What lessons should Westminster learn from Holyrood?
The Hansard Society Democracy Forum, What lessons should Westminster learn from
Holyrood? marked the London launch of the
Hansard Society Scotland
publication The Scottish Parliament 1999-2009: The first Decade .The event took
place in Westminster
on the May 19 with a packed room and lively debate. The Democracy Forum brought
together key political and legal experts on the Scottish Parliament to discuss
what the UK Parliament could learn from the last 10 years of the Scottish
Parliament. The speakers were Joyce McMillan (Chair, Hansard Society Scotland
Working Group), Lord Wallace of Tankerness (former Leader, Scottish Liberal
Democrats); Peter Wishart (SNP Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson) and Michael
Clancy OBE (Director, Law Reform The Law Society of Scotland).
The event was on Today in Parliament on Radio Four.The
speakers talked of the achievements of the young Parliament such as the
renovation and modernisation of many areas of Scots law and the ability of the
Parliament to pass through large amounts of effective legislation. It was
suggested that Westminster could learn from a number of innovative ideas such
as: the novel combined committee structure of the Scottish Parliament, their
robust freedom of information system, the transparency of the Scottish expenses
system with quarterly publication of MSPs' expenses, the e-petition system, and
the high proportion of female MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.
Although many challenges lie ahead the Scottish Parliament
has seen through a very successful first decade.
For more information about this event, please email
Emma Megaughin, Projects Manager, at hansard.scotland@hansard.lse.ac.uk
or by phone on 0131 243 2750.