Self-satisfised political and civil elite now dominates Holyrood - Susan Dalgety

“I look forward to the days ahead when this Chamber will sound with debate, argument and passion. When men and women from all over Scotland will meet to work together…” he said.

Fast forward to last Wednesday night, when Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer, who was only five years old when Donald Dewar made his much lauded speech, stood outside the Scottish Parliament and trumpeted that he had helped lead a protest that stopped people from entering the building.

He and his fellow "activists” had blocked the main entrance to the parliament because they objected to ADS Scotland, the trade body for the aerospace, space, security and defence sectors, holding a reception in the building. Why? Because according to Greer, ADS Scotland are an “arms dealer propaganda vehicle”.

No matter that these industries have an annual turnover of £7 billion and contribute £3.2bn to the Scottish economy. Nor that they directly employ 33,500 people, including 1500 apprentices, and their productivity is 47 per cent higher than the economy average. Greer, whose own contribution to the Scottish economy can only be guessed at, did not want them in the building and he and his fellow protestors did their very best to stop the event from going ahead.

Only a few days previously another young MSP, Labour’s Paul Sweeney, who was ten when Donald Dewar made his speech, terminated his sponsorship of the event after being asked about arms sales to Israel. If Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw had not stepped in to host the reception it would have been cancelled.

In recent years we have seen growing evidence that many of the 129 MSPs who are supposed to represent the Scottish people at Holyrood only act on behalf of themselves and their narrow base of supporters. A self-satisfised, intolerant political and civil society elite now dominates the parliament, personified by the likes of Ross Greer. They treat Holyrood, not as a democratic forum open to all, but as private members’ club for those who agree with their world view. And they spend their time making grand gestures, waving flags and chanting slogans, instead of doing their job which, as Dewar described 25 years ago, should be about “striving do right by the people of Scotland, to respect their priorities and to better their lot”.

Greer’s actions go against everything the pioneers of the Scottish Parliament stood for. As another MSP Stephen Kerr pointed out last Thursday: “This is surely unacceptable conduct for a member of the Scottish Parliament to seek to prevent members of the public entering their own Parliament.”

Greer now faces an ethics investigation after a member of the public lodged a complaint with the Ethical Standards Commissioner. Perhaps it is he who should be stopped from entering the parliament, at least until he has grown up.