Scotland

The English taxpayer is not the primary audience for the Scottish government’s annual Budget, but one wonders what they might make of today’s announcements from SNP finance minister Shona Robison. An extra £2 billion for health and social care, bumping the overall cost of that portfolio to just under £22 billion. An additional £800 million for social security benefits and £768 million for affordable housing, taking the total spend on social justice to £8.2 billion. Plus, £1 billion for roads, raising the transport budget to £4 billion; £355 million for two new prisons as part of the £4.2 billion justice and home affairs budget; and a boost of £158 million

When it rains for Scotland’s Nats, it pours. It now transpires – according to the Scottish government’s very own survey – that between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of people who trust the SNP government has plummeted by a staggering 10 points. And that’s not all. Trust in all six public sector institutions has declined markedly in the last 12 months, with the results presenting a rather concerning picture for the SNP ahead of the 2026 Holyrood elections. Not that Mr S can say he’s particularly shocked… The Scottish government saw public trust fall from 55 per cent in 2022 to a mere 45 per cent the following year, while

It’s grim up north in Scotland, we’re told. A mission from Edinburgh has produced a report about the woes of life in the Highlands and Islands, and a demand for measures to deal with them. Problems include a high incidence of poverty; a lack of affordable housing and public transport; long trips to the nearest hospital or surgery; limited social care; cultural desertification; a lack of local places of worship suitable for refugees; limited childcare and access to fresh food; and a good deal besides. Highlanders aren’t cowering at the feet of some megalomaniac dictator in Lochaber So far, so predictable. But this report comes not from some progressive think-tank, but from

The Scots have long been stereotyped as dour, miserable whingers, and we finally have proof that this is pure slander. Ailsa Henderson, a political scientist at Edinburgh University, has produced a presentation into political anger in the wake of the general election. She finds that the English are three times as angry about politics as the Scots, with 60 per cent fuming south of the border and just 20 per cent north of the Tweed. Voters for the two most anti-mainstream parties, Reform and the Greens, are the angriest, and while Liberal Democrats are the least angry there are still 53 per cent of them fit to be tied. Meanwhile,

While farmers gather in Westminster today to protest Labour’s Budget, it appears that north of the border Scottish Labour also have doubts about aspects of Rachel Reeves’s fiscal statement. Party leader Anas Sarwar has now vowed he will bring back the universal winter fuel payment for pensioners in a pushback against a cut brought about by, er, his own party in government. How very interesting… Speaking to the Daily Record, Sarwar today insisted: ‘A Scottish Labour government will reinstate the winter fuel payment for pensioners in Scotland.’ Never one to resist taking a pop at the current SNP administration, however, the Scottish Labour leader went on to add: The winter fuel

Ding ding ding! All is not well in the SNP as the Nats are back to fighting among themselves over the issue of double jobs. Last week Westminster leader Stephen Flynn announced that he will stand in the 2026 Holyrood election – and, if successful, he will also continue on in his existing MP role. But the move has sparked outrage among previous and current nationalist politicians alike, with anonymous briefings and social media attacks throwing the party into yet another civil war. Oh dear… Flynn’s plan to stand for the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine seat has not been universally welcomed – not least given the incumbent SNP MSP

To Scotland, where the Nats are once again under scrutiny over expenses claims. It now transpires that not only had SNP health secretary Neil Gray been using ministerial cars to take him to sports matches, he took relatives in the vehicle with him too. The last time Mr S checked, acting ‘in line with government duties’ did not involve bringing family along on the job… Gray came under fire after the Sunday Mail revealed the Aberdeen FC fan had been chauffeured to a number of his team’s games between November 2023 and May 2024. After pressure on Gray ramped up, the cabinet minister opted on Thursday to make a statement

Back to Scotland, where parliamentarians are under scrutiny over questionable expenses claims – this time on heating their second homes. It transpires that between 2023-24 Scottish politicians claimed a whopping £36,000 in energy bills for their rented homes in Edinburgh, with the Nats and Labour lot making up £26,000 of the total cost. Alright for some! John Swinney’s separatists were the biggest beneficiaries, as pointed out by the Scottish Daily Express, with almost half of the Holyrood group expensing energy costs. The Nats claimed over £25,000 from the public purse, while over £1,000 of taxpayer funds are covering Labour MSP Colin Smyth’s utility bill. Scottish parliamentarians are currently entitled to

There are 18 months until the 2026 Holyrood election and already talk is ramping up about who will stand. There are sure to be candidate vacancies – nobody seriously thinks that former first ministers who have had their day and fallen from favour are going to run again. Other MSPs may retire and there are sitting parliamentarians who could do with some healthy competition during the re-selection process. Fear of such competition no doubt underlies some of today’s expressions of antipathy towards SNP members of the Westminster parliament with Holyrood ambitions. Anyone paying attention knows that the unprecedented rule change was specifically designed to stop me challenging Angus Robertson for

What is it with separatist health secretaries claiming from the public purse for the footie? First there was the £11,000 iPad scandal, which caused a headache for hapless Humza Yousaf and pushed former SNP health secretary Michael Matheson out of his government job. Now his successor Neil Gray is in the spotlight after the Sunday Mail revealed that the nationalist minister had been using ministerial cars to take him to sports matches. Alright for some! It transpired that Aberdeen FC-fan Gray had been chauffeured to three cup games at the national stadium, as well as a Pittodrie league match. The newest SNP health secretary declared his excursions in line with

Roz Adams is not a public figure. She is not on social media. Yet this hardworking rape crisis support worker has found herself at the centre of the Scottish gender wars over the last few months, due to her employment tribunal against the beleaguered Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC). It all makes for a rather harrowing tale. Adams was constructively dismissed from her former position at ERCC in 2023, after a lengthy period of discrimination and harassment from colleagues. She takes the view that when a woman approaches a rape crisis service requesting a female counsellor, she should be assured that this is what she will receive. This was not

And so it seems that Scotland’s most prolific hotelier will return to the White House. Donald Trump has staged a political comeback that has torn up the normal rules of politics and sent shockwaves around the world. There are a great many reasons to be aghast at Trump’s return, but as he prepares to take up the Oval Office in just a few weeks, there is precious little time to get emotional. This is a time for hard-headedness. Understanding the importance of the Scotland-US relationship, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has written to the president-elect and offered his congratulations. Bristle at this though some might, it was the right thing

It’s not been First Minister John Swinney’s year. Not only did his Westminster group fail fantastically at the July poll to cling onto their seats, now the SNP leader has found out he backed the wrong horse at the US election. Talk about a bad bet! Last month, Swinney lent his support to Kamala, telling Scottish voters: People in the United States of America should vote for Kamala Harris, and I have not come to that conclusion only because Donald Trump is opposed to Scottish independence. And with today’s result comes criticism of the First Minister’s decision to wade into the matter at all. Stewart McDonald, former SNP defence spokesperson,

In a rather surprising development, it transpires that Scottish people are Donald Trump’s biggest fans in Europe. A Norstat poll for the Times has revealed that support for the US presidential candidate is higher north of the border than in the rest of the UK – and indeed western Europe. Who’d have thought it, eh? According to the survey, a quarter of Scottish adults back the former president for the win this week – while, of the rest of the country, just 16 per cent would throw their weight behind the ex-businessman. Italy is closest behind the Scots in terms of Trump hype, with 24 per cent of Italians hoping