Power shift

Many of us will be grateful for the referendum debates for raising our interest in the governance of the UK and Scotland in particular.

My complacency about the checks and balances one would expect in a democratic society was first shaken by the SNP insistence that it would abolish corroboration (in the teeth of informed legal opinion), and recently by the sudden appearance of police with guns on the streets of Inverness (no-one up here seemed aware of consultation).

Brian Wilson’s article (Perspective, 4 October) highlighted the need for an effective committee system.

Personally, I should like to see a bicameral system as well.

Given the much wider powers promised to the Scottish Parliament, much less will be subject to the Westminster model.

It is imperative that the rules for the structure and running of committees be revisited and fair discussion of all matters arranged. In particular, an effective public accounts committee with commensurate powers should be set up.

Such proposals are vital whichever party gains power if the democracy that all the nations of the UK have spent hundreds of years and much blood to put in place is to operate properly.

Richard Myers

Cannich