In this week, which has seen the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament, it has been very pleasing to see an example of the kind of politics the Parliament was designed to achieve.
The SNP’s decision to abandon its planned tax cut for frequent flyers straight after declaring climate change as a national emergency is a success. It’s one for which I’d like to claim the most credit for the Greens, given we consistently opposed the policy on environmental grounds. But, ultimately, the Government was forced to change its position because it listened to a chorus of opinion in Parliament, which was in tune with the public mood, which was in turn inspired by a wave of climate activism of which we’ve never seen the like before.
It’s one of many progressive changes we have managed to achieve in the Scottish Parliament and it’s a record on which I hope we continue to build.
There have been many views shared this week by the Parliament’s "lifers" who’ve been part of its daily fabric throughout, from its inauguration in 1999 right up to the present day. I’m actually one of those, even if it’s only the last eight years that have been as an MSP, having previously had the great pleasure of working in the office of Robin Harper, the first Green elected to national office in the UK as part of the "class of ’99".
Personally, I’m most proud of the way the Parliament has always tried hard to be approachable and to maintain a strong connection with communities and civil society to develop policy. There have been numerous cases where this has worked well throughout the life of the Parliament, at its best resulting in positive, empowering expressions of how we can build a better nation, and the recent TIE (Time for Inclusive Education) campaign is one notable example.
Making that happen has been a deliberate effort, building naturally on an electoral system that’s more likely to result in minority or coalition outcomes and which therefore encourages politicians with consensus building skills to come to the fore.
In March, I became the most recent woman leader (in my case, I share the co-leader role with Patrick Harvie) of a group in the Parliament. There have others before me, of course, either leading their parties in opposition and, in Nicola Sturgeon’s case, leading the Government since 2014. The relative prominence of women politicians in Holyrood is something we should be proud of.
Compared to Westminster, our parliament is designed in a much more inclusive way, but there’s clearly more we can do, which is one reason why I helped found the Women 50:50 campaign and continue to support its aims for an inclusive Parliament.
We’ve done well, as the Parliament has progressed through its teenage years, to hang on to many positive traits which have made Holyrood work well, but it’s important we continue to build on those in the years ahead. One thing is clear, whether it’s through further devolution of powers, bolder use of the powers we have, or whether we make the leap to being the parliament of an independent Scottish nation, the Scottish Parliament must maintain its high ambition and be a forum for positive change.
Alison Johnstone is MSP for Lothian and parliamentary co-leader of the Scottish Greens
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel