Waste of space?

Brian Wilson, Labour MP for Cunninghame North in the West of Scotland, has branded all list MSPs an ?underemployed waste of space?.

It?s on the internet ? it must be true!

Quite apart from the sheer nerve of a Scottish MP complaining about others being underworked (the Scottish Parliament has taken most of their work off their hands in recent years? perhaps he had nothing better to do today) this attack on the list system shows the same old arrogance we?re used to in politics.

Mr Wilson knows that regional MSPs have all the same responsibilities as the others:

we sit on the Parliament?s committees, an important means of scrutinising the Executive;

we take part in debates in the chamber, and we question the Executive?s ministers there;

we deal with a huge volume of post and email from people in our regions, many of whom come to us because they didn?t get satisfaction from their local MSP;

we help run cross party groups, which give organisations and individuals from across Scotland a real input into the political process;

we form working relationships with communities, campaign groups, charities, NGOs, businesses, and others throughout our regions;

and we provide a broader perspective to local MSPs, who may lose sight of the bigger picture from time to time.

Mr Wilson even suggests that we are ?not elected by anyone?. What a load of guff! At the last election, 14,570 Glaswegians chose to put me into Parliament – that?s over a third more votes than any Labour MSP received. Those votes don?t matter any less simply because they?re spread throughout the city.

So what?s the real reason for Mr Wilson?s outburst? Could it have anything to do with the new diversity which the established parties are having to get used to? Perhaps a Parliament which broadly reflects the views of the electorate is just a bit too much to bear for Mr Wilson, who?s used to exercising power from afar, safe in the knowledge that most voters in his constituency won?t see their views represented at all.

There are good arguments for looking at a different system for electing the Scottish Parliament, such as Single Transferable Vote. Mr Wilson has used none of them.

I can?t say I?m surprised that someone who?s immersed in London based politics just doesn?t get the idea of the new politics we?re busy developing here in Scotland.