I am a member of ALBA and am advancing views for the Party to consider incorporating as policy before the next election.
Introduction
The Scottish electorate should decide upon the standards of behaviour expected of individuals employed by the Government and those elected to office as MSPs and Ministers and the punitive measures to be applied in cases of misconduct.
The devolved Government should commit to rule as an interim body until independence is achieved and legislation introducing major changes to society is to be referred to the electorate for decision by referendum.
Legislation imposed on the country since the opening of the Scottish parliament at Holyrood should be reviewed and with consensus referred to the electorate for decision by referendum.
A provisional list of legislative matters to be so referred includes:
Reform of the Gender Recognition Act.
LGBTO+ inclusive education has been embedded by stealth within the curriculum children as young as four years old are now able to change their names and genders at schools without requiring parental consent and schools permit students who claim to be transgender to use whatever bathroom or locker room they prefer. Also under the new inclusivity guidelines teachers are urged not to question students if they indicate a wish to transition genders. Instead, teachers are urged to ask for the students’ new names and pronouns.
Government & the Crown – Bad law
The relationship between the Government and the Crown is a proven source of bad law. Reform is urgently required
Alcohol – Minimum Unit Price
In May 2018 the SNP government introduced a legally enforced minimum price for all alcoholic drinks to tackle chronic alcohol abuse by “hard to reach” people who drink alcohol at harmful levels, including those dependent on alcohol and those accessing treatment services. The policy has not encouraged problem drinkers to consume less but has resulted in a marked shift to cheaper sourced illegal drug use and associated crime.
Hate Crime Law
In 2018, MSPs voted to repeal a controversial law introduced by the SNP which criminalised the “stirring up of hatred” against certain people or groups about football matches, as well as outlawing certain “threatening communications”.
The following year, SNP ministers abandoned attempts to appoint a named person to safeguard the welfare of every child in the country, after the UK Supreme Court criticised the plan as a breach of privacy.
MSPs made significant amendments to the current hate crime legislation when they were scrutinising the bill in parliament after lawyers, journalists and comedians raised concerns that it impinged on free speech.
Roddy Dunlop KC said the actual law was much improved from its original draft, in particular, because freedom of expression was now “baked-in” to it.
However, he said, some “very understandable concerns” remained, and the Scottish state appeared to be more willing than it had been in previous times to interfere in people’s private lives.
Mr Dunlop also said there was a danger of “completely malicious” complaints being recorded and retained by police, and urged the Scottish government to clarify how such data would be handled.
Come April Fool’s Day, many eyes will be on Scotland to see if it has managed to strike the right balance between authoritarianism and liberalism – and between freedom and safety – as it attempts to slay the “hate monster”.
In a statement, it defended the use of third-party reporting centres but also promised to set up a “short-life working group” to “re-evaluate the criteria of a third-party reporting centre, recording and maintenance of the scheme and how to improve support for centres and victims.”
More generally, the looming introduction of the hate crime bill has reignited debate about the Scottish government’s approach to issues of personal freedom. (BBC)
National Police Force
In 2013 all eight of Scotland’s regional police forces were replaced with just one authority, Police Scotland a merger at odds with the long-established tradition of community-based policing and local accountability in Scotland with the potential for damaging conflict between the force’s leading officers and the unelected Scottish Police Authority Quango, which was given executive powers over finance, recruitment and personnel policy which by effect transferred oversight and control of 17,000 police and 6,000 civilian support staff to politicians in the Scottish Government.
The fears expressed by many opponents to the establishment of a single Authority have been realised and the changes should be abandoned and autonomy for local policing returned to the regions and local communities.
The National Specialist Crime Unit should be retained together with a national administration, headquarters and police training unit at Tulliannan headed by a National Director.
There should be a bonfire of the quangos
When the SNP came into power, they promised the ‘bonfire of the quangos’. Under their leadership, the amount of public money being used to support quangos and spin has swelled year upon year. At the same time as the local government has seen its budgets slashed, the SNP has elected to pour more and more money on arms-length bodies that fail to deliver value for money.
Scottish taxpayers are picking up a £22million annual bill for the salaries of chief executives and committee members of almost 100 public quangos, including many people don‘t even know exist.
A review is needed to decide how many of these organisations are required amid a cost-of-living crisis when the NHS, schools and thousands of Scots are living in poverty.
An example of the crazy world of the Scottish quangos
December 2023: A row broke out after it emerged the SNP-led Government appointments committee had contracted Michael Russell to be chair of the Scottish Land Commission SLC Quango on an annual salary of £400,000 plus financial incentives.
The best-qualified person for the post who wasn’t even considered, the land reform expert and former Green MSP Andy Wightman, tweeted:
“Depressing that the vote whether to recommend Mike Russell as Chair of Scottish Land Commission broke along party lines. Decisions like this should not be political, but, unsurprisingly, the SNP & Greens did not want any scrutiny.”
Conclusion
The foregoing list of subjects is not exhaustive and I expect there are many other matters of concern which could be added. But Scottish electorate needs to know what ALBA stands for now. We must get the message out there and soon!!!
caltonjock 
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