Scotland

Ross Greer is for Palestine, trans rights and riling up the Daily Express, making him the ideal candidate to lead the Scottish Greens. At an event in Glasgow today, the West Scotland MSP put himself forward as a successor to Patrick Harvie, who is standing down after 17 years at the helm of the environmentalist party that occasionally takes an interest in the environment. Under Harvie’s leadership, the Greens have prioritised cultural and identity politics over economics and ecology, helping to push the Gender Recognition Reform Bill through Holyrood and press for free bus travel for asylum seekers (an idea pinched by the SNP-run Scottish government).  The pragmatic radicalism on offer

Just when the SNP thought Operation Branchform had disappeared, the curious case into the party’s funds and finances has reared its head again. Now it transpires that former SNP chief Peter Murrell – and ex-husband of Dear Leader Nicola Sturgeon – has been granted legal aid after being charged with embezzlement, meaning the taxpayer will, um, fund his legal bills. Good heavens… As reported by the Daily Record, the onetime chief executive of the Scottish National party had his application for solemn legal aid approved by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. The 60-year-old will receive support which is usually granted to those who cannot afford to pay for legal help

Oh dear. It’s not been a good year for the Scottish Conservatives, who have seen multiple councillors defect to Reform UK ahead of next year’s Scottish parliament elections. Now, in a further blow to the Tories, it transpires a former Conservative MP has jumped ship to Nigel Farage’s party. Talk about a sinking ship, eh? Ross Thomson – who had formerly backed Kemi Badenoch for the party leadership – less than a year after claiming his old group was the only party able to overcome the ‘threat’ of Farage. The eighth Conservative member in the region to turn his back on the blues, Thomson revealed his new colours after appearing

Last week, I had the privilege of interning with the broadcast team at The Spectator ­– a magazine that has been stirring up debate since 1828. True to form, my arrival seemed to do the same. A Scottish newspaper managed to spin my internship into something resembling a scandal because I’m currently a sitting councillor in Renfrewshire. The whole thing would be flattering if it wasn’t so confusing. I suspect the real issue is not the internship. It is my defection – and my decision to challenge the political orthodoxy of the mainstream parties According to the National, ‘a Scottish Reform defector has been called out for taking a new job with the London-based

With less than 11 months to go until the Holyrood election, things aren’t looking quite as rosy for the SNP as in previous elections. The party is 15 points down on where it was 2021, it lost the recent Hamilton by-election with Reform hot on its heels and now it has been dealt another blow. SNP veteran Fergus Ewing has confirmed that he will run as an independent at the 2026 Scottish parliament election, turning his back on a political institution he has represented in Holyrood for over a quarter of a century. It’s quite the move from a politician who grew up as SNP royalty, being the son of

SNP MSP Mairi McAllan appears to be rated rather highly by First Minister John Swinney, who created an entirely new job for her on her return to Holyrood from maternity leave – but the Scottish government’s new housing secretary hasn’t had the smoothest start to the job. A rather awkward interview with STV this week highlighted the Cabinet minister isn’t quite as on top of her brief as she should be. Oh dear… The SNP claims on its website that ‘since taking office, we have delivered 96,750 affordable homes, nearly 67,000 of which were for social rent’. But on how many people are currently waiting for a social home in

A small but not insignificant morsel of data on the state of education after 18 years of the SNP running Scotland. New figures show the gap between the poorest and wealthiest school leavers has widened to a five-year high. In the least deprived areas, just 3 per cent of school leavers fail to go to a ‘positive destination’, the Scottish Government’s term for higher or further education, training, employment or voluntary work. Yet in the most deprived areas, areas like the former Lanarkshire industrial town from which I’m writing this, more than one in ten children leave school to what is euphemistically called ‘other destinations’, i.e. unemployment. Scottish Labour’s education

Dear oh dear. With just days to go until the Scottish Conservative conference, party leader Russell Findlay will have been hoping for a quiet news week. He has had no such luck however – at the eleventh hour, it transpires that yet another one of his Aberdeenshire councillors has defected to Reform UK. Lauren Knight has become the party’s fifth representative on the council – and party officials insist that with the support of two independent councillors, they now have an official group. The tide is turning… Knight, who represents the ward of Huntly, Strathbogie and Howe of Alford, was previously a Tory party member. But her move to Reform

It’s a busy day in politics and the SNP is keen not to be left out of the action. As Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveils her spending review in London, today the Scottish Cabinet has undergone a reshuffle. The looming return of ex-net zero secretary Mairi McAllan from maternity leave had in recent weeks sparked speculation about how First Minister John Swinney would reorganise his top team, and his party’s rather dismal result in last week’s Hamilton by-election has led to much frustration – public and private – about the strategy deployed by the SNP government. Swinney’s reshuffle today may be modest, but the First Minister has, with 11 months to

Back to Scotland, where yet another ferry is facing further delays. The MV Glen Rosa, which is being built at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow, has been hit by another setback – despite already being six years behind schedule and more than £100 million over budget. Talk about incompetent, eh? This isn’t the first fiasco that has hit Scotland’s ferry projects in recent years It has emerged that when the ship’s funnels were removed for internal work, gaps weren’t sealed and as a result the ferry, er, flooded during heavy rain two weeks ago. More than that, it transpires that the funnels themselves were only initially fitted for

For some time now, I’ve been documenting a growing devoscepticism in Scotland, only to be assured, variously, that voters are not sceptical of devolution, that some are but their number isn’t growing, and that some are and their number is growing but it’s all just boomers and so it doesn’t matter anyway. It ought to trouble devolutionists that one in three Scots would shutter the Scottish parliament tomorrow Eight years ago, I wrote about a poll showing one in five Scottish voters supported the abolition of the Scottish Parliament. Last year, it was a poll recording satisfaction with devolution at just 50 per cent, with 26 per cent of voters

‘How useful are TV debates anyway?’ a Labour figure scoffed when I asked why their candidate in the Hamilton by-election wasn’t taking part in any debate this week. After the STV by-election debate special on Monday night, you might think they had a point. Only two of the six candidates approached by the broadcaster agreed to come into the studio – and the absence of Labour’s man made the whole thing very much a two-horse race between the SNP and Reform.  The absence of Labour’s man made the whole thing very much a two-horse race between the SNP and Reform In his brief introductory statement, Reform’s Ross Lambie – a