The rebirth of Scotland’s rainbow parliament

A parliament of many parties and ideologies

With an intriguing election result for the Scottish Parliament, what happens next and what opportunities are there to influence change?

There are now more fresh faces in the Scottish Parliament than at any time in its 27-year history.

On the one hand we have stable continuation, with the Scottish National Party by far the biggest group — while at the same time we have radical change, with a new six-party parliament and, in particular, a big surge for the Scottish Greens and Reform UK Scotland.

This means not only a raft of new politicians, including former MPs and councillors, but also people entirely new to elected office.

We have to go back to 2003 to see such diversity. This was when the Scottish Socialist Party, Greens, Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party and independents appeared as a counterweight to the political establishment.

For activists, commentators and the media the election result is one of the most fascinating for quite a long time.

A better democracy?

Seemingly almost every group in Scotland is now represented, and many political belief systems, from centrist to radical.

For citizens and campaign groups there are new opportunities to influence and educate newly elected members, bringing issues and solutions to all parties, to achieve change.

In practice there will be much policy continuation, but we’ll also see new SNP manifesto commitments appearing in the next Programme for Government.

With a minority administration this will result in other party pledges having a chance to make it into the programme too.

And isn’t that what our parliament was always supposed to be about? People building consensus to solve problems?

Anger and fear

Certainly there is fear of the unknown, and anger in our communities.

With Reform UK Scotland excluded by the SNP administration and the Reform commitment to disruption, anything could happen.

It’s easy to forget that the Overton window has dramatically shifted over the past few years. Not long ago, if a politician had, for example, an extra-marital affair, it would mean disgrace and a resignation. That seems laughable in the Trump age, where even racist rhetoric is now mainstream.

As a result, toxic political debates will likely occur in Holyrood too, amplified by social media algorithms.

That’s not to say that people shouldn’t be angry or fearful about the state of our country and of the world. Widespread and deep frustration with a broken economy and broken politics is understandable.

Money, money, money

Of course, underpinning the new parliament is the state of the public finances. Radical policy change is urgent in this context.

Politicians and officials must be encouraged to think differently and to tax and spend more effectively, redirecting long-term investment to communities and the social economy. Substantial local investment, alongside genuine, participatory democracy, is how we create community cohesion and heal divisions.

Linked to this is the massive public service reform agenda. We need mergers of public bodies and a move to prevention and early intervention, with the voice of service users at the heart of it all.

What innovative financial tools can unlock money? What role will the other political parties have in pushing to make change happen?

Radical potential

A new parliament means an opportunity to refresh and renew. Some fairly mild parliamentary reforms have already been announced.

However, reforms must be about shifting power towards ordinary people — which is what the Scottish Parliament was founded to do.

How do we guarantee concrete changes to people’s lives to tackle the cost of living? What barriers are there to this practical policy implementation?

Holyrood does occasionally have a radical edge, often hidden from public view by lack of media interest.The new Community Wealth Building Act and report on growing the social economy, as well as the Democracy Matters initiative from the last session, have huge potential if they are actually implemented.

With the development of Fair Work policies, land reform,community ownership and public procurement reform, as well as harnessing ethical, reliable technologies, much can be achieved.

The role of individuals, community groups and campaigners will be more important than ever in holding the Holyrood politicians to account. Only by making our voices heard can we ensure Scotland becomes a better place to live for everyone.