Scotland heading for 'elected dictatorship'

Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick is being urged to haul the First Minister into line to ensure his stranglehold at Holyrood does not eliminate legitimate "criticism and debate".

Labour MSP Hugh Henry - a former minister who has held a seat at the Scottish Parliament since it was founded in 1999 and lost out to Ms Marwick in his bid to become Presiding Officer - said: "My fear is that we could be heading for an elected dictatorship where there is no criticism, there is no challenge, and there is no scrutiny."

He spoke out after the opening First Minister's Questions of the new parliament, after which Ms Marwick was widely criticised for allowing Mr Salmond to talk at length without directly answering the questions put to him.

New Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie also voiced concern about the new government acting as a "bulldozer administration" after Mr Salmond's grandstanding performance in the Holyrood chamber.

Ms Marwick appeared to concede yesterday that back-benchers had lost out as the First Minister was allowed to talk at length. By the end of Thursday's session, only three back-bench MSPs had been allowed to ask questions.

The Nationalists hold a majority of seats at Holyrood after last month's election landslide, giving Mr Salmond unprecedented power at Holyrood.

• 'Victory man' takes reins of campaign for independence SNP fires the starting gun for vote on independence

• David Maddox: Just who is going to make case for the Union?

The First Minister has already gained a reputation for failing to answer questions directly. Opponents now fear that - with a majority of MSPs and an SNP Presiding Officer - he will strangle debate even more than he did during the last parliament.

Opposition parties have lost several figures practised in holding the government to account, such as Labour's Wendy Alexander and Andy Kerr.

In his bid to become Presiding Officer, Mr Henry had vowed to shake up the Holyrood system and make ministers more accountable in the answers they provide to back-benchers.

But Ms Marwick was controversially chosen from the SNP ranks, despite convention indicating it was the turn of a Labour MSP to take on the post.

Mr Henry's "elected dictatorship" comment echoed a phrase coined by former lord chancellor Lord Hailsham in 1976 to describe faults he perceived in the UK constitution.

The man who now chairs Holyrood's public audit committee said it was disappointing that back-benchers had "even less opportunity than usual" to make a contribution.

"The First Minister specifically avoided answering direct questions," Mr Henry said.

"It will be impossible for the Scottish Parliament to try to hold the government to account if the First Minister is allowed to avoid answering relevant and pertinent questions."I realise that there will be a settling-in period for people in new positions, but I hope that the Presiding Officer will help the parliament to do the job that it was elected to do.

"The problem is the opposition is effectively powerless unless there is a lead from the front.

"I hope that Alex Salmond will not use the fact that the SNP decided on the Presiding Officer, the fact that he has a majority in parliament, and the fact that the SNP totally control the committees to eliminate legitimate criticism and debate."

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said Ms Marwick was looking into the issue.

"The Presiding Officer is well aware that the time taken by front-benchers at First Minister's Questions this week impacted on the amount of time she could make available for back-bench questions and she called for detailed analysis from officials immediately following First Ministers Questions," he said.

"The Presiding Officer's stated aims are to allow both the parties and individual back-benchers the opportunity to hold the government to account.

"The Presiding Officer will continue to monitor the situation and will make any further changes to First Ministers Questions she feels are required."

The SNP's landslide victory has given the party unprecedented power. Any measures it brings forward will be passed, and its control over all the influential Holyrood committees may well close another avenue of scrutiny of the government in previous parliaments.

Mr Rennie openly complained in parliament last week that Mr Salmond had failed to answer a question he had raised on the Supreme Court row. "This is just another example of bulldozing Alex Salmond, but the liberal voice in the Scottish Parliament will continue to stand up to him," he said yesterday.

Tory leader Annabel Goldie said the SNP had to address how it exercised the power the party now held. "The early signs are not good," she said. "Their back-benchers give every indication of being servile to Salmond's will and diktat. The unattractive, narrow, restrictive side of nationalism is showing its face.

"Alex Salmond himself has admitted that he doesn't have a monopoly of wisdom, and he certainly does not have a monopoly of knowledge. A parliamentary mandate does not mean you can or will get everything right, and he needs to have the humility to accept that."