Opinion: Jackie Baillie calls for more productive politics

Not a day goes by without politics dominating the headlines. And if it is not Brexit, it is independence.

I long for a time when constitutional issues are not dominating the landscape but instead the chambers of both parliaments ring with debate about ending poverty, delivering good quality public services, and building an economy for the future.

Never in my lifetime have we seen disagreement of this scale in the UK Parliament, with Government backbenchers breaking the whip and voting with the opposition.

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Twenty-one Tory MPs have now had the whip removed, and some of the most recognisable MPs now sit as independents, including Father of the House, Kenneth Clarke, and Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames.

No matter what side of the Brexit divide you are on, whether you voted to leave or remain, nobody voted for uncertainty like this.

We are now six months on from the date that we were supposed to leave the European Union. Parliament has been prorogued, another General Election is just around the corner, and despite MPs voting against a no deal Brexit, we have no prospect of a deal being reached – now with less than six weeks until our scheduled departure date.

If it is this difficult to leave the European Union, imagine how difficult it would be for Scotland to part from the United Kingdom.

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With GERS figures last month revealing that independence would cost the people of Scotland more than £1,000 per year, just to fill the funding gap, it is clear that it would be no easy task.

‘May you live in interesting times’ is a Confucian curse.

I sincerely hope that politics becomes less ‘interesting’ and more productive, with a focus on issues that will make a positive difference to peoples’ lives.