Boris Johnson was found unanimously to have misled the UK Parliament by a committee on which the majority of members were MPs in his own party.
Nicola Sturgeon was found by a majority of one to have misled the Scottish Parliament by a committee of MSPs with all of the SNP MSPs voting against that conclusion en bloc. For nationalist MSPs, to vote against their then-leader's interest would be unthinkable.
Of course MSPs have a duty to the party on whose manifesto they were elected but they also have a duty to us, the public. They should also have a view of right and wrong which must trump party loyalty when that clashes with the public interest.
Nationalist MSPs (Fergus Ewing is an honourable exception) don’t do that. The party and the cause always take precedence. In Westminster, MPs of both major parties frequently rebel against their party and the House of Lords intervenes regularly to knock the foolishness out of proposals from governments of either colour. This is as it should be.
The unfortunate effect of the combination of only one chamber in the Scottish Parliament and misplaced loyalty on the part of nationalist MSPs is that Parliament has become a rubber stamp for government policy. Parliamentary committees are dominated by nationalist and Green representatives who almost always vote to toe the government line, the rough edges are therefore not knocked off daft ideas. The result is stupid legislation.
Part of this dispiriting process is an arrogant approach by the Scottish Government to public consultation.
When they "consulted" on their proposed changes to gender recognition law they were warned that men would pretend to be women in order to prey on them or, as in the case of the man calling himself Isla Bryson, trying to end up in a women's jail to get an easier time of it when facing a rape conviction. Those who pointed out the dangers were not just ignored but accused of wrong thinking, being bigots, nasty – when they were actually dead right.
The shambolic Deposit Return Scheme promoted by Lorna Slater was similarly "consulted" on – and those who responded by saying that the scheme was badly thought out, costly and ineffective were ignored. Fortunately, on that occasion the UK Government stepped in to clarify the position in the interests of common sense.
The recent legislation imposing gross over-regulation on short-term holiday lets is another example where warnings were ignored.
I could go on.
The pattern is the same. Propose some badly thought through legislation. Pretend to consult the public. Ignore the views of those who question the wisdom of your proposals with the optional extra of accusing them of being ignorant or prejudiced. Press on and pass flawed legislation which the public don’t back, the police can’t work out what to do with and which causes more problems than it solves.
Now we have another such exercise underway which relates to the private housing rental sector. There is a shortage of housing for rent because demand outstrips supply. As a result rental prices rise. That is the market economy working. The rising price signals to the market that more supply is needed.
What the Scottish Government should do is seek to improve the supply of homes for rent by more building and by encouraging new landlords to enter the market or existing ones to expand.
Unfortunately, the Scottish Government seems to be trying to do the opposite and choke off supply. As well as adding new rights for tenants, some of which are a good thing, it has already made it much harder for landlords to remove tenants who do not pay their rent and capped rent rises during tenancies, first at zero and now at 3 per cent, well below both inflation and wage increases.
There is now a consultation on new proposals, which again are overwhelmingly about creating new rights for tenants. This "consultation" makes it clear that you cannot comment at all on the one big change which will have the greatest effect in further reducing supply.
The Scottish Government has persuaded itself the current inability to restrict rent rises between tenancies is a loophole in its powers – when it is in fact nothing of the kind. The ability to set rents for new rentals at market levels is absolutely vital to bring forward more homes for rent.
The "consultation" makes it clear the Government has already decided there should be power to cap increases in new rents. No need to hear the views of others. No need to listen to those who could tell them that rent caps don’t work, discourage new supply and cause the quality of the housing stock to deteriorate. All around the world trying to cap rents harms those who do not have a home and desperately want one.
For the Scottish Government to launch a consultation which from the outset will not entertain feedback about the single most harmful aspect of its proposals is both arrogant and stupid. It should think again and genuinely listen to what market participants have to say.
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