SNP playing ‘old tune' on independence, says Slater
But speaking to the PA news agency, Ms Slater – who was launching her campaign for re-election as party co-leader in Edinburgh – said she does not expect an SNP majority next May.
'This is an old tune that the SNP have been playing,' she said.
'There are several pro-independence parties in the Scottish Parliament – the Greens have been there all along, from the beginning.
'John Swinney, I think, is being a little disingenuous.
'We had a successful pro-independence majority with the Bute House Agreement that the SNP decided to end.'
On her ideas for forcing the UK Government to allow a second referendum, Ms Slater said it is up to those who believe in independence to 'build support' for it.
'We do that by setting out what independence looks like and why it's important,' she said.
Standing against the far-right. We can make a better future in a fairer, greener and independent Scotland. 💚🏳️⚧️🏴🦫 pic.twitter.com/hxvz1J8KKq
— Lorna Slater (@lornaslater) July 30, 2025
'We hear all the time how Brexit has damaged Scotland, it hurts our labour force, meaning business cannot hire employees that they need, it hurts our NHS, we cannot get the carers and workers, and it hurts all of us in our pockets.
'Scottish independence would allow us to build a compassionate asylum system, it would allow us to rejoin the EU, it would allow us to rethink our taxation of wealth, for example.
'Instead of waiting, waiting, waiting for the Government in Westminster to decide what to do, we could make those kinds of decisions here in Scotland, and that's how we win Scottish independence, by getting more people to share that vision.'
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The Independent
11 minutes ago
- The Independent
‘He's a great negotiator and diplomat': Starmer praised as UK outshines EU in Trump trade talks
As Donald Trump signed a new trade deal with the EU, many Independent readers were less focused on Brussels – and more surprised by how well the UK had done in comparison. With Keir Starmer securing lower tariffs and a visibly warmer reception from the US president, some asked: how did Britain get a better deal than the EU? Commenters were quick to praise Starmer's calm, measured style. One reader described him as a 'great negotiator and diplomat' with a 'forensic' grasp of detail, while another said Trump 'genuinely likes him' and respects that he 'stands up for himself' rather than fawning. In contrast, Europe's performance was seen as lacklustre, with the bloc 'unable to mount an effective response'. The EU-US deal itself drew criticism for being weak and symbolic, accused of rewarding Trump's coercive tactics and reframing tariffs as legitimate economic tools. Several readers lamented that the UK's apparent success would be used to claim a 'Brexit benefit' – while others were content to see the EU embarrassed. Here's what you had to say: A great negotiator and diplomat There's a lot of criticism of Starmer, and some is justified. While he might not be the greatest leader Labour we have had, there's no doubt he's a great negotiator and diplomat. What also helps him is that he has a strong sense of fairness, decency, and dignity. Then there's his obvious legal background, which you see in his forensic thoroughness when debating issues. Can you imagine Kemi Badenoch and that useless lot negotiating with Trump... he'd have a field day. DHC How do you feel about the UK's trade deal compared to Europe's? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the conversation below. Trump is half Scottish Trump is half Scottish and he seems to have a little more respect for his mother's native country. We also don't manufacture anything, and we have long given up the future capacity to be a producing nation. We are customers; Europe, on the other hand, is a competitor. 227detius A weak EU capitulating to Trump The deal has been widely criticised on the European side, viewed by some as a weak EU capitulating to Trump's demands, unable to mount an effective response. While that perception is difficult to counter, the reality is much more complex and nuanced. It's worth noting that the deal isn't a fully fleshed-out trade agreement but, for the time being, one of the many symbolic political deals Trump has announced in recent months. Yet it's not meaningless. It pauses what could have escalated into a full-scale transatlantic trade war and defuses a major source of volatility and anxiety. That said, the real challenge lies ahead – hammering out the details. Without legally binding documents, the door remains open to misinterpretation. We've seen this play out recently with the US-Japan agreement, hastily concluded a few days ago, and already sparking differing interpretations. The same could easily happen with the EU-US deal. The deal is being widely perceived as a big political win for Trump and a defeat for the EU, negatively affecting its image both domestically and worldwide. Unfortunately, this interpretation ultimately praises and legitimises an approach based on aggression and coercion, rewarding tactics that undermine trust and cooperation. Sadly, tariffs – long discredited as a blunt and damaging economic tool – are now being recast as effective policy instruments, which the EU should also wield. It's astonishing how, in only a few months, Trump has managed to frame such a confrontational strategy and unsound economic policies as a success – even with Europe. It's simply self-defeating. But whatever the "final outcome", the misery of this GileadUS administration will continue to affect the lives of billions of people! LeeisBlue I ignore all the Faragist, Corbynite vitriol Starmer really has done well in his dealings not only with Trump but also the EU and his Gaza stance. Additionally, his policies are really changing and improving our lives – e.g. the NHS is performing much better (my wife has benefitted from this). Frankly, I ignore all the Faragist, Corbynite vitriolic attacks on Starmer and co and research for myself what's ACTUALLY happening. All this Reform/Farage/Corbyn propaganda is a distraction, largely irrelevant. voxtrot UK sacrificed bioethanol sector The UK's largest trade partner, by far, in goods is the EU. Don't think EU's higher tariffs from the USA have no effect on the UK. The UK also sacrificed the bioethanol sector, and allowed US beef into the UK, to the detriment of home agriculture, to get those reduced tariffs. I know there is some desperation in some quarters to try and claim some form of #BrexitBenefit, and hope the utter disaster and failure that it is gets forgotten. wolfie Nothing to do with Starmer It's got nothing to do with Starmer. The UK got a better deal with the US than the EU despite Starmer, not because of him. The UK is an independent, sovereign nation again and no longer anchored to the failing, anti-democratic EU political union thanks to Brexit, and we're one of the US's closest allies. Our bond with the US will grow even stronger once the current shambles of a Labour government – that appears to be doing its best to suppress free speech – is booted out at the next election. Kingswood Diversifying the EU's trading partners Yes, but every trading country/bloc has the opportunity of improving their prospects by diversifying their trading portfolio. Perhaps this is what Ms von der Leyen had in mind when making a deal with Trump – i.e. to force the EU to diversify its trading partners. In the longer term, that might be the best solution. Hungubwe Trump swallowed the carrot of a state visit All to do with the vanity of Trump. The state visit was the ultimate carrot that Starmer dangled, and Trump swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. He likes the sense of self-importance which this state visit will bestow on him, and all the pomp and ceremony. Beyond this, it shows that as long as you pander to him, he's happy to tolerate most things. Charles's views on the climate and compassion for migrants would normally have him called a radical lefty by Trump, and likewise, Starmer would also get short shrift, but because they are praising Trump, he's lapping it up – for now. The only constant has been the unapologetic support for Netanyahu, and ultimately it will come to a head when the ethnic cleansing plan is put in place. At that point, the world will have to decide to confront Trump directly or capitulate under fear of tariffs, leaving NATO, etc. I fear the capitulation. Truthonly With Trump you always follow the money The UK has a trade surplus with the USA of about £2 billion. The EU's trade surplus is about £200 billion. That's the difference – it's nothing to do with love of the UK or a Scottish mother or the tactics of the UK government. With Trump, you always follow the money. He does hate the EU's society because it is so much better than the US, so he feels compelled to drag it down to his level. He also knows he can play the UK like a banjo, whereas he fears the EU. We all know he will change his mind at any minute. AnonyMousse Starmer has done well on international issues Starmer has done well on international issues. The problem is that his focus on those things has left his inexperienced underlings to preside over domestic affairs. We have to remind ourselves who they replaced though. Compared to 14 years of Tory corruption and chaos, they are paragons of efficiency. Inkling
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Rory Stewart explains why THERESA MAY is 'definitely' his hero - and admits he was wrong about Donald Trump
Alexander the Great, Lawrence of Arabia, Martin Luther King. With their respective feats in war, diplomacy and civil rights activism, they can all be described as heroes, former Tory leadership contender Rory Stewart says. But, while speaking to the Mail to promote his new BBC podcast on the 'long history' of heroism, Mr Stewart added one more unlikely hero to his list: Theresa May. Mr Stewart served under the former PM as prisons minister and international development secretary, before Mrs May was forced to resign after repeatedly failing to get her Brexit deal through Parliament. But, despite her defeats, which also included the loss of her majority in a snap election in 2017, Mr Stewart remains one of her staunch defenders. He told the Mail: 'Well of the Prime Ministers I served with, so out of David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, [and] Keir Starmer, [she] would definitely be my hero.' Mr Stewart, who stepped down as an MP at the 2019 election after losing to Boris Johnson in the race to replace Mrs May as Tory leader and PM, praised his former boss for her 'incredible sense of dignity' and for being 'very serious'. He also admitted that his opinion of Donald Trump has changed 'for better and worse' and described him as 'the most consequential President of our lifetime'. Ahead of the US election last November, Mr Stewart said Kamala Harris, Mr Trump's Democrat rival, would win the keys to the White House 'comfortably' and even placed a huge bet backing his prediction. The politician, who now hosts the popular Rest is Politics podcast with controversial former New Labour spin chief Alistair Campbell, then had to acknowledge he had been 'completely wrong' and said it was 'heartbreaking' that Mr Trump was to return as US President. In what was a wide-ranging interview, Mr Stewart also defended wartime PM Winston Churchill, saying he was a 'profound hero'; said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is 'probably more moderate' than he is given credit for by critics; and likened himself to a 'fish that is six inches long'. Mr Stewart's new podcast, The Long History of Heroism, is set across five episodes. In the first, which aired on Radio 4 this morning, the politician waxes lyrical about Alexander the Great, who ruled Macedonia in the 4th Century BC and is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders in history. He says: 'I worshipped Alexander the Great and my fascination with him continued right into my 20s. 'I walked across what is now Iran, retracing his foot steps; an 18 months walk over 6,000 miles and I ended up where he finished on the edge of India. 'I stood at the place where he is supposed to have wept when he had no more land to conquer.' Mr Stewart had an extraordinary career before he entered Parliament in 2010 at the age of 37. The politician, whose father rose to become senior in intelligence service MI6, served in the British Army before becoming a diplomat and then a successful author. While working for the Foreign Office, he became a deputy governor of two Iraq provinces when he was only 30. He later chose to try his hand at politics and became the MP for Penrith and The Border in northern England. He first served as a junior minister under David Cameron before being promoted under Mrs May. Speaking to the Mail remotely from his home in Scotland, Mr Stewart recounts how, while snorkelling during a recent family holiday in Colombia, he wondered, 'what sort of fish am I?' He eventually concludes: 'I'm thinking about myself as a fish at about six inches, yeah, six inches long. It is a good analogy for how far he got in politics compared to fellow ex Etonians and Oxford graduates Lord Cameron and Mr Johnson. Mr Stewart admits that critics' view of him as having an almost messianic self-belief is partly correct. 'I think that's a perfectly valid criticism of me. 'I can see why that gets up people's noses, but it's but I think I just say in my defence that you'd probably find that almost everybody running to be Prime Minister would have similar views.' Another figure Mr Stewart adored when he was younger was British army officer T.E. Lawrence, better known by his famous nickname. He achieved notoriety for having led an Arab revolt against the Turks in the First World War. But he died in a motorbike accident in 1946, with his dream of Arab independence not having been realised. 'What I loved about someone like Lawrence is his sense of guilt and pain in later life, that he set off thinking he could be a knight in shining armour and that he could save the Middle East, and it basically broke him. 'He realized that trying to live out a life as a sort of classical hero in the modern age is impossible. 'And you end up feeling like a fraud. And so I felt incredible empathy with him.' Lawrence was, Mr Stewart says, an example of one of the last prominent figures to try to live as a 'classical hero'. The past 100 years have been an attempt to 'replace the hero after the hero has died'. This has ultimately led to the invention of superheroes and the increasing obsession with celebrities and sport stars, Mr Stewart argues. One hero to emerge from the 20th century for Mr Stewart is Churchill, who entered Downing Street in 1940 and then led the nation through the rest of the Second World War. He later became PM for a second time, from 1951 to 1955, after losing the 1945 election. But Churchill's vehement views on subjects including Indian independence mean there is plenty of ammunition for his critics. His statue in Westminster was targeted by Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020. 'The worst kind of British nationalism is one that imagines that what made Churchill was just a few kind of off colour remarks and a bit of bluster,' Mr Stewart says. 'What made him was the most intense intellectual seriousness and belief in Britain and its mission and incredible, not just physical but moral, courage throughout his career.' As a result, Churchill was a 'profound hero', Mr Stewart adds. But he also cautions: 'Now, understanding what a hero is is to understand that they all have incredible flaws. 'If you go right back to the very beginning of heroes, Achilles is obviously a man with extraordinary flaws, so is Alexander, so is Lawrence, so is Florence Nightingale, so is any of these people. 'We are human. And we are also citizens of our age and time. If you are born as Churchill was in the late 19th century, you will inherit a lot of views we will find very disturbing today. 'Racist views, imperialist views, all these kinds of things. But that doesn't detract in any way from the incredible nature of his insight, courage, seriousness.' On Mr Farage, who became well-known as leader of UKIP and in his vociferous campaigning to leave the European Union, Mr Stewart is similarly nuanced. Although he labels the MP an 'extremely able communicator', he feels he is lacking a 'sense of seriousness'. He says: 'The whole thing seems to be too much of a game. I'd like to know in the end, what really was his vision for Brexit? 'I mean, given that that was the biggest thing he did in his life, how was this thing really supposed to play through? What was a good Brexit? What was a bad Brexit?' But he adds: 'I'm not one of these people who has nightmares about Farage, I think he's probably more moderate than people give him credit for being. 'He would have been on the right of the Tory party I knew.' So why does he hold Mrs May in such high regard despite her political failures? 'I really admire Theresa May because I thought she was very serious, and I really valued being in her Cabinet,' he says. 'And I thought she had an incredible sense of dignity and a real attempt to do what she thought was the right thing.' This included her vision of a 'softer' Brexit that she believed was in the national interest, Mr Stewart adds. 'She fought tooth and nail for that, and ultimately sacrificed her political career to try to achieve that.' But he admits it is 'really difficult' to see her as a 'classical hero' because she failed to achieve her main aims. As for the US President, Mr Stewart is humble about what we got wrong. 'I think my opinion of Trump has definitely changed for for better and worse. 'I think the Trump we're seeing now is very different from the Trump in his first term. He clearly spent that four years really developing a very different idea of what it means to be a president. 'So he is certainly having a much more found impact on the world than he did first time round, for better and worse.' Mr Stewart admits he 'underestimated' one of Mr Trump's 'strengths', which he argues is his ability to quickly change his mind. He believes, that, in the coming days, Mr Trump could, 'go from being a very, very fervent supporter of Israel's policies in Gaza to changing to being a very fervent supporter of the interests of Palestinians in Gaza.' The President's public support for the Israeli government has softened in recent weeks, whilst Mr Trump has also expressed concern about mass hunger in Gaza, saying images of emaciated children in the region showed there was 'real starvation'. 'We could well see, over the next week or two, a complete transformation in American policy towards the Middle East, which almost no other president would have been able to do,' Mr Stewart says. But the former Tory leadership contender is also fiercely critical of the President, adding: 'I think in the end, the damage to his allies will be profound. 'I think that's the real sadness here, which is that the West, the UK, Europe, Japan, South Korea, these countries that have been American allies since the Second World War have been through this incredible roller coaster with his shift on his policy on Ukraine, his challenges to NATO, his tariffs. 'This stuff I don't think America will ever recover from because none of America's allies will be able to rely on America in the future in the way they did in the past.' He concludes: 'He's the most consequential, interesting president of our lifetime. 'But I'm afraid he's also a fundamentally flawed person who in the end history will conclude has done an incredible amount of damage to the global order and to the interest of American allies and democracies and to the global economy.'
The National
21 minutes ago
- The National
Who is Kate Forbes? Deputy First Minister standing down at election
The Deputy First Minister was selected to contest the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency in 2026, but now the party will have to rerun the contest and find a new candidate. Party members and politicians expressed shock at the news, while opposition politicians used it as an excuse to take shots at the SNP. Forbes was first elected to Holyrood in 2016, aged 26, having previously worked as an accountant in the banking industry and for former MSP Dave Thompson in the same constituency. READ MORE: Kate Forbes to quit Holyrood in 2026 – read her statements in full The MSP studied history at Cambridge before completing an MSc in diaspora and migration history at the University of Edinburgh. Born in Dingwall, she spent part of her childhood in India and Glasgow, and attended a Gaelic school. She quickly rose through the ranks, first as public finance minister in 2018 before becoming Scotland's first female finance secretary under Nicola Sturgeon in 2020. Forbes was praised for delivering the budget speech at short notice, taking on the role the night before after her predecessor Derek Mackay was forced to stand down when it emerged he had sent inappropriate messages to a teenager. During her time as a backbencher, she delivered the first speech in the Holyrood chamber entirely in Gaelic, later becoming the first Cabinet Secretary for the language, alongside responsibilities for the economy, when she was appointed DFM. (Image: PA) Forbes narrowly lost out on the SNP leadership contest after Sturgeon resigned to Humza Yousaf, who is also set to leave [[Holyrood]] when the parliamentary term ends. She fought the contest while on maternity leave, coming second in the first round of voting with 40.7%, to Yousaf's 48.2%. The second round saw Yousaf win with 52.1%, compared to Forbes' 47.9%. During the campaign, Forbes came under fire for her views on abortion, gay marriage and trans rights. A member of the Free Church of Scotland, she said that having children outside of marriage was 'wrong' and that she would not have supported equal marriage as a 'matter of conscience'. Forbes was on maternity leave while the Scottish Parliament voted on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which would have allowed transgender people to self-identify. In 2019, she joined 15 other SNP politicians in writing an open letter to Sturgeon calling for a delay to the reforms, and would later reiterate her concerns during the leadership campaign. READ MORE: Keith Brown: UK can't ignore independence demand with SNP majority On independence, she said during the contest that the party should use the Westminster election to win a mandate and demand powers to allow a referendum to go ahead. After the contest, she told the New Statesman she would have been 'haunted' if she had not stayed true to her religious beliefs during the campaign. Leaving the cabinet in 2023 after Yousaf offered her the rural affairs brief, seen as a major demotion by some, Forbes spent a year on the backbenches. When Yousaf resigned as first minister, following the collapse of the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens, Forbes took on the deputy first minister role when John Swinney took over leadership of the party and government. She was given responsibilities for the economy and [[Gaelic]], and last week welcomed the approval of a massive offshore wind farm off the coast of East Lothian. Forbes had been considered a potential successor to Swinney, prior to her shock announcement and will continue in her MSP role for the next nine months. She added on social media that despite standing down, she is looking forward to campaigning at the election to 'lead Scotland to independence'.
