Trevor Davies | The Scotsman
It’s been 13 years since ‘MSP’ entered our lexicon, now ‘devo-local’ must become an everyday phrase, writes Trevor Davies
Thirteen years ago this week, the first MSPs arrived in the Scottish Parliament. I’m not sure we can yet list many big achievements. The Parliament’s budget doubled in the first ten years but, comparing ourselves then and now and with counterparts across Europe, we find our democracy is weaker and our public services still failing to deliver.
We see election turnouts down. We see our people suffering some of the worst health in Europe and worse-than-average schooling. We see the places we build and live in called “mediocre”, even by the Scottish Government’s economic advisers. For the first few years you can put that paucity of achievement down, understandably, to Parliament and ministers finding their feet. Now it’s because SNP ministers, with full control, are dragging their feet.
