Devolution may have benefited "elite" groups more than the general Scottish population, Labour leader Iain Gray has said.
His comment came as he prepared to deliver a lecture on 10 years of devolution at Edinburgh University.
Mr Gray warned that politics must shift from "identity to values" - and hit out at the SNP's "obsession" with independence as a solution.
Now that makes interesting reading for a number of scores. One just under 80% of the time spent under devolution, Scotland has benefited from a Labour First Minister and many of the ministerial roles being held by his Labour colleagues. So while I think he is trying to be disparaging about the SNP he is also being very disparaging about his Labour colleagues and indeed the Lib Dems who shared power with them.
Secondly I wonder if the elderly who gained free personal care count as elite? Or those who get their eyes tests free? What about the various students from all walks of live who do not have to pay tuition fees in Scotland? OK I can see them ending up being part of the elite but not all of them started there and without than many of them would not have started a degree.
What about the whole population who will benefit from the targets and actions taken to make Scotland a greener place, a knowledge based economy and other such actions which benefit many not just the elite. There is also the smoking ban which was brought in to help those that had no option but to work in some of the lowest paid jobs from the effects of passive smoking.
Just what does the Gray man of Holyrood mean by elite, you have to ask oneself when so many benefits have come to Scots that Labour in England have yet to deliver or trailed behind with.
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