Retiring MSPs

As the battle for positioning on party lists for the next Scottish Parliament election starts to hot up, I thought it worthwhile making a note of the names of current MSPs who would not be on either the constituency or the regional ballot paper - those who have decided that their 4/8/12 years at Holyrood is enough, and that they will retire before the election.

Announced so far:

Jamie Stone (LD, Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross - 2/6/10)

Ian McKee (SNP, Lothians - 29/5/10)

Bill Aitken (Con, Glasgow Region - 19/5/10)

Robin Harper (Green, Lothians - 13/9/08)

John Farquhar Munro (LD, Ross, Skye & Inverness West - 2008)

Chris Harvie (SNP, Mid Scotland & Fife - 2007: one term)

Likely to stand down (given dual-mandates as MSPs/ MPs):

Cathy Jamieson

Margaret Curran

Possibility of standing down (given dual-mandate as MSP/ Lords):

George Foulkes (said he'd serve only one term - but see link)

Jack McConnell (given peerage 29 May 2010)

Other possibles (various reasons):

Ted Brocklebank (Con, Mid Scotland & Fife - age 67)

Nanette Milne (Con, North-East Scotland - age 68)

Mary Scanlon (Con, Highlands & Islands - age 62)

Jamie McGrigor (Con, Highlands & Islands - age 60)

(see Will's excellent post for more on these three)

Malcolm Chisholm (Lab, Edinburgh North & Leith - age 61)

Helen Eadie (Lab, Dunfermline East - age 63)

Alex Fergusson (PO, Galloway & Upper Nithsdale - age 61/ PO)

I want to point out that in no way do I think that once you hit 60 you should retire from politics.  All I'm saying is that if Bill Aitken is retiring at 63, then some of the others named above may also be considering it.


Also, when Nicol Stephen stood down as leader of the Scottish Lib Dems in 2008, he said it was because he wanted to spend more time with his four children.  Is there a chance he might retire as an MSP as well?


So, I make that:

SIX definitely not standing again, four likely (dual-mandates) and 8 others (age/PO/ spending time with family) giving a total of 18 possible new faces at Holyrood.  There may well be more too - with 11 months still to go, I'm really just speculating.

Read more...

Spousal (expense) abuse

Just a thought.

Remember when the expenses scandal broke? How the Scottish Parliament made itself look morally superior to its Westminster counterpart, emphasising how the expenses system at Holyrood is transparent, open and accountable?

BBC News last night featured interviews with a couple of MP's wives last night - who work for their husband in the Palace of Westminster. According to reports, the Kelly inquiry is to recommend that MPs should not be allowed to employ any relatives to work for them - kinda looks bad when you are paying your son even though they aren't really doing any work for you.

So, what say the Scottish Parliament on this issue? I know of a number of MSPs employ family members - and MSPs who employ family members of other MSPs. Are the rules likely to change for Holyrood too?

Like I say, just a thought...

Read more...

Leading Labour

Like him or loathe him (and I know plenty on the latter side of that) Jim Murphy has done a fairly good decent job as Secretary of State for Scotland - from a political perspective at least.

No really. A number of commentators and academics had concerns about the informal nature of intergovernmental affairs between Westminster and Holyrood under the Lab-LD coalition. Decisions were taken on an "I know so and so from conference" basis, and toes were not stepped on when an issue was contentious (civil partnerships is probably the best example). With Labour in government at both levels, it was easy to see why they wished to avoid conflict - and the easiest way to do so was to avoid formal negotiations.

However, with the election of the SNP in 2007, the potential was there for more explosive relations. Indeed, most media outlets had the SNP pointedly fighting with Westminster over everything before they'd even set foot in Bute House. This proved unfounded. The SNP were keen to get intergovernmental relations back into the formal sphere, and tried to rebuild the Joint-Ministerial Council and British-Irish Council... albeit with some resistance from Westminster (and limited success).

Nevertheless, appointing Jim Murphy as Secretary of State for Scotland - and making the position full-time again - has been a successful move for the UK Government for several reasons. At a perception-only level, it has made it appear that Scotland is on the agenda and represented at Cabinet. More than that though, the position has acted as a buffer between the two governments - and more particularly, between the First Minister and the Prime Minister. Any time Alex Salmond has called for a meeting between governments, Gordon Brown has said "speak to Jim, he's responsible for Scotland". And that has worked - it has kept the First Minister as an unequal to the PM, on the same level as Jim Murphy. Crucially, it has allowed Gordon Brown to avoid entangling himself in every Scottish issue of the day.

But perhaps the best outcome for Labour in Scotland is that it has allowed a Scottish MP to regain some control over Labour's message in Scotland. Rather than leaving the leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament (LOLISP) to appear as a leader, Jim Murphy has, to all intents and purposes, assumed a leadership role - challenging the FM to debates, speaking at conferences alongside Iain Gray and generally getting quoted as the Labour spokesperson in Scotland. And, to a great degree, he has done so relatively successfully - keeping Alex Salmond at arms length from Westminster and acting as Salmond's equal.

Question is though, what happens after May? I mean, even though I expect Jim Murphy to survive a tough election (both the Tories and the SNP will be after him hard after finishing ahead of Labour there in the European election) Labour may not. In fact, I'd go as far to say I think the game is up - and we'll have a Tory Government with a majority of around 60 after the election. Which means a Tory Secretary of State for Scotland... and Jim Murphy out of his high profile role.

Granted, if that happens then Labour have bigger problems to deal with than losing Murphy as a spokesperson. But the real point is this - how will Iain Gray cope? If Labour are out of government at Westminster AND Holyrood, Iain Gray - being the higher elected official in Scottish Labour - will be the de facto Leader of Labour in Scotland.

What would that mean for Labour? And Labour MPs? What would their role be under a Tory Government and a leader who wouldn't sit in the same parliament? Would Jim Murphy continue to do the job as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland? Or would Iain Gray have to up his game?

I guess we wait...

Read more...

MSP Website Directory

The following is a list of MSPs with websites and a link to their site (as well as a list of those without websites/ those who have websites that haven't been updated for a year or the link is "under construction"). Hope it is useful. Let me know if I've missed any, or if you discover any more Twitterers... they're often interesting...

UPDATE - thanks to Haley for pointing out Dave Thompson's website, to Montague for pointing out Mike Russell's new-er site and to Holyrood Patter for Tavish Scott's Twitter...

They're also in the sidebar on the far-right of the page.

(101)MSPs with websites:

Brian Adam SNP ~ Aberdeen North

Wendy Alexander Lab ~ Paisley North

Alasdair Allan SNP ~ Western Isles

Claire Baker Lab ~ Mid Scotland and Fife (Twitter)

Richard Baker Lab ~ North East Scotland

Sarah Boyack Lab ~ Edinburgh Central

Ted Brocklebank Con ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Keith Brown SNP ~ Ochil

Robert Brown LD ~ Glasgow

Derek Brownlee Con ~ South of Scotland

Bill Butler Lab ~ Glasgow Anniesland

Aileen Campbell SNP ~ South of Scotland

Malcolm Chisholm Lab ~ Edinburgh North and Leith

Cathie Craigie Lab ~ Cumbernauld and Kilsyth

Bruce Crawford SNP ~ Stirling

Roseanna Cunningham SNP ~ Perth

Margaret Curran Lab ~ Glasgow Baillieston

Nigel Don SNP ~ North East Scotland

Bob Doris SNP ~ Glasgow

Helen Eadie Lab ~ Dunfermline East

Fergus Ewing SNP ~ Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber

Linda Fabiani SNP ~ Central Scotland

Patricia Ferguson Lab ~ Glasgow Maryhill

Alex Fergusson PO ~ Galloway and Upper Nithsdale

Ross Finnie LD ~ West of Scotland

Joe FitzPatrick SNP ~ Dundee West

George Foulkes Lab ~ Lothians (Twitter)

Murdo Fraser Con ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Kenneth Gibson SNP ~ Cunninghame North

Rob Gibson SNP ~ Highlands and Islands

Karen Gillon Lab ~ Clydesdale

Marlyn Glen Lab ~ North East Scotland (Twitter)

Charlie Gordon Lab ~ Glasgow Cathcart

Christine Grahame SNP ~ South of Scotland

Rhoda Grant Lab ~ Highlands and Islands

Iain Gray Lab ~ East Lothian

Robin Harper Green ~ Lothians

Christopher Harvie SNP ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Patrick Harvie Green ~ Glasgow (Twitter)

Hugh Henry Lab ~ Paisley South

Jamie Hepburn SNP ~ Central Scotland

Jim Hume LD ~ South of Scotland (Twitter)

Fiona Hyslop SNP ~ Lothians

Adam Ingram SNP ~ South of Scotland

Cathy Jamieson Lab ~ Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley

Alex Johnstone Con ~ North East Scotland

James Kelly Lab ~ Glasgow Rutherglen

Bill Kidd SNP ~ Glasgow

Johann Lamont Lab ~ Glasgow Pollok (blog)

John Lamont Con ~ Roxburgh and Berwickshire

Kenny MacAskill SNP ~ Edinburgh East and Musselburgh

Lewis Macdonald Lab ~ Aberdeen Central

Margo MacDonald Ind ~ Lothians

Ken Macintosh Lab ~ Eastwood

Paul Martin Lab ~ Glasgow Springburn

Michael Matheson SNP ~ Falkirk West

Stewart Maxwell SNP ~ West of Scotland

Liam McArthur LD ~ Orkney

Frank McAveety Lab ~ Glasgow Shettleston

Tom McCabe Lab ~ Hamilton South

Jack McConnell Lab ~ Motherwell and Wishaw

Jamie McGrigor Con ~ Highlands and Islands

Alison McInnes LD ~ North East Scotland

Ian McKee SNP ~ Lothians

Christina McKelvie SNP ~ Central Scotland

Anne McLaughlin SNP ~ Glasgow (Twitter)

David McLetchie Con ~ Edinburgh Pentlands

Stuart McMillan SNP ~ West of Scotland

Duncan McNeil Lab ~ Greenock and Inverclyde

Pauline McNeill Lab ~ Glasgow Kelvin

Nanette Milne Con ~ North East Scotland

Des McNulty Lab ~ Clydebank and Milngavie

Margaret Mitchell Con ~ Central Scotland

Mary Mulligan Lab ~ Linlithgow

Elaine Murray Lab ~ Dumfries (Twitter)

Alex Neil SNP ~ Central Scotland

John Park Lab ~ Mid Scotland and Fife (Twitter)

Gil Paterson SNP ~ West of Scotland

Peter Peacock Lab ~ Highlands and Islands

Cathy Peattie Lab ~ Falkirk East

Mike Pringle LD ~ Edinburgh South

Jeremy Purvis LD ~ Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale

Shona Robison SNP ~ Dundee East
Michael Russell SNP ~ South of Scotland

Mary Scanlon Con ~ Highlands and Islands

Tavish Scott LD ~ Shetland (Twitter)

Richard Simpson Lab ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Elaine Smith Lab ~ Coatbridge and Chryston

Iain Smith LD ~ North East Fife

Margaret Smith LD ~ Edinburgh West

Shirley-Anne Somerville SNP ~ Lothians

Stewart Stevenson SNP ~ Banff and Buchan

David Stewart Lab ~ Highlands and Islands

John Swinney SNP ~ North Tayside

Dave Thompson SNP ~ Highlands and Islands

Jim Tolson LD ~ Dunfermline West

Sandra White SNP ~ Glasgow

Karen Whitefield Lab ~ Airdrie and Shotts

David Whitton Lab ~ Strathkelvin and Bearsden

Bill Wilson SNP ~ West of Scotland

John Wilson SNP ~ Central Scotland (Twitter)

(28) MSPs with no website or real web presence:

Bill Aitken Con ~ Glasgow

Jackie Baillie Lab ~ Dumbarton

Rhona Brankin Lab ~ Midlothian

Gavin Brown Con ~ Lothians

Jackson Carlaw Con ~ West of Scotland

Willie Coffey SNP ~ Kilmarnock and Loudoun

Angela Constance SNP ~ Livingston

Trish Godman Lab ~ West Renfrewshire

Annabel Goldie Con ~ West of Scotland

Andy Kerr Lab ~ East Kilbride

Marilyn Livingstone Lab ~ Kirkcaldy

Richard Lochhead SNP ~ Moray

Tricia Marwick SNP ~ Central Fife

Jim Mather SNP ~ Argyll and Bute

Michael McMahon Lab ~ Hamilton North and Bellshill

Alasdair Morgan SNP ~ South of Scotland

John Farquhar Munro LD ~ Ross, Skye and Inverness West

Hugh O’Donnell LD ~ Central Scotland

Irene Oldfather Lab ~ Cunninghame South

Mike Rumbles LD ~ West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

Alex Salmond SNP ~ Gordon

John Scott Con ~ Ayr

Elizabeth Smith Con ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Nicol Stephen LD ~ Aberdeen South

Jamie Stone LD ~ Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross

Nicola Sturgeon SNP ~ Glasgow Govan

Maureen Watt SNP ~ North East Scotland

Andrew Welsh SNP ~ Angus

Depending if this is useful, I may do the same with Scottish MPs.

Read more...

Conundrum for the SNP

Reading through Jeff's analysis of recent poll figures, a question which I've been considering in my studies at the moment suddenly became more pertinent.

Jeff has the SNP winning 25 of the 59 Scottish Westminster seats on 33% of the vote, which seems doubtful, but that's not the point of this post. Ipsos-Mori also has them winning 38% of the constituency vote in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, a massive 13% lead over Labour in second. Again, it seems rather high, but perhaps that reinforces the point I'm going to make.

The SNP, after 2 and a half years as the Scottish Government, are still proving popular with the public (as the poll figures above indicate). Yet, and despite moving forward with the National Conversation with the publication of An Oil Fund for Scotland and Europe and Foreign Affairs indicating a more intensive discussion process as they build towards their intended referendum, support for independence remains static at around 28% of the population.

Now, from an SNP perspective, that figure may be "soft", indicating a lot of people (such as Jeff himself) who remain undecided about independence but may be convinced when they have heard a positive case for independence through the National Conversation process. Or, it may be a hard ceiling - the height of support for the SNP's constitutional preference - and indicate that, if a referendum occurs, the party will see a massive defeat.

I suspect the answer may be somewhere in between. Without reading too much into "loaded" polling questions and from anecdotal evidence, I'd suggest the constitutional question falls at about 60-40, with 60% against at the moment. Which I think is good news. 60% is 6 in 10. Change one mind and its a tie, change two and its a landslide (quote, Will Bailey). But I digress.

The point I wanted to make was this. What if support for the SNP maintains at its current levels - or even increases - and sees the party win near a majority of Scottish Westminster seats, improve their position in the Scottish Parliament to 50-55 MSPs in 2011 and maintain their position as the Scottish Government post-election but at the same time support for independence remains static at 28, what does the party do?

The party will have proved that they can govern competently and will have remained popular as a government (if indeed, their vote share/ representation increases). But their main policy objective would remain the preference of the minority (assuming no referendum in 2010 given current parliamentary hostility to the idea).

Could we judge the party as a successful government? Or, given their inability to legislate for their main policy objective, would that constitute failure? And yet, if they continue as a popular (populist??) government, people will continue to vote for them, and ignore their constitutional goals.

This is the conundrum facing the SNP: how do they translate the support for the party in government to support for their constitutional objective? How can they convince people that the government needs more powers when they are running it (in the public's eye at least - according to poll figures) effectively and efficiently? In short, why should the Scottish population support constitutional upheaval when they are content with the SNP as a Government?

I don't know if there is an answer, but I'd suggest that the extension of the National Conversation at the moment is seeking to inform further why constitutional change may be preferable. But whether the SNP see any shift in support for independence remains to be seen.

Read more...

The Show Must Go On

So, 38% of our MSPs could find something better to do on a sunny July afternoon than listen Her Majesty blether on. Most of them were probably watching Andy Murray at Wimbledon.

Can't say I blame them to be honest. I was invited to the garden party at Balmoral in 2002... and was all set to phone and give my apologies until my mother stepped in. Apparently it "wouldn't look good" not to attend, and so attend I did. Ate her strawberry sandwiches, some Mackies ice cream and tried not to look out of place. MSPs didn't really worry about it how it would look yesterday.

Political commentators are having a bit of fun with it though. It's everything from a "snub" to a "scandal" that only 81 of the 129 MSPs showed up to listen to the Queen deliver her speech celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the opening of the Parliament.

For me though, it demonstrates two things. Firstly, that the monarchy is obsolete and that the Queen has no place in twenty-first century Scotland. And secondly, that nearly 40% of MSPs agree - including, it should be pointed out, 26 from Unionist parties. Now, I'm not trying to conflate being unionist with being royalist, but I would argue that the monarchy is a large part of why the Union was made - and remains a fairly visible symbol of it.

The SNP have been at pains to point out that, in their vision of an independent Scotland the Queen (and her successors) would remain Head of State in Scotland. The party want to have a referendum on the constituntional future of the country - how we should be governed - but have no problems taking this decision out the hands of ordinary Scots.

Republican elements within the party (Roseanna Cunningham and Christine Grahame spring to mind instantly) disagree with the party line on this yet the party appear either to think that they constitute a minority of the population on the issue, or they don't think the issue is important. Either way, the Scottish public apparently will not be consulted on whether - post independence - they wish to remain under the crown or become a republic.

Based on yesterday's turnout, the second option may well have some support among MSPs.

UPDATE - Alan Cochrane has his own inimitable take on it here.

Read more...

A very Calman influence

I've been reading Final Report of the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution. Well okay, the Executive Summary - I don't have the time to read 269 pages today.

It's an interesting read for those interested in Scotland's constitutional future - whatever that may be. Plenty has been written elsewhere about the content of the report, I just wanted to focus briefly on one aspect of it.

RECOMMENDATION 6.5: Section 31(1) of the Scotland Act should be amended to require any person introducing a Bill in the Parliament to make a statement that it is (in that person’s opinion) within the Parliament’s legislative competence.

So says the Calman Final Report. I guess that is their way of suggesting that a referendum on independence couldn't/ shouldn't be considered by the Scottish Parliament. And I guess that debate could go on for awhile - particularly given it is a legal decision.

I do find it funny to note that the person introducing a bill (which, in the case of an independence referendum bill would presumably be Mike Russell) merely has to say that they reckon it is within the Parliament's competence to debate it. They don't have to get any kind of legal opinion or anything.

I can't see Mike Russell having a problem saying "I think the Scottish Parliament has the competence to debate this referendum bill" - can you?

Read more...

Executive Orders

Doing a wee bit of research in the last week on the SNP's record in Government. Here's some numbers I found interesting.

• The 1999-2003 Scottish Parliamentary Session, under the Labour-Lib Dem coalition, saw 50 Executive bills (including budget bills) enacted into legislation.
  
  
• The 2003-2007 Scottish Parliamentary Session, also under the Labour-Lib Dem coalition, saw 53 Executive bills (including budget bills) enacted into legislation. This despite Jack McConnell's pledge to "do less, better."
  
  
• The (2007-2011) current session - in the two years under the SNP Government - has seen only 7 Executive bills (not including budget bills - for why, you'll have to ask the Scottish Parliament website) enacted into legislation. Though there will be several more before summer recess.
  
  
• Interestingly though, the SNP have delivered (in some shape or form) on 50 of their manifesto commitments - in the main through non-legislative means.
  
  

Welcome to minority government.

Read more...

New SP Constituencies revisited

Remember last year, when the Boundary Commission for Scotland published its proposals for changes to the Scottish Parliament constituencies? Well, they've taken a second stab at it - after the consultation process (read "opportunity for those with a vested interest to change their minds") closed and new plans were drawn up.

You can see the proposals in ful here.

Couple of the headline stories to come out of it:

• Central belt seats - having taken a bit of a shuffle in their first take - return to boundaries more like they are at the moment. Which means that Ochil still looks like a Lab-SNP marginal, as opposed to an opportunity for the Tories. The whole Whitburn/Airdrie seat disappears.
  
  
• The "Mearns" seat south of Aberdeen remains an opportunity for the SNP to pick up another seat in heartland territory - and put them in range of gaining another couple at the expense of the Lib Dems (Nicol Stephen & Mike Rumbles).
  
  
• Edinburgh East shuffles round, arc-like, further to the south of the city but still looks like a Kenny MacAskill SNP-hold while the Edinburgh South becomes "Southside" and a solid Lib Dem hold. Central looks slightly less Lib Dem-my than the previous take at the boundaries, but will be a difficult fight for Sarah Boyack to hold for Labour, with both Lib Dems and SNP handily placed to challenge.
  
  
• Ken Macintosh looks like the biggest loser out of it all. The boundaries of his Eastwood seat get a savage cut and the seat looks notionally Tory. An opportunity to shift Annabel Goldie over a seat (not too far away from Renfrewshire) and win a constituency seat perhaps?
  
  
• On the regional side of the ball, how's this for crazy. Highlands region will now include... Dumbarton. Really. Highland MSPs will represent everywhere from Lerwick to Dumbarton.
  
  
• Kilmarnock & Loudoun - an SNP gain in 2007 - moves into the South of Scotland region (from Central Scotland). Which, coupled with a notional SNP gain of Tweedale etc (bye bye Jeremy Purvis) would have a knock on effect on the South of Scotland list (currently 5 of the 7 are SNP MSPs, which would change if constituencies were won).

There's more, much more. But you can probably work stuff out for yourselves. Times like this, you wish Adam Smith was a Socialist still blogged.

Read more...

The devolution cycle

Wee bit busy this afternoon but I wanted to point you in the direction of something.

BBC Scotland political reporter John Knox has been cycling around Scotland and asking people what they think of devolution. He's been recording his (and others') thoughts on the way and you can read them here.

Dead badgers aside, its a fun read and presents a fairly balanced view of devolution 10 years on.

I'm hoping Brian Taylor's documentary is as equally well done.

Read more...

The eighth ugliest building in the world...

....according to the Scotsman and Virtualtourist.com that is.

What do we think? Is it that ugly? Or should we just, in true Scottish style, be gutted that we only finished eighth in the list?

ps - apologies for the lite blogging - I'm trying to juggle Christmas, reading, writing and blogging, and not succeeding all that much. Must try harder!

Read more...