AN MSP has called out a Debate Night audience member for negatively phrasing a question.
On Wednesday, the BBC Debate Night live from Edinburgh featured Ben Macpherson MSP calling out the way an audience member phrased a question.
Macpherson said the member was “focusing on the negative” and not been “acknowledging that we have many benefits here in Scotland that have been delivered by devolution that aren’t available elsewhere in the UK”.
An audience member asked whether Scottish politics was “fundamentally broken” after reading a list to illustrate his point.
He said: “16 years of the same government with ongoing scandals, continuous constitutional gaming, ongoing challenges with the NHS, poor financial management and accountability – is Scottish politics fundamentally broken now?”
The former minister and representative for Leith and Northern Edinburgh said no but did stress the need for a more “constructive” politics.
He then added: “Sir, with all due respect, the way you characterised your question – focusing on the negative, not acknowledging that we have many benefits here in Scotland that have been delivered by devolution that aren’t available elsewhere in the UK - is part of our collective problem.
“The challenge in this next chapter of devolution…is how we move beyond the polarisation that has been perpetuated by different perspectives in our politics” The SNP's @BenMacpherson outlines why he thinks that Scottish politics is not broken #bbcdn https://t.co/e2PpmtlnNT pic.twitter.com/V4E9z0lz5V
— BBC Debate Night (@bbcdebatenight) June 7, 2023
“Rather than criticising each other, let’s be constructive. Rather than being tribal, let’s work together in how we move forward.
“That’s the sort of politics I believe in and that’s the sort of politics that I think Scotland wants and needs. The challenge for politicians as a whole, and all of us in our political debate, is how we move forward and deliver that for the benefit of all of us.”
He also received criticism by Yes supporters online for calling the next phase of Scottish politics the “next chapter of devolution”.
He said: “Politics cannot be dead. The challenge in this next chapter of devolution – so we’ve had about 25 years, we’re going into the next one - is how we move beyond the polarisation that has been perpetuated by different perspectives in our politics.”
On Thursday morning, the MSP wrote: “For clarity, in this statement I meant we are entering the next chapter of the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament - the next era in which I of course want us to continue to work towards and achieve independence/statehood.”
