Scottish Parliament – Stewartry u3a

Sir Alex Ferguson, former MSP and Presiding Officer, gave his personal reflections of the first 17 years of the Scottish Parliament to members of the Stewartry U3A at their February meeting.
Sir Alex said that his initial motivation in becoming a MSP when the Scottish Parliament was established was to ensure that rural affairs were highlighted. He was offered the candidacy for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and then selected as list MSP. Following this he moved from the family farm in Ayrshire to Glenkens.

There was a great feeling of excitement when the parliament was being formed but being new to politics he said that he was grateful to more experienced operators. There was a lot of focus on rural affairs in the first parliament and he was pleased to be appointed to the Rural Affairs Committee.

In the 2003 election he was elected by a slender majority of 99 votes and in 2007 his majority increased to 3,333 votes. It was then that he was elected as the third Presiding Officer following on from Sir David Steel and Sir George Reid. Sir Alex said that it is a wonderful position, similar to the Speaker in the House of Commons, representing the institution of the Scottish Parliament. As Presiding Officer he had a casting vote in any debate and said that he would always vote for the status quo. He was responsible for receiving delegations to the Scottish Parliament, up to 150 a year, and represented the Parliament abroad on a few occasions. At that time government was consensual and scrutiny of business by the various committees he felt worked effectively due to the balance of members on the committees but this has now changed with the SNP having a majority on the committees.

In 2011 he won West Dumfries but stood down as Presiding Officer, joined the Conservative benches and was again on the Rural Affairs Committee. He decided not to seek re-election at the 2016 elections and retired from politics after 17 years.

At the next meeting of the Stewartry U3A on Tuesday 27 March at 2.00pm in the Parish Church, Castle Douglas, Inglis Lamont will give a talk entitled “A Medical Medley – from Neolithic times to the 19th century, stories from medical history.”

POLITICS AND ART

After an early but bright start on Tuesday 29 September, some 40 members travelled to Edinburgh to visit the Scottish Parliament building and the Queen’s Gallery.

Alex Fergusson MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries welcomed the group in one of the committee rooms. Over tea and coffee he described his political career, including his term as Presiding Officer which he considered a privilege. However he has decided that he will not stand again at the election next year. He explained that the Parliament building was constructed on the site of a former brewery and as was obvious was a very complicated building but also incorporated Queensberry House, a Scottish vernacular building. The architect Enric Miralles died before the building was completed but the work was taken over by his wife and of course as was well known there was a massive cost overrun compared with the original estimate provided by Donald Dewar.

Mr Fergusson then escorted the group to the debating chamber where members were only too pleased to sit in MSP’s seats! He explained that the main parliamentary business days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons but these debating sessions must finish at 5.00 pm which unfortunately had the result of curtailing the time for debates on important issues. However much of the important work of the Parliament is carried on in the various committees. A record of what is said in the debating chamber is recorded on video, by sound recording from the members’ microphones and by stenographers and is available the next day on the web. The recording of voting by members is also published.

The next visit was to Mr Fergusson’s office which most felt was very cramped even allowing for the “think pod”.

Over a sandwich lunch, Dr Howard Brown thanked Mr Fergusson for his welcome, the time he had devoted to the visit and for answering all the questions – something he said was so unusual for MSPs!!

The group then went across to the Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse to admire the paintings and other works in the exhibition, Scottish Artists 1750 to 1900. The paintings included portraits by Allan Ramsay of King George III and other members of the Royal family; The Penny Wedding by Sir David Wilkie; Flock of Sheep in a Blizzard by Joseph Farquharson; and watercolours by David Roberts of his visits to the East including one of the Treasury, Petra included in a book with a description of his visit.