Topic	Dual Mandate - A Two-headed Monster
Date	23/8/1999

'What is it like to be a two-headed monster?', I have been asked. "Pretty confusing and hard work" is the answer. Since 4.00am on 7 May, I have been an MSP ? Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Scotland ? as well as MP for West Edinburgh. For 16 years I was a member of two councils, but they were just on opposite sides of the road. To be a member of two parliaments 400 miles apart is more of a problem. My Westminster colleagues were very tolerant of my long absences before, during and after the Scottish election campaign, punctuated by literally flying visits to Westminster, on occasion twice in one week, to vote for Liberal Democrat amendments being supported by Labour rebels. July was easier, as the Scottish Parliament, in its "family friendly" guise, has a recess in July and August to cover the Scottish school holidays. August is fine for constituency work and a holiday. In September and most of October the Scottish Parliament will be in session and Westminster won't, so that is straightforward. From then on the real problems will start. At Westminster the basic rhythm of activity is well-established, but at most MPs only know 2 weeks in advance whether a particular day involves a crucial debate and vote or is taken up with less important business which they can miss in order to fulfil some other important business elsewhere. In Edinburgh the pattern is still evolving, especially for the committees, which are a key part of our work, and the agenda is often not clear for more than a few days ahead. So I will just have to decide week by week where I can make the most useful contribution. There are fifteen of us two-headed monsters - 6 Labour, 6 SNP, 2 Liberal Democrats (Jim Wallace and me) and Dennis Canavan. The Tories, of course, have no MPs from Scotland. The parties do not want, and cannot afford, 15 by-elections. Judging by recent turnouts, the voters wouldn?t be enthusiastic about 15 by-elections either. All this means there is pressure on all 15 of us monsters not to remove one of our two heads by resigning from Westminster. Dennis Canavan may feel he should resign from Westminster, but this will probably not precipitate by-elections in the other 14 constituencies, but it will increase the pressure on the 14 dual MPs to be seen to be doing their stuff as MPs and MSPs. In one respect I am different from the other 14, because my Scottish Parliament list constituency of Central Scotland is entirely different from my Westminster constituency of West Edinburgh. When the Liberal Democrat members of West Edinburgh exercised their democratic right of choosing a different, younger and female candidate for the Scottish election, I decided to offer myself to lead our campaign in our weakest area - the ten constituencies of Central Scotland, where we needed to up our General Election vote to gain one of the seven list places. Our few but gallant members voted for me to top our list, so I spent as much time as possible getting to know the communities in the ten constituencies. These extend from Falkirk to Kilmarnock, and include Hamilton, Motherwell, Airdrie, Coatbridge and the two new towns of Cumbernauld and East Kilbride. Our election campaign was most enjoyable, mostly spent in dishing out leaflets in shopping centres and meeting community groups. It was hard to get stuff in some of the local papers, because for them Liberals and Liberal Democrats had not featured locally since Asquith's day. However, the TV repeatedly showed Charles Kennedy and me singing along with nursery pupils "The Wheels on the Bus go round and round" etc, and Paddy and Jim Wallace at the Irn Bru plant at Cumbernauld. (Scotland is one of the very few countries where another soft drink ? Irn Bru ? outsells Coca-Cola.) Since the election, meeting more organisations in Central Scotland and developing the contacts made before and during the elections has been a principal activity, balanced against keeping up the work rate in West Edinburgh. Learning from organisations across ten constituencies provides good ideas for policies to promote and problems to tackle. No one is yet very clear what list MSPs? duties should be. I see the cultivation and understanding of local and regional organisations and voluntary and community groups as my prime function outwith the parliament. As against the increased workload of representing two areas in two different parliaments, there will slowly come a counterbalancing benefit, as my West Edinburgh colleague, Margaret Smith, takes on more of the constituency work, and we share surgeries and visits. My dual role brings some benefits. My support team is larger. My excellent secretary, Doreen Nisbet, keeps both her bosses - me and me - on the rails and gave me a flying start in the new Edinburgh set-up. I have access to the excellent House of Commons library staff, as well as their enthusiastic Edinburgh counterparts. Life is full of exciting challenges for two-headed monsters. Time will tell how I and the others fare.