLetchie (Conservative),
19 votes, and Dennis Canavan (Independent), 3 votes.
Henry McLeish's reshuffled Ministerial Team saw two new appointments:
Jackie Baillie (Minister for Social Justice), and Angus MacKay (Minister
for Finance and Local Government). Susan Deacon remained as Minister for
Health and Community Care, and Tom McCabe as Business Manager. Sarah Boyack
lost the environment remit, but remained as Minister for Transport; and
Ross Finnie retained Rural Affairs. Jack McConnell was moved from his
previous post as Minister for Finance to Minister for Education, Europe
and External Affairs, Wendy Alexander from her previous post as Minister
for Communities to Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, and
Sam Galbraith from Minister for Children and Education to Minister for
Environment, Sport and Culture. Four new Deputy Ministers were nominated:
Malcolm Chisholm (Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care), Margaret
Curran (Deputy Minister for Social Justice), Tavish Scott (Deputy Minister
for Parliament), and Allan Wilson (Deputy Minister for Sport and Culture).
Rhona Brankin was moved from her post as Deputy Minister for Culture and
Sport to Deputy Minister for Rural Development, Ian Gray from his post
as Deputy Minister for Community Care to Deputy Minister for Justice,
Nicol Stephen from Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
to Deputy Minister responsible for Education, Europe and External Affairs,
Alasdair Morrison from Deputy Minister for Highlands and Islands and Gaelic
to Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Lifelong Learning and Gaelic, and Peter
Peacock from Deputy Minister for Children and Education to Deputy Minister
for Finance and Local Government. Frank McAveety (Local Government), John
Home Robertson (Fisheries) and Ian Smith (Parliament) lost their posts
as Deputy Ministers.
As the Scottish National Party had also elected a new leader in September,
following the surprise announcement in July of the resignation of Alex
Salmond, there was now a completely new constellation between the main
governing and the main opposition parties. John Swinney had seen off the
challenge of Alex Neil and become leader of the SNP on 67% of the party
vote. Besides himself as Shadow First Minister, Swinney's new Shadow Executive
comprises Roseanna Cunningham (Deputy Leader and Justice), Kenny MacAskill
(Enterprise nd Lifelong Learning), Michael Russell (Children and Education),
Fiona Hyslop (Housing and Social Justice), Nicola Sturgeon (Health and
Community Care), Fergus Ewing (Rural Affairs), Andrew Wilson (Finance),
Kenny Gibson (Local Government), Bruce Crawford (Transport and Environment),
Colin Campbell (Defence), Christine Grahame (Social Security), and Tricia
Marwick (Business Manager).
As if all of this was not change enough, there had to be the Glasgow-Anniesland
by-elections for Westminster and Holyrood for the seats left vacant by
Donald Dewar's death. On 23 November, despite SNP gains, Labour held on
to both seats, John Robertson being returned as an MP, Bill Butler as
an MSP. To add a bit of diversion, Dennis Canavan zigzagged through the
autumn, first announcing in September that he would give up his Westminster
seat, forcing an unwelcome by-election for Labour at Falkirk-West, then
apparently coming to terms with Heny McLeish in early November about being
readmitted to the Labour Party and thus cancelling the pending by-election,
only to finally resign after another U-turn in late November, triggering
the dreaded by-election, which was eventually held on the shortest day
of the year, 21 December, in the midst of the final Christmas shopping
rush. Little surprise then, that the turn-out was, at 36.2 %, the lowest
of any Commons election in Scotland since the Second World War. Labour's
Eric Joyce narrowly won, despite a swing of 16.5 % to the SNP.
Astonishingly unperturbed by all these developments, the Executive and
the Parliament went about their business. Henry McLeish ordered a comprehensive
review of polices, and some contours of this 'pragmatic approach' are
already visible. The first shift in policy has been the scrapping of plans
to levy charges for workplace parking in cities. Then, the First Minister
announced his intention to investigate and review the work carried out
by all of Scotland's 'quangos' which comprise 120 public bodies that spend
£6 billion of public money every year. Among the first to be looked at
are the Scottish Forestry Commission, the Scottish Tourist Board, the
Scottish Qualifications Authority and Scottish Health Boards and Trusts.
A quango watchdog is to be set up within the Scottish Executive to carry
out the review with the objective of reducing the number of quangos, ensuring
that those remaining work better, and creating public confidence in the
public bodies that are needed. In what he described as a 'progressive
programme' for change, Henry McLeish indicated his desire to find a way
to take forward the recommendations of the Kerley Report and the issue
of proportional representation for local government elections. He also
noted his intention to take a fresh look at the recommendations of the
Sutherland Commission on care for the elderly.
After nine weeks of scrutiny, the Parliament's Education Committee came
up with a condemning Report on the Scottish Qualifications Authority exams
fiasco, putting the blame squarely on both Board and Management level
of the SQA, but also asking questions why ministries had not done enough
to prevent the disaster happening. The Justice Committee proposed the
first ever committee bill, a Bill to combat domestic abuse. And the Health
Committee published a report on Community Care stating that personal care
services for the elderly, incapacitated and infirm should be free at the
point of delivery, supporting thus the indicated change of thinking in
the Scottish Executive about fully implementing the recommendations of
the Sutherland Commission on care for the elderly, which apparently has
the overwhelming support of Labour MSPs (87% of Labour MSPs in favour,
according to a Scotland on Sunday poll published on 31 December
2000).
That the Scottish political institutions have been able not just to cope
with that amount of change, but at the same time to produce work and further
the political discourse, is in itself a refutation of allegations that
devolution is inherently instable. If, of course, those critics mean that
devolution is, as Ron Davies famously put it, a process rather than an
event, then they, and we, and our interns, have witnessed a tremendously
dynamic phase of Scottish devolution, characterised by unprecedented tragedy
and change, over the last quarter of 2000.
'The devolution journey continues,' as John Reid, Secretary of State
for Scotland, recently put it (The Scotsman 18 December 2000).
The new batch of interns arrived at the beginning of January. Again, we
have told them to expect exciting times in the Parliament. But we could
do with less tragedy this time round.
January 2001
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