Holyrood

A former first minister for Scotland has said Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond must stop “knocking hell out of each other in public”. Labour’s Henry McLeish said there is “no serious path” to the current first minister’s resignation. McLeish told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “The first minister, I think, has rebutted most […]

Nicola Sturgeon will make her long-awaited appearance before the Holyrood inquiry into her government’s unlawful investigation of Alex Salmond on Wednesday, amid calls for her to resign. The first minister has insisted there is not “a shred of evidence” to support her former mentor’s claim there was a “malicious and concerted” attempt to see him […]

The Liberal Democrats have offered to work with Scottish Labour’s new leader to build a “federal UK”. Anas Sarwar won the top job on Saturday, beating Monica Lennon and taking 57.6% of the vote. The Scottish Lib Dem leader congratulated the new leader and offering to work in partnership. Willie Rennie said: “I would like […]

Scottish Labour has indicated it will back the Tories if it lodges a motion of no confidence in Scotland’s deputy first minister John Swinney over the publication of legal advice, the party has announced. On two occasions, MSPs have voted to compel the Scottish government to produce legal advice taken as part of the legal challenge […]

Nicola Sturgeon insisted she has no regrets about ensuring complaints against her predecessor Alex Salmond were investigated – despite the “difficulties” it has caused. The first minister spoke out as the row surrounding her government’s bungled handling of sexual harassment allegations against Salmond grew – with her political opponents claiming that the Scottish Parliament itself […]

Alex Salmond believes Nicola Sturgeon and her circle have been “stitching him up”, according to a friend. SNP MSP Alex Neil said anyone proven to be involved in a conspiracy against the former first minister would be “getting their jotters” (sacked). Neil, who represents the Airdrie and Shotts constituency, is not seeking re-election in May. […]

Independence supporters have ridiculed a flyer produced by the Scottish Tories warning an SNP majority at this year’s Holyrood elections would lead to a second referendum to separate from the United Kingdom. The leaflet, sent to household across Scotland, appears to suggest Boris Johnson would not prevent the referendum. It says: “The SNP will hold another […]

Brexit has caused hauliers to become “their own customs agents” due to shortages, MSPs have been told. Appearing before the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee at Holyrood, Martin Reid, the Scotland and Northern Ireland director for the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said his members had been forced to recruit and train administrative staff […]

Nicola Sturgeon could seek a second referendum on Scottish independence by Christmas, an SNP minister has signalled. Scots could soon be heading to the polls to decide whether their nation should formally break free from Westminster, the SNP’s constitution minister has suggested. Michael Russell, an architect of the SNP’s road map to independence, said the vote could be held […]

Scottish students could continue participating in the Erasmus exchange programme in spite of Brexit, The Times has revealed. Officials in Holyrood and Brussels have entered into talks over extending the Erasmus scheme to Scottish students, the paper reports, after almost 150 MEPs wrote EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen asking whether Scotland and Wales could rejoin the […]

Anas Sarwar and Monica Lennon will face off to become the leader of Scottish Labour after nominations closed. The pair were both able to gain at least four nominations each from MSPs or Labour’s sole Scottish MP in order to trigger the contest. The party’s ruling body has set out a condensed timetable which will […]

Just four months before the next Scottish Parliament election, Richard Leonard has quit as Scottish Labour leader. The Central Scotland MSP announced the move on Thursday afternoon, saying he had made his decision to step down over the Christmas period. – Does Richard Leonard’s resignation come as a surprise? Not really. The Scottish Labour leader […]

Less than four months before Scots go to the polls for Holyrood elections, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has announced his resignation.  In a statement to the Daily Herald on Thursday afternoon, Leonard said: “I have come to the conclusion it is in the best interests of the party that I step aside as leader […]

Nigel Farage has said his new party Reform UK is now “up and running” in Scotland, with the appointment of former Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne as leader north of the border. Ballantyne, a former Scottish Conservatives leadership hopeful, has been announced as the new head of Reform UK Scotland. She described her new party as […]

A pollster has warned that Keir Starmer’s vote in support of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is likely to make the fight in Scotland even more difficult. Sir John Curtice, a leading pollster and professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said the SNP’s opposition to the Brexit deal could help the SNP win a majority at […]

Number 10 has been left angered after the SNP’s constitution and Brexit secretary branded Boris Johnson and his Tories as ‘extremists’. Michael Russell hit out at the Westminster government for their “damaging and harmful” Brexit ideology. Speaking at Holyrood, he told MSPs: “It is utterly incredible that some 1,629 days since the European Union referendum, […]

The SNP’s immensely controversial hate crime legislation is highlighting divisions within the Scottish government, says MAURICE SMITH. Pity Humza Yousaf. The Scottish justice minister probably thought his latest legislation would go down well with voters in self-styled ‘progressive’ Scotland, outlawing purveyors of racial and religious hatred. Instead, the minister finds himself at the centre of a free […]

Boris Johnson is a “disaster” as well as being the “greatest recruiting agent” for Scottish and Welsh independence, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has claimed. Price criticised the UK government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic as he predicted Welsh and Scottish elections in May next year could usher in “the Indy summer of ’21”. […]

The Tories in Scotland have won a by-election to hold on to a seat – and increased their vote share in the process. Clackmannanshire East will remain with the Tories after candidate Denis Coyne won 51% of the vote – up 10 percentage points from the previous election. Due to be held in March, the […]

Brexit and the UK government’s handling of it has undermined the case for the union and is driving up support for independence, the Scottish Conservative leader has warned. Douglas Ross said there has been a failure to resolve Brexit divisions and the SNP government at Holyrood “benefits from intergovernmental disputes”. He suggested there is a […]

A leaked memo has shown that government ministers are becoming increasingly worried about the rise in support for Scottish independence. An assessment by Tory advisers warned Boris Johnson against continuously blocking Holyrood’s demands for a second referendum on independence. The document, seen by Bloomberg, was written by Hanbury Strategy and complained of a “vacuum of leadership” within the […]

Seven months after lockdown and we continue to watch aghast as western leaders grapple with the consequences of Covid-19 and their often cack-handed responses. Given the low expectations of an increasingly cynical electorate, there are no prizes for guessing which party leader enjoys the most positive net approval ratings: Nicola Sturgeon. The first minister of […]

Nearly three-quarters of Scots back Holyrood negotiating its own future relationship with the EU, new polling has found. A Survation poll for the pro-independence campaign group Progress Scotland found 74% of the 2,093 people surveyed wanted MSPs to decide how Scotland interacts with the EU in the future when undecided returns were excluded. When included, […]

The Scottish parliament has overwhelming voted against Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill and called on the UK government to abandon the “deeply damaging” piece of legislation. SNP, Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat MSPs all united to vote against the bill, with just the Tories backing it. While the vote – by 90 votes to 28 against […]

A Tory MSP sparked laughter in Holyrood when she accidentally announced her “resignation”. Rachael Hamilton had intended to highlight her register of interest but instead said: “Can I draw members to my resignation?” Hamilton, the MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, laughed as she added quickly: “Register of interests. No resignation.” She made the blunder […]

Devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland are furious after leaked documents showed the government had withheld important Brexit documents from them. The documents, which show a deliberate attempts by Westminster to hide plans to break with Withdrawal Agreement, were leaked by Guido. In a dossier named “Transition period planning assumptions (central case)“, ministers were warned against sharing information […]

The Scottish parliament is expected to vote down Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill after the constitution secretary urged MSPs to “stand up and defend devolution” by rejecting the controversial UK legislation.  Mike Russell called on MSPs at Holyrood to vote against the UK government’s Brexit bill amid repeated claims from Scottish government ministers that it […]

A Conservative MSP has been kicked out of the Scottish parliament’s debating chamber after calling Nicola Sturgeon a liar. Oliver Mundell claimed the first minister had lied when promising the Scottish government’s full co-operation with the inquiry into how harassment complaints against Alex Salmond were handled. Mundell then refused to withdraw his accusation that “she […]

Scotland’s Tory Party leader, Douglas Ross, was caught out supporting Westminster’s handling of the coronavirus crisis on university campuses while berating Scotland for taking the same action. Appearing on Good Morning Scotland, Ross criticised the Scottish government for allowing students back at university as a second coronavirus wave took hold. He said Holyrood should have given students “crystal clear” […]

Michael Gove has claimed Scottish independence would be “worse’ than the worst-case Brexit. The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made the comments during a Commons debate on the UK’s departure from the EU, as he outlined the “reasonable worst case scenarios”. SNP MP Pete Wishart criticised the government’s handling of Brexit and said Scotland […]

Richard Leonard was elected as Labour’s leader in Scotland in November 2017 with a brief to re-establish his party as a force in Scottish politics. However, he has been unable to do so. Just as before, Scottish Labour have not threatened the SNP’s monopoly on power. Instead, it competes, a diminished force, with the Scottish […]

Scotland’s first minister is on a winning streak. Nicola Sturgeon’s personal approval rating is sky-high. Her party leads by miles in the polls, despite
having been in power for more than 13 years. Her Scottish National Party’s cherished dream and raison d’être – Scotland’s independence – now appears to be the choice of a majority of Scottish voters. […]