Jack McConnell: 'Depressing' Holyrood is a shadow of its former self

Former first minister Lord Jack McConnell says the 2026 Holyrood election was “depressing” and means the Scottish Parliament is a “shadow of its former self”.

Lord McConnell, who led Scotland between 2001 and 2007, says a lack of fresh ideas from Scotland’s current politicians has led to a parliament that is not standing the test of time.

He made the comments during a keynote speech at the Scotland 2050 conference in Edinburgh, sponsored by The Scotsman.

Lord McConnell at the event. | The Scotsman

He said: “We were trying to create shared commitment not just to creating a devolved Scottish Parliament, but also to having a parliament that was open and transparent, that fully implemented the key roles of a parliament by passing good legislation that can stand the test of time, scrutinising the work of government ministers regularly and ferociously, and making sure we have a forum for national debate.

“I don’t think anybody could disagree that over recent years, and this is a reflection on all parties not just the party that has dominated Scottish politics over the past two decades, that what we’ve got today at the Scottish Parliament is not what we were trying to create back in the 1990s and the early days of devolution.”

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Holyrood’s new Presiding Officer Kenny Gibson is bringing in sweeping changes to how things work in parliament in a bid to liven it up, including bringing in more question sessions with the First Minister and abandoning pre-prepared question and answer sessions. Another suggestion is to have elected committee chairs in the Scottish Parliament, similar to what has been brought in down in Westminster.

Lord McConnell says the changes Mr Gibson is bringing in are welcome, adding Scotland has fallen behind the UK Parliament on this.

He said: “I think implementing the plan to elect committee chairs the way that now happens in Westminster will balance the fact that the Westminster parliament is better at this now than we are.

“I’m really embarrassed by the fact that the House of Commons’ committee chairs are probably more household names in this country than some of Scotland’s junior ministers.

“Look at Emily Thornberry on the foreign affairs select committee, for example - she is on TV questioning ministers, and we should have that in Scotland.”

He also said the “experiment” of allowing MSPs to vote remotely should be abandoned, as it would force them back into the debating chamber “not sitting at home on their screens”.

Lord McConnell added: “I think the parliament has become a bit of a shadow of its former self, certainly a shadow of what we had hoped for and wanted to see.

“There needs to be some reflection and then some action to improve our governance and I don’t think that’s going to come from within the parliament itself or within the political parties.”

He added: “Good parliament, whether that’s good policy, good legislation, good debates,can lead to better politicians and better collective debate.

“I looked around during that recent Scottish election and it was depressing the lack of ideas coming forward.

“We never wanted a parliament that was quiet with political parties that had no fresh ideas.

“When we created the Scottish Parliament we wanted it to be better than just four Scottish Office ministers governing Scotland from London during the week and coming home over the weekend.

“We need to desperately revisit the level of ambition that we want for our country and take a few risks to push the bar a little bit.”