Foulkes' damning verdict on decade of devolution

Lord Foulkes, who is stepping down at next year's elections, also takes a swipe at the "pathetic rituals" of Holyrood question times and describes the voting system used to elect MSPs as "a hybrid constitutional abortion".

In a magazine article headed "Honest appraisal", he says it was a difficult decision for him in 1999 whether to abandon Westminster and stand for the new Scottish Parliament, but he stayed in London because he was enjoying his "dream job" as international development minister and because there was "no encouragement" from Donald Dewar.

He adds: "It is this latter factor which is one of the reasons why Holyrood has not yet reached the aims of its long-term supporters. Donald discouraged anyone of talent at Westminster from following him on the high road to Scotland."

Lord Foulkes, who served as an Edinburgh councillor and an MP as well as a peer before becoming an MSP in 2007, criticises the Scottish Parliament for a "Pavlovian rejection" of Westminster's procedures. "Sure, some of the ancient traditions down south are ridiculous, but not everything at Westminster is bad," he said. He says the House of Commons practice of referring to members by their constituencies has "important symbolism, reminding them whose interests they are there to represent".

He praises Holyrood for its scrutiny of legislation, but says there is a "mixed record" on holding ministers to account.

He claims there is "too much obsequiousness" towards civil servants "who are not all among the most talented compared to their Whitehall compatriots".

Lord Foulkes dismisses general and departmental question times in the parliament as "pathetic rituals of questions which are read, often badly, and answers drafted by civil servants with no apparent input from the minister delivering them".

He says First Minister's Questions is inevitably dominated by Alex Salmond, not just because of his greater experience but also his "arrogance and loquaciousness".

And he judges Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray and the Tories' Annabel Goldie "both tend to go on too long" - though he praises Mr Gray for "developing a style which gets under Salmond's skin".

He argues the presiding officer could instantly improve the situation "but Alex Fergusson, for all his Etonian education, has neither the courage nor character to do it".

Lord Foulkes says the system of constituency and list MSPs is "a negation of democracy", and he says "one other bad decision at the outset" was the 414m Holyrood building.

Defending his comments, Lord Foulkes said he thought it was a mistake for people to pull their punches. "It's better to be frank, even with your friends, and so long as it's a genuine view and you're not being rude, it can be helpful to the people concerned," he said.

A parliament spokeswoman said the presiding officer would not be drawn on Lord Foulkes' views.