When it comes to transparency, it is 'pot, meet kettle' for the SNP and Tories

When it comes to standards of transparency while in government, it is hard to think anything other than ‘pot, meet kettle’ when listening to criticism from opposition SNP and Conservative politicians.

As Westminster is embroiled with accusations of cronyism over ‘fast-track’ Covid-19 contracts worth millions and the fallout of the Owen Paterson row, the SNP benches crow almost daily about how things would be improved should Scotland be independent.

The week has seen a Scottish Tory peer, Baroness Mone, linked to a £200 million contract for a company with links to her husband, something she denies any knowledge of, while ministers claim key meeting notes are not lost, but simply not yet found.

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This is inevitably fruitful ground for the SNP who launch into criticism of a lack of “due process or scrutiny”.

Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon's governments have been dogged with accusations of a lack of transparencyBoris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon's governments have been dogged with accusations of a lack of transparency
Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon's governments have been dogged with accusations of a lack of transparency
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Simultaneously, in Holyrood, the SNP-led Scottish Government sends out a Green minister to defend a non-delay delay to a flagship recycling scheme that is being led by a private company.

This, she tells the chamber, means it is up to the company to decide what to publish, not the government.

Inevitably, this is fruitful ground for the Scottish Conservatives, with MSP Maurice Golden asking for the government to “stop the secrecy” and release details of the cost and the details of tender, including the specification.

This demand for openness from both party’s opposition frontbenches is commendable.

But surely these opposition politicians cringe in embarrassment when confronted with the reality of what their respective parties are doing in government.

Voters watch on as a Tory UK Government continue to ignore and throttle freedom of information, delete potentially important private messages and stamp down on transparency.

They also watch the SNP Scottish Government falling foul repeatedly of transparency rules – take care home deaths, Covid positive discharges into care homes, the Lochaber smelter guarantee – as key meetings went unminuted.

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The ongoing failure of both governments to embrace transparency is an embarrassment to both.

It is clearly not a question of principle, given when the parties are in opposition they are both clear about what should and should not be in the public domain.

Instead it is the pressure of government and threat of not being re-elected that drives both to seek murky territory time and time again.

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