Scotland

There might be a health crisis but at least the SNP aren’t short on rose-tinted spectacles. It was always going to be interesting to see how Humza Yousaf approached the health service in his new programme for government – given the massive decline in performance on his watch. But rather than adopt a solemn approach (or even, gasp, apologise for the health service failings), Yousaf struck a somewhat triumphant tone. ‘The National Health Service is already making progress in recovering from the pandemic,’ he declared. ‘We have the best-performing accident and emergency departments in the UK!’ He continued: ‘In the last year, the number of people waiting more than 18

Nicola Sturgeon’s first speech back in Holyrood was a nostalgic return to the past. It felt natural to see the former first minister holding court again, speaking with a presence a leader would. So natural, in fact, that even the Presiding Officer couldn’t help herself from referring to Sturgeon as ‘First Minister’ – to much amusement in the chamber.  Widely expected to focus on childcare, Sturgeon’s speech verged more into the philosophical. She mused about the nature of modern political discourse, admitting that she herself had played a role in creating division. ‘I accept my share of responsibility,’ she told parliament. Urging parties to debate constructively, she went on: ‘Polarisation

It may not have a title quite as resplendent as The King’s speech, but today represents the marquee day in the Scottish Parliament’s calendar. The Programme for Government (PfG), like its regal counterpart at Westminster, is the annual opportunity for Scotand’s First Minister to tell us what his or her vision is and what he or she intends to do with it. Much like The King’s speech, the PfG also gives the government a couple of days of wall-to-wall media coverage, so from the perspective of the political strategist and communicator, it is one of the top two or three moments of the Scottish political calendar. This PfG was the

Nobody ever accused the SNP of being consistent but when it comes to the question of EU membership, the party’s position is positively incoherent. At a Saltire-strewn rally in Edinburgh on Saturday, party leader and Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf told a crowd of around 5,000 (or 25,000 if you believe organisers’ spin) that Brexit was ‘nothing short of a national tragedy’. Only independence could right this ‘historic wrong’. Given that almost two-thirds of Scots voted Remain in 2016 this is seductive stuff, but the credibility of Yousaf’s message depends on us ignoring the fact that just two years before the UK voted for Brexit, the Nats campaigned for an outcome

Good old Humza Yousaf: the one-man walking cure for imposter syndrome. Scotland’s First Minister was out making the case for independence this weekend, telling a Scexit rally that ‘the people of this country are not suffering from a cost-of-living crisis, they’re suffering from a cost of the Union crisis.’ When asked by reporters to justify his claim, Yousaf – the thinking man’s James Dornan – ignored such trivialities as the Barnett formula to claim that: This cost of living crisis is actually a cost of Westminster crisis. The suffering that you’re having to endure with high energy bills, being fuel poorer in an energy rich country like Scotland, that is

Economic growth is a taboo subject in Scottish politics. Throughout a succession of administrations, of all shades and stripes, the focus of government in Scotland has been almost wholly on social policy. To the extent economic policy has been widely considered, it is in the context of how yet more money can be squeezed from an increasingly compressed and constricted tax base.   The consequences of this inertia are now evident in abundance. Scotland’s GDP growth rate has lagged significantly behind the rest of the UK over the last decade – a not inconsiderable achievement given recent circumstances – while productivity remains stubbornly low, below the national average. Meanwhile, Scotland also

On the SNP’s list of regrets, where does the Bute House Agreement with the Greens rank? Since the agreement, the Scottish government’s deposit return scheme has been delayed, Highly Protected Marine Areas halted and the gender reform bill blocked. This month marks the two-year anniversary of the SNP-Green coalition, but has the partnership – and the pro-independence majority that comes with it – been worth it for the nationalists?  ‘There’s a huge amount that’s been achieved,’ says Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens along with Lorna Slater. Certainly the deal resulted in Harvie and Slater becoming the first Green politicians in the UK to gain ministerial portfolios. But more

As plot twists go, it’s a doozy. Five months ago, Murray Foote resigned as the SNP’s communications director after misleading journalists over party membership numbers. The former editor of the Daily Record stormed off, throwing a grenade over his shoulder. He had only misled journalists because he himself had been misled. A day after Foote’s departure (political cliché level: bombshell), the SNP’s chief executive Peter Murrell took responsibility for the mess and fell on his sword. Now, in a remarkable turn of events, Foote is back in the game. On Monday, he takes up the position of SNP chief executive. He’s the new Peter Murrell. The SNP spin goes that

Scotland continues to suffer drug deaths at levels unseen anywhere else in the UK or Europe. Three Scots die as a result of drugs every single day. That is nearly three times worse than any other country for which records exist. This scandalous figure has just been updated, and shows that, although the number of drug deaths in Scotland fell by a fifth in 2022, it is still nearly double what it was when the SNP came to power. It is also four times as high as it was at the turn of the century. A fall, the government says, is progress. But why so slow? Why did more than

Among the exhibits in Edinburgh university’s famous anatomical museum are the bones of ‘Bowed Joseph’, a notorious 18th century rabble-rouser who could allegedly assemble a crowd of 10,000 by beating his drum. He was ‘bowed’ because Joseph had rickets, a disease that ravaged Scotland’s working classes until the middle of the last century. Rickets is a disease of poverty, caused by poor diet and lack of sunlight and it is back, to the shame of the Scottish government. Cases have risen 33 per cent from 354 in 2018 to 442 last year. Well, poverty is caused by Tory austerity, say SNP MSPs and nationalists on social media. This shows why Scotland

It’s a tough time for Scottish nationalists these days. Polling for indyref2 remains static while the SNP’s own ratings have tanked. There are still no ferries or any sign of a workable bottle return scheme. And the Dear Leader has left the stage to be replaced by hapless Humza Yousaf: the biggest downgrade since Ian Blackford succeeded Charles Kennedy. So no wonder then that the National – a self-identifying newspaper in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act – is forced to look elsewhere to make its case for independence. In their zest to cast off the British yoke, the hard-of-thinking editorial team have stumbled on a brilliant idea: why not study