Snp

Monday

Alex Massie

Secretary of State for Scotland delivers message to Scotland: sod off

Interesting, though unsurprising, interview in today’s Scotsman. Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Scotland, tells the paper’s political editor Hamish Macdonell that there’s no need for any talk about new powers for Holyrood. Move along now, please. Nothing to see here. Mr Browne delivers the standard Labour ministerial line: we’ll have a consultation and “listen” to all views but our mind is made up. So what’s the point? Score this as another victory for Alex Salmond. Wendy Alexander, the likely new leader of the Scottish Labour party, is understood to want a review of the devolution “settlement”. It would be a surprise if she were not. She is a

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The herring question: fishing for Britain’s future

Following on from this post on Des Browne’s interview with The Scotsman today, the Secretary of State for Scotland (who is also the Secretary of State for Defence, though you might think that ought to be a full-time job) also had this to say: Mr Browne also dealt a blow to the aspirations of the SNP Executive, which has started negotiations with Westminster in an attempt to get Scottish ministers to lead for the UK in European fishing talks. Mr Browne said the UK government would not agree to such a change. He said: “As far as fisheries is concerned, Scotland has a voice in the fisheries negotiations annually, but

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Salmond makes his move: l’audace, encore de l’audace, toujours de l’audace

UPDATE: Welcome, Ross’s readers. Feel free to have a poke around. Should you be so interested, other stuff I’ve written about Scottish politics and the like can easily be found by clicking on “Scotland” in the categories column on the right. Meanwhile, in Scotland… It’s been a startlingly successful first 100 days in office for Alex Salmond. His minority ministry has proved more stable – and more quietly effective – than many sceptics feared. That’s quite an achievement, even if Salmond did arrive in office with a degree of goodwill. Yes, many voters remain unconvinced by the SNP but many others who voted Tory or Lib Dem were relieved to