Brian Wilson: The problem of ruling by committee
WHEN the Scottish Parliament was established, one of its supposed strengths was to be its committee system. In the absence of a revising chamber, Holyrood committees were to be hothouses of scrutiny and holding-to-account, far superior to stuffy old Westminster.
This has proven to be a risible fiction. Committees are only as good as the people on them and Holyrood has not been particularly blessed in that respect. When the SNP won in 2011, they took control of all the committees, bringing any vestige of independent thought to an abrupt end.
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