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In only 20 years, the Scottish Parliament has succeeded in establishing itself as an obvious fact: no elected member of any party would dare to question the existence of this institution that legislates on health, education, agriculture or justice, among others. The 20th anniversary of Parliament is an opportunity to see if their Parliament has kept its promises to make politics differently and to change the lives of Scots.
" It's not every day that a nation stands on the threshold of a new constitutional era ," said Queen Elizabeth II to inaugurate the youngest institution in her kingdom on July 1, 1999: a Scottish Parliament. Since the Acts of Union of 1707, the nation had no longer a proper legislative organ. " It was very exciting, " recalls Alex Neil, MP since 1999 of the Scottish National Party (left-wing center, independence) and former minister of the Scottish Government. " Although we had a Parliament 300 years ago, it was not a democratically elected Parliament. So for someone like me who believes in the independence of Scotland, it was very exciting, because I thought it was the beginning of a path that would lead us to self-determination . "
Everything was to be built, from both a political and a practical point of view. The Parliament currently sits in a modern building inaugurated in 2004 and designated by the Catalan architect Enric Miralles, in the splendid setting of Holyrood Park, the site of an extinct volcano, right in the center of Edinburgh. Linda Fabiani was also one of the first Scottish MPs. This SNP vice-president, currently vice-president of Parliament, remembers the magnitude of the challenge. " At the time, it was a bit scary because it was a brand new institution. We had 129 new members elected, and few of them had previous parliamentary experience. I was a director of a housing association myself, so it was a different career for me. I had to learn a lot, very fast. But it was worth it. "
Progressive laws by Scotland, for Scotland
In 20 years, Parliament can boast of having passed innovative and progressive laws that would never have happened without its existence. For Malcolm Chisholm, former Labor MP for the Scottish Parliament and former regional minister, this proves why Prime Minister Tony Blair's British Labor government was right to implement devolution. " At the time, when we had to go back and forth to London, we had very little time for Scottish business. When I was a [British] MP in the 1990s, we could only ask questions about Scotland once a month, and maybe we voted two laws for Scotland in the year, "he said. there.
The Scottish Parliament was the first in the United Kingdom to abolish, by the year 2000, "section 28", which forbade addressing issues related to the LGBT + community at school. It has also taken many historic steps such as free prescription drugs (free throughout the UK except England) and free home care for seniors (free only in Scotland). " We have made a very important agrarian reform , but we must continue it. We have taken initiatives such as marriage for all, which offer a real progress in society. We have made some very progressive changes in our health system that put Scotland in a good position. Yes, we have challenges ahead, but today we have the UK's highest performing health care system , "said Alex Neil.
Brexit puts devolution at risk
Today, everyone agrees that the Scottish Parliament is already very autonomous: as proof, the educational, judicial and health systems of Scotland and England are radically different. But should Scotland have more power, for example on immigration? For Michael Keating, professor of political science at Aberdeen University and director of the Center on Constitutional Change, this is not really the question. " My concern is not about how much power we have, but what powers we have. And I think the current balance is not the right one, especially with respect to taxes. The Scottish Parliament has no control over labor policy, although there is a broad consensus on the benefits this would have, as it goes hand in hand with taxes and social policy, "he says.
And in this complex debate, Brexit does not come to make things easier: on the contrary, the nationalist, Liberal-Democrat and Labor elected representatives fear that leaving the European Union will endanger devolution. " There will be a problem if Brexit really takes place, " worries Malcolm Chisholm. "All these powers that involve Europe should come directly back to Scotland, in my opinion. There is a risk that many areas, such as agriculture, fisheries and the environment, do not return to Scotland. It would be a threat to the Scottish Parliament. "
► See also: A few months from Brexit, Scotland celebrates its traditions and Europe
A stepping stone to independence?
These worries have given water to the mill of the separatists, who denounced the last three years a Brexit for which the Scots have not voted most , and a British state in which they think they no longer have room. " I think the UK has shown that it was such a dysfunctional political system that it is increasingly likely that the Scottish Parliament will be a stepping stone to independence, " says Linda Fabiani. " Many people come to this conclusion. But I think it's thanks to that trust that we won with devolution. People see that we can make our own decisions, and quite a few are very sensible, even smarter than those taken 600 kilometers from here . "
Apart from the legislative successes, this change of perception of the Scots on their nation is probably the greatest achievement of Parliament. According to Michael Keating, " the Scottish Parliament has reconnected people with politics. He is more accessible. I'm not saying that people love their Parliament because they do not like political institutions in general, "he says. " But he certainly solved the problem of the extraordinary sense of alienation that existed in Scotland in the 1990s. "