News In Focus
6 December 2006
Too many bills, minister admits
Too many bills have been passed by the Holyrood parliament, according to Minister for Parliamentary Business Margaret Curran.
Ms Curran made her admission in October, when she spoke at the Scottish Studies institute at Wellington's Victoria University. The published text of her speech says that she wouldn't disagree with the contention that Scottish Parliament had passed too many bills.
The Labour chief whip said the situation was a legacy of the pre-devolution settlement because there had been too little time for distinctive Scottish legislation to be passed at Westminster.
The Scottish Parliament has passed more than 100 bills since its inception. The SNP and Conservatives have accused it of over-legislating.
Bill Aitken, the Conservative chief whip, said many of the bills were totally unnecessary, while Bruce Crawford of the SNP claimed Ms Curran's revelation implied that she was admitting the administration had loaded the parliamentary committees with too much work.
The Scottish Executive dismissed Ms Curran's remark as "throw-away".