Hansard

I am pleased to open the debate, and will do so with the words of one of the members of the Citizens Assembly of Scotland, which was a place where more than 100 Scots were listening, learning and deliberating about the type of country that Scotland should be. In the introduction to the assembly report that we are welcoming today, that assembly member said:

“We want people to know that politics doesn’t have to be about the politicians, it is about us as citizens of Scotland. Recent years have seen us lose confidence and trust in politics and we wanted to hear the facts, the honest reality, the truth of how Scotland is governed and the difficult choices that we face, to help us think about the future, how to plan ahead and achieve good outcomes with a positive mind set.”

Good outcomes with a positive mindset—that is what we should all wish to achieve.

Therefore, I start by offering my thanks to the member who made those remarks and all members of the assembly for their outstanding work. I also thank Kate Wimpress, the assembly convener, who took on the sole convening role early on, and who has been sensitive, strong and very successful in it.

I also thank the secretariat under Ian Davidson; Ian has been key to the project from the first moment when we started to discuss it in Government, and was with me in Ireland when we learned so much on our original scoping visit back in May 2019. I am grateful to him.

What the assembly has achieved in the difficult circumstances of the past year far exceeds the original expectations that many of us had, despite there having been some reservations in parts of the chamber. When I spoke at the opening event of the citizens assembly at Edinburgh castle in October 2019, I was inspired by the enthusiasm and commitment that were already being shown, as assembly members embarked on their collective journey. We could not know, of course, how tested they would be by what lay ahead, nor could we know how timely and relevant their final recommendations would become.

Last month, I and some of my Cabinet colleagues met members of the assembly to receive the report in written and visual formats, to hear about their experiences and to listen to their priorities for action. I know that others who are taking part in the debate were able to do the same at an event earlier this week.

I gave a commitment at the opening event that the Scottish Government would consider very seriously the recommendations of the assembly when they were made, and Parliament was clear that it wanted to discuss them, too. We are honouring that commitment today, but it has to be said that we are doing so only in part, given the inevitable delay that has been caused by Covid and the inescapable fact that there is simply not enough time before the election to give the report and its ambitious recommendations the full and detailed consideration that they deserve.

So, I propose that Parliament, while strongly welcoming the report that is in front of us, commends the report to the Scottish Government and Parliament, and does so not neutrally, but with a strong recommendation that our successors take forward this important work.

For my part, I expect that my party will make a manifesto commitment to consider the recommendations that have been made by the assembly and, if re-elected to Government, to publish a comprehensive response to the report. I hope that colleagues in other parties will make similar pledges.

However, we must recognise that not all the recommendations are within the competence of the Scottish Parliament. I intend after the debate to share the report of the assembly with the United Kingdom Government, because it is important that it, too, hears the voice of that representative group of the Scottish population.

It is also clear that the report and its recommendations are only the start of a long-term project that envisages a transformative change to Scottish politics, in which engagement with Government and the practice of decision making is a given. That will result in better deliberation, consideration, accessibility, inclusivity and, ultimately, governance.

I hope that we can all welcome the opportunity to embrace such changes, even if we do not agree with every detail of the report, or if we come from a different political or philosophical perspective when considering the underlying messages. The fact is that the report challenges us all—no matter our political or philosophical perspective—and some of it is particularly challenging to those of us who have been active full-time politicians for many years. Here, again, is the voice of a member of the assembly, which should strike home:

“We want people to know that politics doesn’t have to be about the politicians, it is about us as citizens of Scotland. Recent years have seen us lose confidence and trust in politics and we wanted to hear the facts ... how to plan ahead and achieve good outcomes with a positive mind set.”

That voice is made even more real in some of the recommendations. No one could disagree with the desire that the Scottish Government and Parliament should be

“leading with integrity, honesty, humility and transparency in a self-sufficient and innovative way”,

nor that society should

“ensure that honesty, transparency and integrity of politicians, the existing standards of behaviour should be promoted and strengthened if required, to increase accountability of those elected for their actions within Government.”

However, it follows—and this becomes harder for many—that we must also accept that

“in order to overcome the challenges in relation to the lack of public trust in politicians the Scottish Government and Parliament should: ... appoint a non-political independent review body to do a forensic investigation to deliver:

• a more accountable parliament with acceptable standards of behaviour

• responsibility for delivery on commitments

• faster public access to information on what is happening

• acknowledgement of all those who supported society during Covid-19”

The logic of the report, like that logic, is compelling, and we need not just to acknowledge it but to accept and build on it.

Scotland will shortly enter a general election. Multiparty democratic elections, hard-fought arguments, honest disagreements over significant issues, passionately held beliefs being placed before the public for consideration, and peaceful transfer—or, in my case, I hope, maintenance—of Government are still necessary to a healthy parliamentary democracy and functioning political nation.

However, elections can also bring out the worst in us, and what is on display can drive our fellow citizens away from the democratic process. It discourages engagement with the arguments and issues and makes politics just for the politicians or, as that wonderful American description puts it, merely

“show business for ugly people”.

Therefore, the conclusions of the citizens assembly are very timely in reminding us of our responsibility to the democratic process. Yes—we should conduct ourselves with commitment and belief, but we should also do so with respect for one another and for the voters who are watching us, and we should do it in an inclusive, not exclusive, way.

The citizens assembly learned from international best practice and had a lot of help from academics and others. It operated with the principles of independence, transparency, inclusion, access, balance, cumulative learning and open-mindedness at its core. In committing their time and energy to the process, assembly members were willing to put aside preconceptions and to learn about big subjects. One member commented:

“I was taken with how everyone seemed to suspend their judgements, and took the chance to understand, even accept the others more, despite the to-be-expected disagreements on certain topics. This requires compassion, patience, and a good heart”.

We all need to learn from that, too.

The citizens assembly consisted of ordinary people from across Scotland, who were broadly representative of the adult population of the country in terms of age, gender, socioeconomic class, educational qualifications, ethnic group, geography and political attitudes. All of them were prepared to give up time to listen and learn.

In the end, through that process of deliberative democracy, they found common ground and agreement. They sought consensus above all; it is impressive that the 10 vision statements that were agreed by the assembly each met the threshold of being supported by 90 per cent of members. Of the 60 recommendations, 58 were strongly supported, which means that more than 75 per cent of members agreed, and the remaining two recommendations gained a simple majority.

What a helpful and hopeful example that is. It proves that, with the right approach, it is possible for a diverse group to find and articulate a shared vision for the future. That shared vision need not be bland. It can be—and, in this report, it is—radical, wide-ranging, ambitious and, again, challenging for politicians in society. For example, the citizens assembly wants Scotland to

“ethically invest in our society by ensuring everyone has a central bank account provided at birth for every citizen”

and that the account should be

“contributed to on a regular basis throughout a citizen’s lifetime by means of a Universal Basic Income”.

The assembly wants Scotland to

“develop a plan for investment in business in Scotland to secure jobs in the wake of COVID-19”

that concentrates on

“small and medium size businesses needing support rather than multinationals.”

The assembly wants to ensure that all national health service staff

“receive higher wages and enhanced employment packages”;

to

“undertake a root and branch review of public services in order to prioritise good mental health care and holistic wellbeing”;

and to

“undertake a full review of the criminal justice system to improve outcomes for communities, offenders and victims.”

Those are just a few examples of the wide-ranging scope of the recommendations, which all tackle important and serious issues. They will not be universally agreed across the chamber today, or perhaps on any day, but they demand our attention and serious consideration.

The very existence of the work of the citizens assembly demands a further response. To put it simply, what is next? Where is our democratic engagement going? How can we deepen, broaden and enrich our society by doing more of that work? In other words, what place does the assembly have in the overall system of policy making, alongside Parliament and its committees, stakeholders and wider civic Scotland? How can we embed a different way of doing things in our modern Scottish democracy? That would and should be the ultimate tribute to the work of those who have done so much in the past year.

I hope the report and the process of considering it will live up to what the members of the assembly expect, and that it will do justice to what they have learned. As another member put it:

“I think before there might have been some kind of bubble over politics, that nobody is able to get in and ask questions, and shake them up! And I think we’re able to do that here. And I feel quite privileged and excited—and energised!—to say: I want to do that.”

That was echoed by other members of the assembly, who said that

“Too often discussions are about what other people should do for me, but they should be about what I can do and what I can contribute. This is not just about the government, we should all be working together as one nation. The onus is on us—everyone.”

Today, the onus is on members here to take the work forward so that everyone can benefit.

I thank each and every member of the assembly for what they have started. I look forward to the outcomes of their work being built upon and, as a result, transforming the nation in the continual shared process of improvement and democracy.

When the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999, it was intended that it should do politics differently. As we have all found, that is not an easy thing to do. I hope that we have, by and large, been true to that ambition. Inevitably, it is a job that is never finished. Now we are challenged to do more, to go further and to keep listening and learning. We must do so.

As the next formal step, I will not only move the motion, but will accept all three amendments from the Conservative, Labour and Green parties.

I move,

That the Parliament notes Doing Politics Differently - the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland; extends its thanks to the members of the Assembly for their hard work, efforts, commitment and collaborative approach, especially given the inevitable difficulties caused for the Assembly by the COVID-19 pandemic, and commends the report for further consideration by Members in the next session of the Parliament, informed by a full response from the incoming Scottish administration.