Report to the People
Re-branding
You will be pleased to know that my name is still Duncan McNeil. I have, so far at least, escaped being re-branded.
If you read some of the coverage of this story in last week’s press, you could be forgiven for thinking that MSPs spend their days sitting in the chamber designing new logos and badges for the Parliament. The reality, however, is far more mundane. While the headlines screamed and political commentators pontificated, the Parliament quietly got on with its work.
On Wednesday, a bill was introduced to abolish Leasehold Casualties - a clause in some long leases which allows a landlord to demand additional payments of rent from his tenant at given intervals. This means that unscrupulous landlords can resurrect long-forgotten clauses and demand hefty sums of money from tenants. (The so-called "Raiders of the Lost Titles.")
The bill, which is a private member’s bill with all-party support, will outlaw this practice along with provisions which permit landlords to repossess a property if the tenants do not, or cannot, pay up.
Correcting such injustices was a key reason for setting up the Parliament. The need to address this unfair and out-dated system had been clear for years. However, the Westminster timetable was such that there was never time to implement a small, but necessary, reform of Scots law.
Then, on Thursday, as the re-branding row rumbled on, we passed into law the Salmon Conservation Bill.
There is little doubt over the need to protect Scottish wild salmon. In 1960, 1,443 tonnes of wild salmon were caught in Scotland. By last year, however, the figure was 198 tonnes. This bill, therefore, will protect the fish by giving the Scottish Executive more powers to make regulations to aid conservation. Although the Bill gives powers to the Executive, regulations will largely come from local level organisations - namely District Salmon Fisheries Boards.
Also, Education Minister, Jack McConnell, concluded pay negotiations with teachers’ unions; Enterprise Minister, Wendy Alexander, announced reforms of the Careers Service; and Transport Minister, Sarah Boyack, announced £3 million to build the new transport hub in Gourock.
It’s good to see, in a week with so many distractions, the Parliament keeping focussed on the business of government. Although sometimes dry, technical and even tedious, it is this sort of work which makes a real difference to people’s lives. And that, regardless of the name, is what matters.
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