Meeting of the Parliament 07 January 2016
I was a member of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee during the original inquiry into lobbying and while most of the work on the issue was done. I left the committee recently but, for some reason, I keep getting drawn back—or is that dragged back?—into the debate. I will discuss my personal views, as I have had time to sit back from my work on the committee and look at some of the information.
I believe that all democracies should be transparent and open. I support the bill but, at the same time, I have a number of issues with it. As colleagues have mentioned, there are a number of practicalities to do with our day-to-day constituency and parliamentary life, which I feel the proposals could make more difficult.
I take members back to 1997, when many of us were together trying to ensure that this institution came into being. I remember trying to download the Scotland bill white paper from the web with my 14.4k modem. After 24 hours of waiting and a worried visit from my mother-in-law, who wanted to know why my phone had been engaged for 24 hours, I went down to the local bookshop and bought a hard copy.
Between that time and now, and throughout the lifetime of the Parliament, Scotland and the world have changed dramatically. We now have superfast broadband, but that bookstore in Paisley is no longer there. How could a third or fourth generation family business compete with the web when people can purchase a hard copy or an electronic copy at home and instantly get it or have it delivered to their door? Although advancement for the consumer is good, something has been lost. With progress, something important has been lost in life.
That is the point that I want to make about the bill. We need to be careful that we do not lose the many strengths of the Scottish Parliament because of a feeling that something has to be done about lobbying. Many look to Westminster and see that its legislation has not helped in any way and was a knee-jerk reaction to some of the strange workings of that Parliament. Should we not take note of that reaction? During the committee’s evidence taking, lobbying legislation was slated for being useless. We were told that Westminster and Washington are among the worst for transparency but both have already legislated on lobbying.
I get a hard time from colleagues regarding my great pride in being Paisley’s member of the Scottish Parliament, and I take that in good humour. However, the serious point for me is about how I deliver for my constituents and how I interact with their employers, the public sector and the third sector on their behalf.