Former Labour minister Malcolm Chisholm says he could vote for independence

Speaking on the 20th anniversary of the official opening of the Scottish Parliament, he said the only two futures on offer for Scotland were an increase in Holyrood’s powers or independence.“I think Brexit and the state of the Conservative party have given a great impetus to the move towards independence,” he said.“I would go as far as to say if we have continuing Conservative governments independence will become inevitable.“I might in future vote for independence but it would totally depend on what the situation was and what the alternatives on offer were in terms of the UK.“If we had continuing Conservative government I think Scotland would vote for independence and I think I would as well - but that’s quite a big ‘if’.”Mr Chisholm, was elected MSP for Edinburgh North and Leith at the first elections in 1999 and served until 2016, having previously been the area’s MP since 1992.

He served as Health Minister and then Communities Minister in the Labour-Lib Dem coalition which ran Scotland for the first eight years of devolution.Looking back, he said: “I enjoyed it very much from the start I found it very exciting. The culture change wasn’t as great as people were hoping because you’ve always got that exaggerated enmity between Labour and the SNP. They agree on more issues than anyone on either side would admit.“I suppose in retrospect there has been an almost inevitable momentum towards more powers. If Tam Dalyell were alive, he would say ‘I told you so’. The only question is whether it stops at some sort of enhanced devolution or devo max or whether it goes towards independence. Those are the only two futures for Scotland now really.He said a lot depended on what happened at Westminster.“I think independence is likely anyway because of the way people under 50 vote, but I think a Corbyn kind of government that was actually achieving what it set out to achieve would certainly delay that process - whereas if we have a Conservative government elected - whoever is leader - at the next election, I would say independence is pretty inevitable.“I’m a big supporter of what Labour is trying to do at UK level - though I’ve been critical of the approach to Brexit.“[Shadow Chancellor] John McDonnell said the first priority of the Treasury would be to put its full weight behind addressing the climate emergency.“Some people have moved towards support for independence because they think we could do more on the environmental climate change front if we were independent, but if you had a government in London being radical not just on climate changes but in the wider economy people might think there was a continuing role for Westminster - whereas, faced with Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, who’s not much better, and Brexit and the possibility if a no-deal Brexit, a lot of people are thinking ‘What is the point of staying connected to that?’”The official opening of the Scottish Parliament on July 1, 1999, attended by the Queen, came a couple of months after the MSPs were elected. They paraded through the street to the official ceremony in the parliament’s temporary home at the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly Hall on The Mound.Former Lothian Green MSP Robin Harper recalled the excitement of the early days. “We were all in a state of happy shock at finding ourselves elected to the first parliament in 300 years.“We got through an astonishing amount of legislation in the first few years - about ten times as much as we would have got through Westminster - including the smoking ban, which will makes Scotland’s health better into the future.”SNP Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop - the only one of the original Lothian MSPs to serve throughout the two decades - traces the journey back to the devolution referendum in 1997 and has a personal way of recalling it.She said: “My son was born in the July and the referendum was in September, so he was 18 months or so when I was elected, but he was also 17 by the time of the independence referendum and got to vote.“I shared an office with Margo MacDonald in the old regional council offices where we had our temporary base.

"One of the first debates was on domestic abuse and I remember thinking that was the sort of debate that would never at that time have taken place at Westminster. So very early doors there were things that were quite different.“There were so many women in the parliament, I think the culture and behaviour was established right at the beginning of respect and equality.”“And the electoral system means that although some of us have been there from the start every election has brought in new people so it is constantly refreshed and that has contributed to the culture of the place as well.”But looking back, she said: “It doesn’t seem like 20 years.”