Scottish water bosses should not be getting eye-watering bonuses
Rewarding failure is never a good look. But that is what the Scottish Government seems to have done with the bosses of Scottish Water.
Bills have gone up for Scots by nearly 10 per cent this year, after an 8.8 per cent hike the year before. This has come as other bills have skyrocketed over recent years - with rents, food and council tax all going up.
Too many people have been struggling to make ends meet, and water bills have played their part in that. You would expect that we would have a better service by paying more, but Scottish Water has been failing when it comes to dealing with our waste.
Its sewage sites breached its licences more than 250 times in three years. Sewage spilled into the environment over 24,000 times last year. In England, private firms have received fines for this kind of performance. But the publicly-owned water firm in Scotland hasn't faced similar measures.
It is a kick in the teeth that the company's boss Alex Plant has received a boost in his pension pot while we are all paying more for our water. Other bosses at Scottish Water have also had their salaries and pension pots increased.
Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie is right that water rates should be frozen and that bosses should not be receiving such eye-watering sums. They should only be receiving bumper pay rises if they bring bills down and make our water system fit for purpose. If they fail they should have to make do with their existing sky-high salaries.
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JD's Scot us wrong
JD Vance is on holiday in Scotland with his family. He claims to have ancestors in our country. But the US Vice President should get his facts right next time he wants to wade in on Scottish politics.
Vance suggested Scots could be prosecuted for praying in their own homes as a result of a law that says protests outside abortion clinics must be at least 200m away.
Let's be clear - no one is being arrested for praying in their own home. The law protects women from harassment while seeking medical treatment.
free speech no longer exists.
While he is in Scotland we hope the US Vice President spends more time enjoying the stunning Ayrshire scenery - and less time lecturing us on subjects he knows nothing about.
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