This crisis has tested Scottish Parliament like never before says Ken Macintosh

Presiding Officer, Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSPPresiding Officer, Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSP
Presiding Officer, Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSP | Image © Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body – 2017. Licensed under the Scottish Parliament Copyright Licence
The Scottish Parliament has faced nothing in the two decades of devolution like the challenges posed by the coronavirus as emergency powers are rushed through and work practices are overhauled, according to Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh.

But the response of the fledgling institution has been the “most obvious signal” of Holyrood’s importance in keeping the Scottish Government in check.

Formal meetings of the Parliament have been restricted to just 79 out of 129 MSPs, while many committees are now meeting online to scrutinise ministers’ response to the crisis.

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MSPs have found themselves “torn in two directions”, Macintosh told Scotland on Sunday.

The inclination to support the national effort at a time of crisis, has been tempered by their role, perhaps more vital now then ever, in holding ministers to account.

Criticism of the government has mounted over issues like virus testing levels and protective equipment supplies, as well as unease over the widespread curbs on freedom of movement which have been introduced in response to the pandemic.

“It was a test of Parliament,” Macintosh said.

“It was the most obvious signal of how important it is to have a Parliament scrutinising the executive and the work of the executive even in these times of national crisis. It was very interesting, the mood in the Parliament and the behaviour of my colleagues and the various parties in the initial stages.

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“They were torn in two directions. There was very much a coming together across all the parties, and it’s still there, you can feel it still. This is a time of national crisis. We want to pull together, we don’t want to engage in pettiness or in oppositionist behaviour.

“They don’t want to obstruct the work of the executive or take health workers away from the task in hand. There was a real spirit of camaraderie, of pulling together, particularly at the outset.

“However, that’s matched by a very quick grasp that these are extraordinary times and therefore extraordinary measures are being taken in response to challenge our expectations of the way society should be run. The responsibility we have as citizens.

“So the emergency legislation would be a very good example of that.

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“It suspended many of the rights that most of us had come to expect. Members were conflicted. They felt, yes, we have to do this, but at the same time they were thinking, ‘Hang on a second I’m concerned about this.’”

The lockdown restrictions on leaving home were passed through regulations at Holyrood which resulted in the “stay at home” mantra now being enforced by police, with the exceptions of exercise, essential shopping or collecting medication. In addition, the Scottish Government also proposed major changes to the justice system which would have seen Scotland’s centuries-old tradition of jury trials temporarily scrapped to avoid a backlog of cases.

But ministers were forced to climb down on this measure after opposition from MSPs across the board at Holyrood, although it still remains under consideration.

“There were quite a few measures amended; there was quite a lot of give and take,” Macintosh added.

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“I was pleased and relieved that the Parliament played it’s role in that.

“That conflict between the desire to aid the national effort in terms of tackling the pandemic crisis versus your duty as a parliamentarian from all parties to question the actions of the executive is still there.”

Parliament initially went down to one day a week on its return from Easter recess, but now meets more regularly throughout the week with a mixture of live question time session and virtual committee meetings to address the demand from MSPs to raise questions on the issues thrown up by the crisis.

“Compared with everything that’s happened over that past 21 years, this is an entirely novel situation,” Macintosh admitted.

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“We’ve had lots of political upheavals over those years, big political changes caused by elections, we’ve had various untimely deaths, we’ve had scandals, we’ve had issues about the constitution and so on. In some ways every one of those are the everyday business of Parliament.

“It always has been for centuries. This is really quite new.”

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