Do MSPs believe in Santa Claus?

By John Knox
Political reporter, BBC Scotland

"Do you believe in Santa?" A straightforward question, you might think.

But not in the tinsel world of politics.

Alex Salmond avoided Iain Gray's question about Father Christmas

Labour's Iain Gray tied it in with belief in the SNP's alternative to PFI, the Scottish Futures Trust.

Alex Salmond ducked the question on Santa but he does believe in the Scottish Futures Trust.

At First Minister's Questions he told Iain Gray: "It offers better value for money than we've had from the disgraceful excesses of the Private Finance Initiative or the Public Private Partnership."

Unfortunately for Mr Salmond, the parliament's finance committee brought out a report this week which found the case for the Futures Trust "had yet to be proven" and there were doubts over its "market acceptance".

Instead, the committee recommended that authorities building schools and hospitals should be able to chose whichever financial vehicle offered the best value for money for taxpayers.

But at Question Time, the man was not for turning.

"The Scottish Futures Trust will save £150m a year," said Mr Salmond.

Indeed, he said, the non-profit distributing model at the heart of the Trust was already being used in a quarter of all the public works projects (out of a total of £8bn) since the SNP came to power a mere 19 months ago.

The Reverend I M Jolly was a character played by Rikki Fulton

There then followed a uplifting exchange on who would make the best Rev I M Jolly, the complaining curate Iain Gray or the complacent cleric Alex Salmond.

The pleasantries were interrupted by the Conservative leader Annabel Goldie asking a question about fraud.

The first minister said a decision would be announced early next year on whether to establish a central anti-fraud unit inside the Serious Crime Agency.

The Liberal Democrats were interested in fat cats of the legal kind.

Tavish Scott asked what was being done to limit the huge salaries given to quango chiefs and then had the nerve to ask government ministers to take a 10% cut, as the Irish government has done.

Mr Salmond said SNP ministers were offering better value for money because there were fewer of them than under the Labour/Liberal Democrat administration.

When the pre-Christmas pillow fight was over, all four leaders adjourned to committee room six to launch the Homecoming programme for next year.

A total of 300 events appear in the official brochure, ranging from motor sport to golf and whisky tasting... oh and one or two mentions of Robert Burns, an Ayrshire poet born 250 years ago.

The 80mg drink-driving limit is not delivering safety on our roads. Kenny MacAskill Justice Minister

"Scotland is ready to welcome its guests," said Mr Salmond, "whether they are Scots returning home or simply people who love our country and our culture".

Of course there are elements of our culture we are not so proud of.

There's the demon drink for instance.

MSP's last act of the term was to vote to reduce the drink driving limit from 80mg to 50, about one pint of beer or one glass of wine.

The vote has no practical effect because road safety legislation is a matter reserved to Westminster.

For that reason Labour and the Conservatives abstained, saying the SNP should be contributing to the current review of the legislation, not picking a constitutional fight with London.

But the justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "The 80mg limit is not delivering safety on our roads.

"We need action now, not yet another discussion document from the UK Government."

Yawning gap

One in every nine deaths on Scotland's roads, he said, was alcohol related.

That's about 50 people killed every year, and the figure has remained at that level for the last 10 years.

The other main business on the floor of the chamber this week has been a lengthy debate on what's called "the budget process", not the budget itself, but how MSPs scrutinise it.

Not having a PhD in accountancy, I don't begin to understand this process.

Suffice it to say, the real rows over spending will come at the beginning of next term when the £30bn Scottish Government budget is finalised.

Looking back down the mountain, at our progress this term, there is a yawning gap where the economy used to be.

Our banks have collapsed, companies are laying people off by the thousands - 22,000 in the three months to October - the housing market has come to a standstill and "credit crunch" has become part of the language.

Indeed Holyrood is lucky to be here at all and not swept away by a tide of popular uprising and revolution.

Plans for a new cut-price Forth crossing have been announced by ministers

The Glenrothes by-election was the nearest we got to a civic shock.

Instead MSPs have been quietly planning a new bridge over the Forth, banning sheriffs from imposing prison sentences of less than six months, wringing their hands over hospital acquired infections and contemplating end-of-life issues such as palliative care and assisted suicide.

The parliamentary brass band tried to cheer us up on Wednesday with a few carols in the Garden Lobby before we walked into the canteen for our Christmas lunch.

There were more carols outside on Thursday morning from a group of anti-Trident protesters.

Called "The Early Birds", various groups of campaigners have held vigils and handed out leaflets at the gates of Holyrood every Wednesday and Thursday morning for the last four months.

They were reminding MSPs of a decision the Scottish Parliament made in June 2007 to rid Scotland of nuclear weapons.

There's been an anti-Trident summit, hosted by the Scottish Government, but since then nothing much has happened.

Disarmament, like the Scottish Futures Trust and Santa Claus is something you either believe in or you don't.

There can be no consensus, no matter how much the Scottish Parliament might wish it.

The struggle continues on 5 January.