Letter: Unionists’ whinging has whiff of hypocrisy

I HAVE become increasingly concerned by the language used by the three Unionist parties in the Scottish Parliament. We have heard everything from dictatorship to one-party state.

First they picked on the selection of Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick, calling her appointment “cause for concern” despite the previous Labour/Lib Dem coalition making one of their own, David Steel, presiding officer in 1999. Tricia has gone on to show complete impartiality, having allowed Willie Rennie to question the First Minister every Thursday despite his party only having five MSPs, and she has also come down hard on SNP backbenchers at times.

Now we apparently have a dictatorship because Alex Salmond has used his majority to pass the Offensive Behaviour at Football Bill. However, in the last term when the Unionist parties ganged up to bring down minimum pricing, that was democracy. If Carlsberg did hypocrisy…

Having won an overwhelming democratic mandate at the Scottish election, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to pass legislation he believes will better the nation. The SNP even allowed extra time for parliament to scrutinise the bill, despite wanting the legislation in place in time for the new season – hardly the act of a one-party state.

Labour had the opportunity to be constructive and improve the bill. However, they decided to resort to their old tactic of opposition for opposition’s sake and refused to contribute, claiming the bill was not needed. As the main opposition, they should have been holding the government to account, not burying their heads in the sand in denial of the problem.

And they wonder why they are behind in the polls?

John Lind, Aberdeen