Democracies at a Turning Point

Canon Kenyon Wright delivering the call for devolution

2024 will be a significant year of elections, as well as the UK parliamentary election, the United States, Russia, India, France and the EU also go to the polls. The campaigning will generate a razzamatazz of promises, as well as the trashing of opponents by tribalist politics that has been supercharged by social media and rampant populism. 

In the UK, the chaos of Brexit, the flawed response to the COVID pandemic, the failure to respond to scandals such as Grenfell Tower and Post Office Horizon IT and the sheer hypocrisy of the government's migration and asylum policies means that there is little to be cheerful about. The perpetual damage of long austerity and the rowing back on climate change policies have created a sense of despair among large sections of the electorate. Like other self-appointed big-ticket democracies, the UK no longer provides the gold standard of government that it likes to claim.  

2024 also marks 25 years of the Scottish Parliament but the next election for the Scottish Parliament is two years away. Freed from the alternative truths peddled during elections, Scotland has the opportunity to be more reflective and inclusive about how it should reset the governance of Scotland and create a more inclusive constitution that restores some trust in its democratic processes. It is time to acknowledge that Holyrood is not the only player in the democratic governance of Scotland.

The Scottish Government has delivered some significant improvements for the people of Scotland, for example, the creation of National Parks, the Outdoor Access Code, the banning of tobacco in public places, free prescription charges, and free travel for young people. But devolution's undeniable, negative feature has been a weakening of local democracy through the centralisation of power, functions and services. Despite a significant tranche of devolved powers from Westminster, not all of which have been exploited, there has been more enthusiasm by Holyrood for drawing up powers and funding streams from councils. This in turn has impacted adversely on the funding and further devolution of powers to local communities.

Is this what devolution was to be all about – creating an excessively centralised state? The Scottish Government has 111 quangos (quasi-autonomous non-governmental bodies). They are non-democratic bodies responsible for many public services, inspection agencies and advisory bodies. In recent years as the Scottish Government has reduced the share of public services that were locally accountable to democratically elected councils from 42% of the Scottish GDP to 29%, the ability to set local priorities and coordinate local services effectively has been vastly diminished.

It is time for Scotland to wake up from its drive to be the least democratic nation in Europe and to reset how it is governed. There is little evidence that the Scottish Parliament can be trusted with this task. It will require the collective will of civic society to reboot our democratic institutions in the way that the Scottish Constitutional Convention achieved in the 1990s. This led to the creation of a Scottish Parliament that, over the past 25 years, has grown too big for its boots. Simply suggesting the devolution of more functions and powers to be transferred from Westminster to Holyrood is the mantra of a failing state. Whilst in England there are several initiatives and dialogues taking place to devolve more powers to the regions and councils and this seems likely to take place after the next general election, there has been no such inclination in Scotland.

It is time to utilise the tools of conviviality to redesign the governance of Scotland to engage the wider knowledge and experience of Scottish citizens. Their understanding of local conditions along with their vision and ambitions are the tools to enrich the social, economic and environmental fabric of Scotland. To create a written constitution that embraces an inclusive network of democratic bodies at the national, local and community levels should be the goal of a properly functioning democracy. Unfortunately, there has been little debate in Scotland on the next stage of creating a modern, inclusive, devolved governance within Scotland. After 25 years of accumulating power, it is time for the Scottish Government to release innovative ideas, energy and enterprise of our local communities. Leadership is about allowing others the right to lead.