Original sentence: As a result, the final £431m cost of the Holyrood building can be compared with other cost overruns in projects such as Portcullis House - a new parliamentary office block in Westminster - built for use by 200 MPs, which cost £250 million, including £100 million spent on bronze cladding, £250m for the redevelopment of the German Reichstag, £40m for the development of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, and £800m for the construction of the Millennium Dome.The cost overruns of the Scottish Parliament Building further dented confidence in public opinion in the ability of the public sector to handle major infrastructure and building projects
Edited sentence: Adversarial politics are still commonplace after devolution, and frequently overshadow events at Holyrood.Expectations that Scottish government would dramatically change as a new, non-confrontational, politics took hold in Holyrood have been disappointed, but were arguably based on naïve perceptions of the nature of politics.For many the entire point of devolution was that things could be done differently.Hunting with dogs was banned (2002) with hardly any of the controversy seen in England and Wales, feudal land tenure was abolished (2000) and a far more generous subsidy for old age care was implemented (2002) than that seen south of the border.In addition, a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces came into force in March 2006.Moreover, the electorate has twice chosen a moderate centre-left (some would claim centre-right) Scottish Executive, in voting predominantly for the Labour Party.Perhaps the main criticism of the parliament is that it has not changed Scotland enough.Polling continues to show that they would overwhelmingly vote to keep it.Regardless, the Scottish Parliament has proved able to act quickly to deal with longstanding issues that repeatedly escaped action at Westminster.The acid test in judging the success or failure of the parliament may not be to measure whether it is well-loved by Scots, but whether, given the opportunity, they would vote to abolish it.£431 million for a national parliament might still be argued to be within reason when compared to Portcullis House - a new parliamentary office block in Westminster - built for use by 200 MPs, which cost £250 million, including £100 million spent on bronze cladding