An empty chamber

The Scottish Parliament building finally opened for business yesterday - the lights are on, but there's nobody home.

Three years later, and £400million more than originally planned, it does at least look good. 'I don't think even the building's harshest critics could fail to be awed', said Robin Harper, leader of the parliament's Green Party. However, there were still teething troubles. The microphones worked intermittently during the day and failed altogether in the final debate, bringing a swift close to proceedings. The building isn't finished, even now. 'One of the public entrances stubbornly refused to open yesterday, an entire banister came off in the hands of a journalist in the press gallery, and a basement office was flooded in last week's torrential rain', reported the Daily Telegraph.

The controversy about the building's cost is such that both prime minister Tony Blair and chancellor Gordon Brown will be giving the official opening a wide berth. But the biggest problem is not building the parliament but filling it. There is a vacuum where political debate should be. As Dolan Cummings points out on Spiked, the parliament has limited powers and even more limited ambitions. No wonder the new leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, will be hanging on to his Westminster seat. He clearly knows where the real power lies. The wonder of yesterday's opening is that, when the microphones failed, anyone noticed.

It's show time in the £431m hot house, Daily Telegraph, 8 September 2004

A hole in Holyrood, by Dolan Cummings