To Holyrood's new presiding officer - stick to your promise to end the era of 'dull'
Kenny Gibson has plans to shake up the Holyrood chamber
The first week of parliament is full of pomp and ceremony - MSPs donning kilts to be sworn in, royalty showing up for the kirking of the parliament and massive queues for the canteen macaroni as all the newbies show their families their new workplace.
There was a tinge of excitement with the first item of business. MSPs had to elect a new presiding officer and the winner was not necessarily the man people were expecting.
At the beginning of the week, many thought Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur had it in the bag. He had been deputy presiding officer last session and is well-liked across the chamber.
But that is the beauty of an election - they can always throw up a surprise.
So step forward SNP backbencher Kenny Gibson, who now takes on the prestigious £136,000 a year job.
He has been a nationalist backbencher for years and in the last session he convened the parliament’s finance committee.
Despite being in parliament for years, he has never been a government minister. He has also never shied away from criticising the SNP government, which is probably why so many opposition MSPs supported his claim on the throne.
Even by his own words his win was “unexpected” for the Scottish Government. The SNP had attempted to place party loyalist Clare Haughey MSP in the hotseat instead.
She came agonisingly close, despite the fact she snubbed a hustings for the chair earlier in the week.
Government ministers had been lobbying SNP MSPs to back their choice.
She only lost the final round of voting by 74 votes to 54 - given there are 58 SNP MSPs (57 now as Mr Gibson gives up his political affiliation), some clearly did not do as they were told. Who, we will never know, as this is the only secret ballot the Scottish Parliament does. Votes are cast manually by paper.
There are different ways to look at this. Does party leadership not have an iron-clad grip on its members? Were cross-party MSPs just so sick of the SNP seeming to get an easy ride they wanted change?
Change is certainly something Mr Gibson is promising. Change was also something the Labour Party promised and we never got it, so the jury is still out on these rose-tinted promises.
He says Holyrood is “dull”. He wants to make it “more enjoyable” by creating a noisy, boisterous debating chamber.
Mr Gibson has a point. Too often, questions and answers are prepared in advance, and many just simply read whatever was handed to them on the way in.
“We are not paid to read out for a living,” he told MSPs at the hustings earlier in the week.
He wants to end pre-prepared questions and answers, encourage more cross-partyworking, have less structured question sessions, and boost the non-government bills unit.
As the former head of the finance committee, he also wants MSPs to go on a fiscal literacy course - perhaps not a bad idea, given the looming £5 billion black hole in the public purse.
The new presiding officer warned there would also be “repercussions” for those breaking the rules.
As someone who watches the debates and committees day in, day out, it would not hurt to inject a bit of life into the place. Given so many ex-MPs have entered Holyrood this week, I am hoping they bring some energy with them.
So my plea to Mr Gibson: please bring an end to the era of dull.
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