Report to the People
19th May 2003
Partnership for Stability
A week, as Harold Wilson famously once said, is a
long time in politics.
How true. In this column last week, I was
reporting the initial stages of the coalition talks between
Labour and the Liberal Democrats and making my case for putting
at the heart of any agreement measures to make our communities
safer and stronger. Now, seven days later, we have that
formal agreement and, when Jack McConnell receives the royal seal
of approval from the Queen today, we will have a First Minister
to lead the government charged with implementing it.
However, the fact that all this was done in a week
does not mean it was easy. (The extra grey hairs on the
heads and the bags under the eyes of the insomniac negotiating
teams are testament to that.) There was some very hard
bargaining on both sides.
While both parties do share some key values –
such as being committed to the devolution settlement – there
are areas of real contention. Take, for example, youth
crime. During the election campaign, Labour had pledged to
introduce a raft of tough measures to build safer communities
– including punishing parents who let their kids run wild.
The Liberals, however, opposed this, but were keen to bring in a
Proportional Representation voting system for local government
elections – a move which the Labour Party, in turn, opposes.
Although I’m not a huge fan of PR, I had to
ask myself a simple question: What’s more important to
my constituents? A hard crackdown on crime and anti-social
behaviour, or the voting system used at council elections? It
wasn’t a difficult question to answer. So if, I
decided, accepting the one part I wasn’t entirely happy with
meant securing the part which will make a real difference to the
decent, hardworking people I represent, it was a price worth
paying.
It would be wrong, though, to paint this agreement
as about nothing but PR. It is a comprehensive document
covering every aspect of Executive policy and includes, for
example, important measures to boost economic growth –
including extra help targeted at areas where unemployment remains
too high. It will also introduce new powers to sort out
failing schools and hospitals; and First and Second Year maths
and English classes will be cut to 20.
This coalition agreement, of course, does not mean
that the next four years will be plain sailing. But it does
mean that government in
And, in the real world, you can’t get much
better than that.
Back to Current Reports to the People
[ HOME ] [ News ] [ Report to the People ] [ Interact ] [ Links ] [ E-Mail ]
[ Copyright ] [ UK Online ] [ Scottish Parliament ]