2024 marks 25 years of the Scottish Parliament. Although devolution has delivered much for the Scottish public, its communities and Scottish businesses, the negative feature of devolution has been a weakening of local democracy through centralisation of power, functions and services, especially from councils to Holyrood.

Is this what devolution was to be all about – creating an excessively centralised state?  We think not. It’s time for an informed debate in Scotland on the next stage of our devolution journey.