Tuesday 29 June, 6.30pm, House of Commons, Westminster.
Chair: Dr. Ruth Fox (Director, Parliament and Government Programme, Hansard Society)
Speakers: Rt. Hon. Henry McLeish (Former Scottish First Minister, Labour MSP and MP), Joyce McMillan (Scotsman)
This stimulating and wide-ranging Democracy Forum addressed various aspects of the new coalition politics in Westminster and their implications for the political landscape in the short to long term. While coalition politics is quite new to contemporary Westminster politics, this is not the case in other parts of the UK’s democracy: the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood has been working with a coalition and minority government since 1999. Mindful of this, the two speakers – both stalwarts of Scottish politics – engaged with the issues facing Westminster politics as regards the new coalition and the possibilities for its future trajectory from positions of familiarity with the effects that coalition government has had on Holyrood.