Lesley Riddoch: Importance of being the opposition

Published on Friday 8 April 2011 15:20

On 5 MAY voters will decide the shape of the next Scottish Government. They will also - by default - elect a new Scottish opposition.

That second task is almost as important as the first and yet the opposition record of the "big parties" at Holyrood is hardly inspiring.

At one recent hustings event, a pensioner berated Scottish Labour and the Lib Dems for habitually opposing policies they actually support just to give the SNP government a bloody nose. That contribution prompted the biggest audience roar of the night.

Perverse budget voting, non-attendance at Holyrood debates, knee jerk opposition to alcohol and prisons reform (despite backing for these policies by Westminster colleagues) and election U-turns - all infuriated the voters present.

Who knows if they were representative of the wider electorate? One thing is certain though: party leaders are being judged on their record in opposition. Have they been constructive, dedicated, imaginative, well-researched, co-operative, colourful and successful?

The jury is out.

In fact, small parties who've been completely overlooked in this election campaign - including some removed from Holyrood in the big Labour v SNP squeeze of 2007 - have had a better track record in the noble art of turning up, holding the government to account and calling a spade a spade.

Take the SNP's decision to scrap prescription charges. It seems to be going down a treat with voters despite doubts about the wisdom of spending millions just before Scotland is stung for 4 billion in spending cuts. There are other downsides: giving Fred the Shred free prescriptions isn't progressive, the Daily Mail has a new opportunity to whip up anti-Scottish feeling (in English editions only of course) and health economists fear doctors will try to control the health budget by prescribing more sparingly.

Holyrood 2011 in full

• Knife crackdown 'to increase prison numbers by 500'

• Lesley Riddoch: Importance of being the opposition

• Pat Watters: Grassroots alternatives to election stodge on offer

• Greens: Homes project under fire

• SNP: Gun crime in our sights, says Kenny MacAskill

• Lib Dems: Tavish Scott admits coalition is 'a challenge'

• SSP: Party wins the support of director Ken Loach

Despite all of these reservations though, the free prescriptions policy seems enormously popular.

Look at the websites for arthritis sufferers or diabetes care - they welcome free prescriptions unreservedly.

Look at the submission by the Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland, where they describe the old exemption list as anachronistic and unfair.

Then do the maths.

There are an estimated two million people living with long-term conditions in Scotland, including 390,000 people with asthma, 900,000 with arthritis, 167,000 with diabetes, 40,000 with epilepsy and 700,000 with lung and respiratory problems. Until last week's abolition of charges they were all forking out for drugs.And each one - along with their carers and relatives - has a vote.

This single giveaway, bribe or policy (depending on your outlook) could yet swing the election.

And yet I wonder if it will mean a single extra vote for Colin Fox. It was the Scottish Socialist leader's bill in 2006 which made the case for free prescriptions - backed by the SNP and Greens but opposed by the Lib Dems, Labour and Conservatives. Would free prescriptions have been proposed by the SNP without the SSP's initiative? Who knows.

Free school lunches for all Primary 1-3 pupils were launched by the SNP in 2008 - the product of another SSP bill by Frances Curran. And though he went on to damage the electability of Scottish Socialists, Tommy Sheridan's bill in 2001 abolished poindings and warrant sales in Scotland.

While attention is focused on the viability of the SNP's Local Income Tax, the Greens have proposed a Land Tax alternative to end speculation and jump-start small-scale development across Scotland overnight. Is it too radical for cautious Scots? Probably.

But might it shape any future thinking on the funding of local services - perhaps.

The Greens' campaign on better insulation has had the same nudging, influencing role.

Figures from the Energy Saving Trust suggest only 3,146 properties across Scotland have received cavity wall insulation in the last two years, at a cost of 1,600 per household. According to the Greens that unit cost is five times more expensive than a "universal" scheme in England where every house was fixed - as the Greens demanded during the budget row of 2009. At the current rate of progress, the Greens maintain, it will take 200 years to insulate Scotland.

All the big parties have pledged more insulation in their manifestos - would that have happened without the Greens? Who knows.

The Pensioners Party disappeared in 2007 - but like the SSP their political legacy did not. John Swinburne's solitary presence forced the main parties to promise a stack of concessions to the elderly - many dropped when he lost his seat.

Labour introduced free bus travel three years after his election. The SNP's determination to abolish the council tax arose partly because Scottish Senior Citizen Unity Pensioners highlighted the hardships facing old single people.

Now the party is the All Scotland Pensioners Party. The name change together with lack of publicity may mean Pensioners, Socialists and other independent candidates don't have much hope of being elected in 2011. The Greens may fare better.Their exclusion from TV debates is patently unfair, but then inclusion didn't help Nick Clegg that much in the final results last year.

So have the small parties outlived their usefulness?

If their biggest contribution was the free provision of public goods, has that policy position become unsustainable in an age of austerity and budget cuts?

Was their sole function to pollinate larger organisms and then succumb to harsh changes in the political climate?

Bee-lovers know the answer to that. Our cavalier disregard for the smallest members of the food chain may yet have the largest impact on food security.

Like the victorious Greens in the German powerhouse of Baden Wurttemberg (set to win the state elections long before Angela Merkel's nuclear gaffe) - small parties will only evolve to produce new, radical and effective policies if they are involved in the tough realities of governance.

Does anyone believe the big four parties, left to their own devices, will perform the job of opposition creatively, responsibly and professionally?

It's ironic that lone mavericks like the Iain Gray-hounding Sean Clerkin or the YouTube rapping Sean Donnelly get more exposure than the Greens, Socialists, Pensioners and other independents.

Clout and drama alone guarantee prominence in our society - so wee, serious parties can seem unelectable.

Governance, however, is a game of two halves - government and opposition.

So long as petty party politics shapes behaviour and standards at Holyrood, small parties are essential.