Reform must give Holyrood respect as Swinney warns party will 'dismantle devolution'

Daily Record

27-05-2025

The Scottish Parliament is the result of decades of determined cross-party campaigning.
It took years of concerted effort to make Holyrood a reality. Countless activists helped slowly build public support for an idea that was once considered radical.
Despite what some right-wing revisionists may think, the parliament was not opened on a whim by Tony Blair. After the failure of the referendum in 1979, it was possible that Scotland might never get a parliament.
But it became, as Donald Dewar said, the 'settled will' of the ­Scottish people. That desire for power over our own affairs led to an ­overwhelming majority backing ­devolution in a second ­referendum in 1997.
It's been 25 years since it began life on the Mound, before moving down the Royal Mile to Holyrood. The parliament has made mistakes along the way, with the massive costs of the Holyrood building an early stumbling block.
No public institution can be perfect. Many believe the calibre of MSPs has been poor. And the recent debacle of the Gender Recognition Reform Act proved that sometimes our legislators can get it very wrong.
But that does not mean that the Scottish Parliament should simply be scrapped – as has been hinted at by various figures in Nigel Farage's Reform party. John Swinney today warns that Farage will be a threat to devolution if he wins power. The First Minister is right to point out that danger.
In putting the Scottish Parliament at risk, Farage is taking a dagger to the heart of Scottish democracy. He must hear a clear message from Scots voters – our parliament is here to stay and no English politician can take it away.
Any Reform MSPs returned in next year's Holyrood election must respect the institution they have been elected to serve.
The First Minister has described the appalling toll of knife crime victims in Scotland in the last year as 'heartbreaking'.
He is right to do so as three young men have lost their lives in acts of savagery that shame our nation.
In a revealing Daily Record interview, John Swinney reveals today that he has turned to his own 14-year-old son Matthew for guidance on the scourge of youth violence.
All parents could take a leaf out of the First Minister's book on this issue.
We need to talk to the young people in our lives, openly and honestly, to try and understand the issues that are driving this epidemic.
Only then will we get to grips with it and, hopefully, come up with solutions.