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Foreword
In May 2007 Scotland held elections which treated the voters as an afterthought.
That one stark conclusion from Ron Gould is sufficient for us to realise that Scotland's electoral system is in need of extensive reform. The report goes on to describe a fragmented and antiquated system, that cannot be allowed to continue to put at risk public confidence in the integrity of future elections in this country to our national Parliament.
This Government intends its response to Ron Gould's report into those elections to be as far reaching as the problems that he has identified. In particular this Government - with the Scottish Parliament itself - strongly supports Ron Gould's central recommendation that legislative and administrative responsibility for elections to the Scottish Parliament should sit with that Parliament and the Scottish Government. Only this radical change can address the underlying issues that Ron Gould identifies, and provide clear accountability to the Scottish people in Scotland for elections to their Parliament.
The Scottish Government has also indicated that we will take forward Ron Gould's other recommendation for parliamentary and local elections. As a first step, a consultation document on decoupling local and Parliamentary elections is being published at the same time as this paper. Other consultations on a Chief Returning Officer and other matters will follow, all in good time to allow improvements to be made before the next elections.
This Government is determined that the people of Scotland can have confidence in our electoral system. We will take the radical steps required to achieve this, and this response to Ron Gould's report maps the way to achieve that ambition.
Bruce Crawford MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business
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