Inside Holyrood: Lack of real debate rouses passions

Published on Tuesday 20 May 2008 22:16

"IT'S been dull assembly." Not my words, but those of one of the delegates – or to give them their official title, commissioners.

In fact, there has been talk of panic among the senior ranks at the General Assembly over the lack of real debate that is taking place.

More generally commissioners complain that the Council of Assembly's decision to trim down the committees, reducing them in number and size, has had a knock-on effect on the debates.

Several years on, there are now fewer people involved in pulling together the reports that come before the commissioners, which means fewer people familiar with the detail and arguments who can stand up and take an opposing or equivocal stance.

There is also still some resentment in local churches towards the Council of Assembly over its reduction of committee sizes by the deft removal of direct presbytery representation, leaving assembly-only appointees, which ultimately bleeds into debates.

Beyond the politics and goings-on at the assembly, one of the main points of interest among commissioners was the change in the start of the event – running from Thursday through to Wednesday, rather than running from Saturday to Friday.

The collective view is mixed, some have said it has helped to improve the socialising element, making it a friendlier assembly, while others say it has led to a poor distribution of committee reports, leaving some days light on debate, others too heavy.

One senior commissioner said the change had been a "disaster", but all spectrums of opinion have agreed it was an issue that would be have to be revisited.

Of course, it would be remiss not to mention the visit of Gordon Brown to the assembly. As exciting as it was for the Kirk to have Britain's leader attend, the presence of the Scottish Labour leader, Wendy Alexander, and her faux pas over a proposed independence referendum made seating arrangements tricky.

Unfortunately, strident efforts to have Ms Alexander sit behind the Prime Minister in the gallery before his speech went for nought when she plonked herself down just along from him.

Moreover, a private meeting between the two leaders before Mr Brown's speech was reported by one senior official as being "tepid" in atmosphere.