The party's over for the old-style leaders

'UNITY is strength.' With these words, at a ceremony dedicating the renovated Supreme Court building as the home of the Legislative Council in October 1985, the then Senior Unofficial Member of Legco, Lydia Dunn, called on her colleagues, 24 of whom were returned by elections for the first time in the council's history, to 'find unity in our diversity'.

Quoting from the New Testament, the now Baroness Dunn, who is to resign from her post as Senior Executive Councillor, said: 'If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.' Ten years on, as Legco members changed from being fully appointed to partially elected and then fully elected by September, the bickering among legislators has given the impression Legco is divided against itself.

Whereas appointed members found they were most effective by banding together to negotiate with the administration behind the scenes, such consensus politics has given way to the public mud-slinging and posturing that is party politics.

But if today's legislators are no longer keen to reach a common stance, they are at one when it comes to making Legco a stronger institution vis-a-vis the administration.

Amidst the noisy rumblings of the legislators, Legco has become more deeply entrenched as an institution.

The growth in stature of Legco is symbolic of the great strides made in the development of representative government - the most significant change in the political scene in the past decade.