IN the wake of Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill being replaced from their Westminster committee positions by SNP MPs there has again been online outcry from SNP supporters who are up in arms at the fact that two former SNP MPs are now sitting in the UK Parliament under the Alba banner.

Leaving aside the fact that Mr Hanvey was elected as an independent, I do find it a tad hypocritical that people who celebrate when someone defects from another party to the SNP should become apoplectic with rage when someone defects from the SNP. I do not recall SNP supporters demanding that Anne McTaggart resign as a councillor and force a by-election when she resigned from the Labour Party and joined the SNP in 2019. So can we perhaps park the hypocrisy for a wee while?

READ MORE: Alba's MPs to be replaced by SNP's on Westminster committees

I fully agree that if an MSP, MP or councillor is elected on a particular party ticket, then should they no longer represent that party for any reason a by-election should be automatically triggered, but this has to be a legal requirement applicable across the board, and not one which is subject to the weight of party outrage on the day.

I would welcome the SNP leading the way on this matter and at least introducing legislation to make this the case across Scotland, Westminster of course being outside their remit. However, let’s be realistic. Any such changes to legislation will not be agreed to easily by the professional political class who draw a wage from the public purse, and they will have to be dragged kicking and screaming by the party membership to even consider making any changes to an area which they often benefit from and use to their own ends when it suits them.

Had Scotland had such legislation then we would not have had to watch as the likes of Mark McDonald and Derek Mackay were allowed to run down the clock on their political careers on the public tab. We would have instead seen by-elections and proper representation for the constituents they formerly represented.

Scotland’s electoral system may only be a touch over 20 years old, but it still requires a serious overhaul to make it fully accountable and fit for purpose. The longer we allow bad practice to remain in the system, the more embedded and normal it becomes and the more difficult it is to remove it. The list vote, for example, should be done on the Single Transferable Vote system to give the electorate the final say over which list candidates sit in our parliament. We should also stop the farcical practice of allowing sitting MSPs to use the list as insurance against the will of the people.

Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas though, and as I say, our elected representatives are unlikely to dismantle practices that suit them well. As the governing party, SNP members are in the position of perhaps being able to influence their leadership (and I stress the word perhaps), although having seen the leadership’s emasculation of the NEC I truly doubt that they can. But if the SNP members truly want to build a better Scotland then they should perhaps turn their anger at Alba to good use and instead reform Holyrood, and create a fair and level playing field so that we, the people, are never disenfranchised. The ball is in their court...

James Cassidy
Airdrie

KENNY thought he was in for a landslide, but all he’s going to get is a trip to the landfill! At least Cherry had the political acumen to wait and see how it would all pan out. Kenny should have remembered the wise words of another Kenny, when he sang:

You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em
Know when to fold ‘em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run...

Your time is up, Gambler. You backed the wrong horse!

Sandy Allan
via thenational.scot