David Millar OBE (1929 – 2016) was a Scottish civil servant who contributed to the work of three parliaments. His experience of the UK
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
(1953-1973) and of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
(1973-1989) led to his drafting the Standing Orders for the future
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
. The draft document
[Crick, Bernard; Millar, David (1995). To make the Parliament of Scotland a model for democracy. Publisher: John Wheatley Centre] co-authored with Sir
Bernard Crick
Sir Bernard Rowland Crick (16 December 1929 – 19 December 2008) was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views can be summarised as "politics is ethics done in public". He sought to arrive at a "politics of action", as ...
proposed working methods that diverged from the Westminster model, and several of these were adopted by the newly-formed Scottish Parliament in 1999.
Biography
Early life
David Millar was born and educated in Edinburgh, attending
Melville College and graduating in History from the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
. His obituary notes a life-long friendship with
John Mackintosh, a fellow pro-European and advocate of political devolution, whose quotation Millar later suggested for engraving in the Scottish Parliament building
[Obituary (2016)]
The Scotsman, 12th September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
Civil Service Career
David Millar's professional life centred on the operation of parliaments, helping MPs to navigate the legislative procedures as a clerk in the House of Commons in London until 1973 and, after the UK joined the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
, rising to become the Director of Research in the equivalent part of the European Parliament, based in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
.
The transition to
direct elections
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...
was among his early work for the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in 1974-76, a project that was led by the Dutch socialist
Schelto Patijn
Schelto Patijn sxɛɫtoː pɑˈtɛin(13 August 1936 – 15 July 2007) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and jurist. After serving as an elected member of the Dutch and subsequently European Parliament, he served as Queen's Co ...
. Members elected to national parliaments had previously been appointed to the European level. From 1979, Europeans elected their
MEPs
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
directly, marking "a historic step" beyond the commercial focus of the
Common Market
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
and towards a political
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
After retiring to Scotland in 1990, David Millar shared his experience in parliaments at the University of Edinburgh, teaching at the Europa Institute,
and publishing on political theory and practice. He was soon planning for a possible Scottish Parliament, while the political momentum for devolution grew in the
Scottish Constitutional Convention
The Scottish Constitutional Convention (SCC) was an association of Scottish political parties, churches and other civic groups, that developed a framework for Scottish devolution. It is credited as having paved the way for the establishment of t ...
. An initial paper for the Labour-backed thinktank,
[Hassan, Gerry; Shaw, Eric (2012) The Strange Death of Labour Scotla]
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press the John Wheatley Centre in 1991 was followed by a fresh commission
to draft Standing Orders for a Scottish Parliament in 1995,
and by appointment to the Government's Expert Panel on Procedures and Standing Orders in the Scottish Parliament in 1998, advising the
Consultative Steering Group.
The ambition of the Crick-Millar proposals, born in part from the contrast between the Westminster and European Parliaments, was noted as a system in which the executive “need not and should not have such total domination over the legislative process as has evolved at Westminster”.
The standing orders were intended to play an important role in taking "a unique opportunity for Scotland to devise procedures more suited to its own civic tradition and the 21st century".
The proposals that were subsequently adopted include:
* parliamentary committees structured such that "Committee loyalty in short will be stronger than party loyalty."
* electronic communications (such a
webcasting to link parliamentarians to the people
[ Megaughin, Emma; Jefferey, Charlie (2009) Introduction: The First Decade in Perspective. In Jefferey, Charlie; Mitchell, James (eds.) The Scottish Parliament 1999-2009: The First Decade]
Publisher: Hansard Society
* the electronic, public petitions (implemented in the
E-petitioner
E-petitioner is an online petition system developed in Scotland, characterised by its integration into the processes of representative democracy. It allows citizens to raise and sign a petition, read background information on the issue, and add c ...
system), admired elsewhere,
[ McMillan, Joyce (2009) The Principle of Power-Sharing, 10 Years On. In Jefferey, Charlie; Mitchell, James (eds.) The Scottish Parliament 1999-2009: The First Decade]
Publisher: Hansard Society and on which Millar was called to provide expert testimony to a House of Lords Select Committee
The Crick-Millar papers were noted as a success and influence of the John Wheatley Centre.
Review of the parliamentary procedures has continued, with substantial changes to the committees,
[Jefferey, Charlie; Mitchell, James (2009) The Scottish Parliament 1999-2009: The First Decade]
Publisher: Hansard Society and broadly in the 2016
Commission on Parliamentary Reform
The Commission on Parliamentary Reform was an independent group, established in October 2016 by Ken Macintosh, the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. It is chaired by John McCormick and published its report, with recommendations, on ...
.
Philosophical and/or political views
Millar supported the
Liberal Democrats, once standing for the party as a candidate for election to the European Parliament.
Published works
With Prof Sir
Bernard Crick
Sir Bernard Rowland Crick (16 December 1929 – 19 December 2008) was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views can be summarised as "politics is ethics done in public". He sought to arrive at a "politics of action", as ...
,
* Making Scotland's Parliament Work. John Wheatley Centre (July 1991).
* To make the Parliament of Scotland a model for democracy. John Wheatley Centre (November 1995).
Other works,
* Millar, D. 1990. A Uniform Electoral Procedure for European-Elections. Elect Stud 9:37-44. Doi 10.1016/0261-3794(90)90040-F
* Millar, D. 1992. Subsidiarity - the Challenge of Change - Proceedings of the Jacques-Delors-Colloquium. J Common Mark Stud 30:371-2
* Scott, A, Peterson J, Millar D. 1994. Subsidiarity - a Europe of the Regions Versus the British Constitution. J Common Mark Stud 32:47-67
* Millar, D. 1996. Orchestrating Europe: The informal politics of the European Union 1973-95 - Middlemas,K. Polit Quart 67:279-81. DOI 10.1111/j.1468-5965.1994.tb00484.x
* Millar, D. 1997. Regional government in England - Constitution-Unit. Polit Quart 68:213-5
* Millar, D. 1997. Scotland's parliament: Fundamentals for a new Scotland act - Constitution-Unit. Polit Quart 68:213-5
* Millar, D. 1999. Political theory of European constitutional choice. Polit Quart 70:116-8
* Millar, D. 2002. Federal union, from Scotland with lov
Accessed 17 Sept 2017
Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions
Order of the British Empire , OBE for his work at the European Parliament, in the
1989 Birthday Honours.
See also
*
Parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or t ...
*
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
*
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
*
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millar, David
Scottish civil servants
1929 births
2016 deaths