AN independent Scotland will have a unique opportunity to strengthen the drive towards greater equality across civic society by bringing decision-making closer to the electorate and more accountable to them.
Presently there are no barriers to those who wish to put themselves forward for election other than age and certain public professions. Crucially there are also no requirements made for an individual to stand for an elected position. Qualifications and experience are also not a prerequisite, unlike the application process for employment. This crucial difference ensures that a fundamental equality is built into the system; anyone from the general population can be an elected representative; and that is how it should be.
READ MORE: Keith Brown: No voters 'appalled' by 'disintegration' of British state since 2014
However, Western democracies are not truly representative of the wider population. Selection processes and the reward system for successful candidates ensures that, no matter what, a privileged political class is always created after elections.This highly-paid career structure with its expenses regime and other benefits must cease.
For many, if not all, of these new recruits to the political system, protection of their new privileged positions becomes a main consideration.
This privilege and personal gain should be removed from the democratic process. They are not compatible with a process that should rely on disinterested legislators making judgements and decisions devoid of their own personal interests.
Our elected members should have a decent stipend for the time they are in office. An annual salary of £35,000 – which is £10,000 above the current median salary – should apply. This £10,000 uplift is in recognition of the fixed-term nature of the position which should not exceed two terms.
READ MORE: Nadine Dorries condemned over tweet to BBC editor Laura Kuenssberg
The conditions of service and disciplinary procedures should be the same as those that apply to the civil service and rigorously applied. No outside business interests or advisory positions should be allowed.
Limiting service in parliament to two terms would increase the opportunity for more citizens to have the privilege of serving in parliament. It would bring a freshness to policy making and management and ensure that staleness and entrenchment does not take hold.
The passionate and the wisest should be encouraged to lead the community of Scotland and the careerists and self-servers discouraged. It would be a foreseeable tragedy for the independence movement to regain our sovereignty only to hand it over to a new political establishment. The interests of fairness, equality and sound management would be well served by this approach. Our new parliament would have more of a citizens’ assembly feel to it, albeit one with the full levers of power of an independent state.
The sovereignty of an independent Scotland must be based on the authentic authority of the Scottish people and not that of a new highly paid elite.
Don Ferguson
Kirkintilloch
I READ that China has developed a high-speed magnetic levitation (maglev) train capable of speeds up to 600mph. Engineer George Bennie, born in Glasgow in 1930, demonstrated his experimental “railplane” on a 426ft long test track at Milngavie, 16ft above Burnbrae station. The idea was to create a high speed link between Glasgow and Edinburgh with a journey time of 20 mins at speeds up to 150mph.The test track was visible in Milngavie until 1956, when it was demolished and sold for scrap.
Why has this frictionless transport system never been fully developed since then? The starting point was already there.
Gordon Walker
Paisley
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel