It’s silly season at Holyrood, and you can’t get much sillier than the royal family.
The Tories are currently calling for a portrait of the Queen to be commissioned for and hung in the Scottish parliament, as there are currently no portraits of the Queen in the building. Murdo Fraser, the deputy leader of the Scottish Tories, claims that this would be an appropriate way to “show our respect” for the Queen after over a third of MSPs failed to attend the Queen’s visit to Holyrood earlier this month. The point that Holyrood was in recess during the visit, which also fell during the school holidays, appears to have passed the Tories by.
If the suggestion from the Tories does come to fruition, an interesting question would be what the caption under the portrait would read. Scotland has had no monarch called Elizabeth other than the current incumbent. The previous English Elizabeth, rather embarrassingly, cut off the head of the Scottish monarch. The current monarch is not, therefore, Queen Elizabeth II of Scotland.
Support for the abolition of the monarchy is stronger in Scotland than in any other part of the UK, with polls showing that a quarter support the outright abolition of the monarchy, and fewer than half the population support the status quo.
The ban on Catholic succession has long rankled in Scotland, though a commitment from the Westminster government towards the end of last year to tackle the complex legislation on this issue could see this put right before long. There are those however who question whether it would be simpler just to move to outright abolition rather than tinker at the edges.
A recent UK government report found that professions have become more exclusive over the past forty years. The report found that the proportion of judges, doctors and even journalists who have been privately educated is on the increase, with less class mobility today than in 1959. Whilst this is depressing, it is perhaps not that surprising, given that in this society the highest position in the land, that of head of state, is determined not through ability, or hard work, but by an accident of birth.
At the beginning of the last parliament in Holyrood, before the Scottish Socialists imploded, several MSPs objected to making an oath of allegiance to the Queen as a pre-requisite to taking their seats, to which they had been democratically elected. For those who wish, it is possible to make a secular solemn affirmation, rather than take the oath. The parliament therefore allows for freedom of conscience on the grounds of religion, but not on the grounds of political belief. A peculiar situation which guarantees that the first words spoken by many of our parliamentarians in the chamber are known to be a lie is hardly the best way to engender a relationship of trust between politicians and the public.
As we look ahead to a likely referendum on constitutional issues before the next Scottish parliament elections, this could be an opportunity to gauge the feelings of the electorate on whether a republic or a constitutional monarchy best fits with their vision of Scotland in the 21st century, whether within the UK or outside it. How would the Scottish Labour party, the party which holds equality of opportunity as a core value, campaign on that issue?
Could we have a situation where Scotland remains within the UK parliamentary system, but rejects the notion of a hereditary head of state?
Messy, yes, but then, that’s democracy.