Letter: Held to account

Contrary to what Joan McAlpine says (Perspective, 7 June), I do accept that the SNP is entitled to the majority of committee convenors and members.

The point is, now that the SNP as a single party has absolute control over government, parliament and committees, how will the Scottish Parliament hold government ministers to account?

My fear is that there might be the temptation to rubber stamp decisions with little scrutiny. I have pointed out that, despite our criticisms of Westminster, at least strong committees there have not been afraid to criticise the government of the day, and I have suggested we reflect on this.

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Similarly, we need now to consider what this new-found majority will mean in terms of legislation. As the Scottish Parliament does not have a revising chamber, emphasis is placed on pre-legislative scrutiny and consultation, and detailed committee discussion and deliberation.

The first legislative commitment to be made is a bill to tackle sectarianism. To have this in place for the new football season will mean rushing through emergency legislation in two or three weeks.

There will be no opportunity for thorough pre-legislative scrutiny. Nor will there be time for the new justice committee to find its feet, never mind look at the bill in any detail.

There are compelling reasons why we should take our time to make sure we get it right on such a complex and deep seated problem.

The opposition does need to face up to the mandate given to the SNP. Equally I hope that the committees of the Scottish Parliament will be able to fulfil their role in ensuring the democratic accountability of government to parliament.

Hugh Henry MSP

Holyrood

Edinburgh

Again Joan McAlpine writes as though she has just walked out of an SNP strategy meeting. This time the rhetorical tactic is to cast the majority who support Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom as "fundamentalists" and "extremists".

Of course, it is obvious that it is the SNP that is actually pursuing a dogmatic ideological agenda by hijacking any and every available issue as a nationalist grievance and demonising dissent.

Those who fail to manifest a sense of victimhood at the hands of the Evil English Empire (also known as the democratic government of the United Kingdom) are branded "anti- Scottish".

In fact, this is just the sort of "extreme" mindset one might expect of a "fundamentalist".

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Edinburgh