The lack of political ambition in this year’s election was “depressing”, according to former first minister Lord Jack McConnell.
The former Scottish Labour leader used a speech at the Scotland 2050 conference in Edinburgh to push for reforms at Holyrood, including the creation of a “civic convention”, formed of representatives outside the political structure, to push for change.
Lord McConnell likened such a move to the constitutional convention formed in the 1990s to push for the formation of the Scottish Parliament, adding that it could improve the standard of political debate and the legislation produced at Holyrood.
I looked around during that recent Scottish election and it was frankly depressing at times - the lack of ambition, the lack of ideas coming forward
“My call really is for those voices outside the political sphere to get together to create some momentum and some debate about the governance of Scotland and the nature of the parliament these days and to come up with some firm recommendations and put some pressure on the political parties to look at this again – a civic convention of some kind,” he said.
“It’s not made up of people paid out of the public purse, because they happen to get a grant from the Government, but made up of people passionate about our democracy, who represent our legitimate sectors and can then take that forward and perhaps change some of the working practices that have become embedded and have a look again, fresh, at things like the electoral system.”
Lord McConnell added: “Good parliaments deliver good policy, good legislation, good policy debates can lead to better politicians and better political debate too.
“I looked around during that recent Scottish election and it was frankly depressing at times – the lack of ambition, the lack of ideas coming forward.
“After devolution, there should have been a ferocity in the public debate in Scotland.
“We never wanted a parliament that was quiet, political parties that had no fresh ideas.
“We thought that if we created a Scottish Parliament, it would be better than what happened before… I think we need to desperately revisit the level of ambition that we want for our country, take a few risks.”