LIKE many other people, I am adjusting to the strange world of Covid-19 lockdown. By nature, politicians tend to be sociable creatures with a predisposition to meeting, talking and debating. The current crisis is disrupting all of that and leading to re-adjusting work arrangement to comply with lockdown regulations, physical distancing and the challenges of working from home.

It would have been incredible to think just a few months ago that we would today be living in a country where the law forbids us from leaving our homes unless we have a reasonable excuse. This is the stuff of Orwellian fiction.

I’m lucky in that I live in Edinburgh and as Parliament reopens for business it is easy for me to attend, although the place still feels like the Marie Celeste, with few staff and members around. But the pleasure of seeing familiar faces and chatting at a distance of two metres is a privilege that many cannot enjoy due to the strict regulations in place.

For many who live in flats with no access to a garden, isolation can make it hard to protect your mental health, which is why I wrote to ministers to urge more clarity over the definition of a “reasonable excuse” to leave the house. Daily exercise must incorporate anything which makes you feel better, provided you are keeping safe distance, be that sitting in the sun, going for a walk or birdwatching.

That the population is almost without exception embracing the new limitations on their freedom is both welcome and somewhat surprising given how much freedom we are all expected to forego. But it is clear that people are complying because they understand why they need to and they by and large trust that political leaders are acting in their interests.

But as the weeks go by this trust may erode, which is why it is so vital that politicians continue to be transparent and frank with the public. Leaked briefings and rumours about lifting restrictions from the UK Government have not helped. Ultimately, we all have to take a measure of responsibility for dealing with this pandemic as difficult choices lie ahead in easing restrictions whilst protecting the vulnerable and suppressing the virus

Unsurprisingly, the crisis dominates debate and questions at Holyrood and although other business is being undertaken, it is hard to see beyond some of the immediate challenges in terms of public health, transport, education, housing, the economy and jobs. The pressures on our public services, most notably in health care, have been immense and even although the NHS has coped so far, the stress of working in the midst of a deadly virus is a humbling reminder of the dedication of all health and care workers.

Local government is also at the frontline, being responsible for education, public health, environmental services, social care and emergency response. A fuss blew up this week over the allocation of £155 million Barnett consequentials to local councils. It has become a dispiriting feature of Scottish politics over the devolution years that local democracy has been eroded and undermined by creeping centralisation.

Strong, accountable, autonomous and responsive local institutions are a vital part of any democracy and during the current crisis it is interesting to observe the more decentralised response in countries like Germany.

Germany had a comprehensive national pandemic plan that set a base level for the whole country, while the detailed response was left to regional and municipal government with, for example, more than two weeks’ difference between lockdown in different regions.

Such an approach is unthinkable in the shrunken, enfeebled state of Scottish local democracy.

As the McIntosh Commission, set up to review how devolution might affect local government back in 1999, noted: “It could be said that Scotland today simply does not have a system of local government in the sense in which many other countries still do. The 32 councils now existing are, in effect, what in other countries are called county councils or provinces”

It is no surprise that in countries like Germany, the status and authority of local government is enshrined in the constitution under Article 28, whereby the national government is prohibited to interference in the financial affairs of both the Lander and Municipalities.

Decentralised systems generally perform better than centralised ones. Power is dispersed, experimentation and diversity is normal, learning from each other becomes routine and one size definitely does not fit all.

As we begin to think about emerging from lockdown and rebuilding our economy, we should pay particular attention to how different parts of the country could and should have the power to do things differently if necessary just as Scotland may need to do so in relation to other parts of the UK.

Yes, this week I was the first MSP to join the video-sharing platform TikTok, but my real highlight was to introduce to Parliament my European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. The first legislation to incorporate an international treaty, the bill will enshrine in Scots law a Council of Europe treaty guaranteeing certain basic rights and freedoms for local government.

In shaping the new Scotland in the years ahead we should never forget the subsidiarity principle: that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level.