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Mr. Connarty: My hon. Friend knows that I respect his views on these matters, but it seems to me that he is suggesting that he agrees with those who argue that Members of this Parliament who represent Scottish constituencies should be given less weight, and that their responsibility, powers and respect in Westminster should be diminished. I am extremely worried by that theory.
If responsibility for broadcasting stays here, with United Kingdom Members of Parliament elected for Scottish constituencies, surely they should have the same weight as they have now.
Mr. McAllion: They cannot have. The Secretary of State for Scotland is responsible for the budget of the Scottish Office and for all the powers that it exercises, but, after devolution, he will lose that responsibility, which will transfer to the Scottish Parliament. By definition, he will carry less weight in the Cabinet. Indeed, it has been argued that there could be only one constitutional spokesman for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after the devolved bodies are set up.
It is natural in those circumstances that the Scottish Parliament should be given powers over broadcasting. Otherwise, a large industry in Scotland would not be subject to proper democratic scrutiny. Those of us who worked in the Scottish Constitutional Convention intended the Scottish Parliament to be responsible for that scrutiny. We cannot say in 1996 that it is essential that broadcasting be the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament and then say in 1998 that we did not really mean it. We should honour the commitment that we gave.
My hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk, East (Mr. Connarty) raised the prospect of the Scottish Parliament trying to control broadcasters in Scotland. That is not what anyone is calling for. We want to replicate the arm's-length relationship with broadcasters that the United Kingdom Parliament has. No one suggests that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport controls the BBC, the ITC or The Sun. In fact, some might argue that The Sun controls the Department. It is a false argument to suggest that because the Scottish Parliament wants some powers over broadcasting, it wants to control it completely. It wants to subject it to democratic scrutiny, and that is a legitimate aspiration.
I take offence when people say that there is a danger of parochialism if broadcasting is overseen by people elected in Scotland by Scottish voters. They suggest that it will be kailyard broadcasting; that the Scots cannot be trusted to look after these weighty affairs; and that a Scottish "Coronation Street" or "EastEnders" would be of poor quality and no one would want to see it.
The Scots are every bit as capable of holding broadcasting to account as anyone in this Parliament. Members of Parliament who represent Scottish constituencies will be in no way better than Members of the Scottish Parliament representing the same constituencies.
Mrs. Fyfe:
I am a bit concerned about my hon. Friend's line of thought. I am not aware of anyone--among Labour Members, at least--making such a claim. In fact, it would be absurd. BBC Scotland produces excellent programmes, some of which have achieved worldwide renown.
Mr. McAllion:
I agree 100 per cent. that my hon. Friend would never make such an assertion, but unfortunately there are some who would argue in those terms. It strikes me that there is a metropolitan tendency that, for some people, is unavoidable in the Westminster Parliament. They think that if it is not done in the London region it cannot be good enough and that the regions outside London are, by definition, less sophisticated. That is insulting and should be resisted by every Member of Parliament.
The idea of devolution is that government can be carried on in every corner of this island just as effectively as it can be carried on here in London. Indeed, the whole argument behind devolution in the first place is that government can be conducted more effectively in that way.
British broadcasting is already over-centralised. I recently came across the statistic that only 3 per cent. of what is carried by the BBC network is from Scotland, although Scotland has 17 per cent. of the network's audience. That is not good enough: BBC Scotland is doing well, but not well enough, and more Scottish programmes should be on the BBC network, so that they can be watched throughout the United Kingdom. It would help towards that end if the Scottish Parliament had powers over broadcasting.
My hon. Friend the Secretary of State is screwing up his face. I do not know what that means. Perhaps he wants me to shut up and sit down.
Mr. Hawkins:
I have been listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman. The influence of Scotland on national broadcasting goes well beyond programmes that are commissioned and made in Scotland. When James Naughtie is on an opinion-forming political programme, the Scots have a real influence over national British politics.
Mr. McAllion:
If the hon. Gentleman is saying that the only way in which Scots can influence national politics is to leave Scotland, that is a very strange argument. I am glad to hear that he is following my argument closely. He must be the only Member who is.
Mrs. Margaret Ewing (Moray):
James Naughtie is a former constituent of mine, having resided in Keith for a considerable time.
Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that reporting what happens in the Scottish Parliament is important not only within Scotland and that we must look outwards and ensure that the broadcasting facilities take the messages that come from that Parliament into the international community? Those messages should not necessarily have to be sieved through the procedures of London state broadcasting.
Mr. McAllion:
The hon. Lady makes an interesting point. One of the big issues will be the way in which the broadcasting authorities deal with the Scottish Parliament. The United Kingdom Parliament is ultimately responsible for the BBC and the Independent Television Commission, and can exercise influence over those who decide how parliamentary business is broadcast.
As I understand it, it is suggested not only that the Scottish Parliament should have no influence over how it should be broadcast but that this Parliament should decide what the coverage should be. That would be a matter of great concern for me, because I believe that the Scottish Parliament should be treated equally.
I hope that the BBC and ITV in Scotland, and the other Scottish media, will treat the Scottish Parliament with the same respect and interest that are accorded to this Parliament. Again and again, we come back in these debates to the old story that Westminster wants to send the message that the Scottish Parliament is in some sense
inferior and that its proceedings should not be covered to the exclusion of our proceedings here. I do not agree with that.
Mr. Connarty:
I wish that my hon. Friend had carried on his logic, so that I could have followed him in the quantum leap that he made, suggesting that if the Scottish Parliament makes broadcasting more accountable to it, we in Scotland will, by some process or other--osmosis, perhaps--end up being able to sell more of our programmes and producing more than 3 per cent. of the BBC network output in Scotland. I am worried by the idea that he believes that politicians have a right to interfere in the process of creativity in broadcasting. He seems to think that giving the Scottish Parliament accountability will make the programmes more acceptable to the network. I do not know how that could happen.
Mr. McAllion:
As I mentioned, the Scottish Arts Council appeared before the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs. Some artists from Scotland appeared before the Committee this morning, including Mr. David MacLennan of Wildcat Stage Productions and Mr. John McGrath of Freeway Films. They said that they were delighted that, for the first time in 30 years, elected politicians would become involved in the politics of art and culture in Scotland. They thought that that would give a much higher profile to their arguments and hold an unelected quango to account, because elected politicians could ask the quango members why they had taken certain decisions.
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