South Tyneside Council ordered to submit housing plans
A local authority has been ordered to submit its house building plans to the government after repeatedly voting them down.Last week, South Tyneside Council rejected its controversial Local Plan document, which includes a scheme to build 1,200 homes on green belt land in Fellgate, for the second time.But Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has told the council it must submit its plan by 18 March as Labour attempts to ramp up housebuilding across the country.Council leader Tracey Dixon said she now had "no option" but to send the draft plan for public examination.
All councils must have a Local Plan setting out how they will develop housing, employment and public facilities over the next 15 years.But in a letter to the council, Pennycook said it was particularly important for South Tyneside to have a new plan as it had a significant need for affordable housing."The current South Tyneside Local Plan is one of the oldest in the country having been adopted in June 2007, meaning the policies it contains are significantly out of date," he said."Having failed to submit its emerging plan for examination, the local authority faces the prospect of having to prepare a replacement plan, which will further extend the period in which it does not have an up-to-date plan in place."
Housebuilding is a focus of the Labour government, which campaigned to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years and has set construction targets for councils.
But Dixon said the blueprint was being developed to create the best communities for its residents.
"Having an up-to-date Local Plan means that we are in control of development, and we can ensure it is high quality and accompanied by the necessary infrastructure," she said."But it isn't just about building houses; it's about seeking the most sustainable locations for development, creating the kind of communities our residents deserve, with policies in place to protect community facilities and services, enhance nature and wildlife and reduce pollution."The public examination is expected to take place later this year.
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The Herald Scotland
29 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
So now you know, SNP: indy is not what people care about
There may have been little talk of independence in the campaign but Katy Loudon, the SNP candidate, put out a Facebook video on the morning of the by-election which made clear it's all about separating us from the rest of the UK. The unionist parties' share of the vote at the by-election was just short of 66%. If that doesn't send a clear message to the SNP and the Greens that independence is not what is important at the moment, I don't know what will. Maybe if the SNP improved our NHS, our education system, housing, our infrastructure, managed to build ferries and dual our roads on time and improve our economy, it might get more support. That would be novel, would it not? Jane Lax, Aberlour. Nothing short of humiliation It wasn't only the kitchen sink that the SNP flung at the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. It threw the washing machine, tumble drier and dishwasher as well. Anyone who saw on social media the gangs of SNP enthusiasts roaming the constituency, saturating it with MSPs including ministers, as well as foot soldiers, with a massive intensity, for weeks and especially in the last two weeks, must have imagined that it was a seat they could not lose. I wondered, in the last days, whether the SNP was not engaging in overkill, that the good folk of the constituency might be saturated with SNP propaganda to the point of apathy. The turnout, at 44 per cent, suggested that as a partial possibility. In this by-election, it was possible to utilise all the party's resources, and it did. That would not be remotely a possibility in any one constituency in a General Election. The result was nothing short of humiliation for the SNP. It is also a personal humiliation for John Swinney, who spent much time in the last week campaigning in the constituency rather than attending to First Minister's business. Nothing much will change at Holyrood, of course, but Mr Swinney's insistence that Scotland does not welcome Reform UK looks a bit hollow after it scooped up 26 per cent of the vote. Perhaps we can have a break from his preaching about Scotland being allegedly more moral than England. Ah well, one can but hope. Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh. Read more letters For many, politics is not working It is alarming that, in Thursday's by-election, Reform UK came third with 7,088 votes, a mere 1,471 behind Labour. The victorious Labour candidate, Davy Russell, is quoted as saying that 'this community has [also] sent a message to Farage and his mob tonight. The poison of Reform isn't us – it isn't Scotland and we don't want your division here.' I suspect Mr Russell was speaking from within the excitement of winning and did not realise the significance of Reform UK winning so many votes. The party of Nigel Farage, that enthusiastic Trump supporter, was understood to hold little attraction for the Scottish voter compared with his standing with the English electorate. The Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse voters have demonstrated otherwise. The UK political establishment, Labour in particular, has one important lesson to learn, that being that politics in our country is not working for a significant element of our population. The vote for a disastrous Brexit was the first warning sign of a significant discontent with the inequalities and injustices in our society and economy. Uncontrolled neoliberalism has done untold damage to our social contract with our politicians accepting unquestionably the words of Mrs Thatcher, 'there is no alternative'. John Milne, Uddingston. Reform will be a Holyrood force The most interesting thing about the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election for Holyrood is not who won, Labour, nor the fact that the voting was a three-way split between it, the SNP and Reform UK, but where Reform's votes came from. Compared to its vote share in the constituency in the last Holyrood election four years ago, the SNP vote dropped by almost 17% of the votes cast and the Tory vote by 11.5%. Labour's vote share actually went down by 2% as well. This means that Reform UK's 26% of the vote came more from parties of the left than the Tories. Clearly Reform is not just a threat to the Conservatives. In the climate of dissatisfaction with the established parties, Reform is on track to be a force at Holyrood next year. Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife. • After all the ballyhoo, the result is in and the real winner is Reform UK. John Swinney talked Reform up too effectively. Labour's candidate was nearly invisible. The result speaks volumes. The SNP lost. Labour just limped home despite being helped a huge amount by the SNP's travails. Reform UK came from a near-zero base to gain over 7,000 votes and run both other parties close. This by-election was a real test of public opinion for the shape of Holyrood in 2026. Reform could still founder given frequent party in-fighting. Equally the Tories could re-assert their desired position as defenders of the Union. John Swinney has made another major SNP blunder and released the genie from the bottle. Is he going to be the architect of the SNP's downfall? Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow. Labour far from home and hosed While Labour's victory in the Hamilton by-election seemingly points to the party winning the Scottish Parliament elections next year, if I were Anas Sarwar, I wouldn't be sizing up the curtains of Bute House just yet. The seat was won comfortably by the SNP in the last Scottish Parliament election in 2021 and is just the sort of seat that Labour needs to win if Anas Sarwar is to become Scotland's next First Minister. The SNP has made little progress in restoring its fortunes following its heavy defeat in last summer's Westminster election, with polls suggesting that the party's support across Scotland is still 15 points down on its tally in 2021. In the event, the fall in the party's support in Hamilton was, at 17 points, just a little higher than that. However, Labour's own tally was also down by two points on its vote in 2021, when overall the party came a disappointing third. That drop was very much in line with recent polling, which puts the party at just 19 per cent across Scotland as a whole, while the SNP has around a third of the vote. In addition, Labour is losing somewhere between one in six and one in five of its voters to Reform since last year's election. After nearly two decades in the political wilderness, there is little sign that Labour, as it currently stands, is set to regain the reins of power at Holyrood. Alex Orr, Edinburgh. Now flesh out the policies All the pundits initially claimed the Hamilton by-election would go to Labour, given local circumstances. Now a Labour win is described as a 'shock' after even some in Labour were describing their own candidate as not up to the job. But Labour needs to up its game for the next election. Criticism is easy, but Labour needs more fleshed-out policies for government, beyond centralising health in Scotland. The SNP needs to drop all the 'student politics' stuff; it was embarrassing to see a squabble over £2 million when it should be asking why Scotland does so poorly on defence procurement and jobs. Formulate a proper industrial policy for Scotland, and back any project that would enhance jobs and prosperity for Scotland. Refuse nothing and put the onus on unionists to explain their plans in detail. Trident: are the unionist plans for keeping Trident in Scotland similar to those for Diego Garcia? Nuclear power: why do they think Scotland should have it, given its high-cost electricity and the extensive lags on construction? What of waste disposal and site security? The SNP should be in favour of local pricing for electricity as a draw to attract jobs, and for North Sea oil/gas production (until Scots are empowered to decide its future). A Labour/SNP coalition? It looks like the only feasible outcome. GR Weir, Ochiltree. • For all the fuss about the Hamilton by-election, it should be noted that almost 56% of the electorate really don't care who represents them in the Scottish Parliament. Malcolm Parkin, Kinross. Russia claim is baseless Brian Wilson ("Yes, we should stand firm over Putin, but let's not make Russia our implacable foe", The Herald, June 5) tells us today that the rights of the former Soviet republics to seek security (membership of Nato) should have been balanced against Russian fears of encirclement. This raises two issues. Firstly, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 republics: the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russia itself) and 14 others. Of these, only three (the Baltic states,which were independent between the wars) have joined Nato. I am unclear as to how this constitutes encirclement. Does Mr Wilson envisage the Central Asian former republics (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan etc) expressing a wish to join the alliance at some point, thus making encirclement a reality rather than a baseless claim? Secondly, does Mr Wilson not wonder why these small countries wished to be under the umbrella of the Nato alliance? To avoid the current fate of Ukraine perhaps? Alan Jenkins, Glasgow. • Brian Wilson expresses the hope that we should not categorise the Russian people as being inevitably in the enemy camp. He concluded his article by observing that narratives about Russia should have "due regard to past history and also future potential for peaceful co-existence". Such narratives should certainly not fail to take account of the contribution made by Russian armed forces and the civilian population during the Second World War, which is estimated to have resulted in some 25 million Soviet deaths. It is clear that the Russian effort during that war was profoundly influential in assisting toward the eventual defeat of Germany. The Russian people at the time called upon impressive levels of love of country and perseverance in the fight toward victory over a formidable enemy. Once we were allies. While Russia remains in the firm grip of the dictatorial, ambitious and ruthless Vladimir Putin, it is difficult to see to what extent meaningful steps can be taken to pursue the "potential for peaceful co-existence". Ian W Thomson, Lenzie. A Pride rally in Glasgow (Image: PA) Pride needed now as much as ever Gregor McKenzie (Letters, June 6) suggests that LGBT Pride has had its day. In fact, since the end of the pandemic restrictions, more people have been going to more Pride events across Scotland than ever before. Why? I think it's in part because people see how, after several positive changes in the law for LGBT people in the past 25 years, things are now starting to get worse again. Mr McKenzie asks why we can't all just let people be, and I wish we could. But the increased restrictions being introduced on trans people in the UK are quite the opposite of that. Trans people just want to get on with their lives, but the new rules make that much more difficult. And trans people are constantly maligned currently by some parts of the media. So Pride events are needed as much now as ever. They are a celebration of how far we have come in the 30 years since the first Pride Scotland, and they are a protest against the regression we're seeing now. One day perhaps Pride will be solely a celebration, but that day still seems some way off. Meanwhile people join together in the streets to say "Not going back". Tim Hopkins, Edinburgh.
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
The 6-point plan Scottish Labour must seize on to ram home the advantage against 'confused' SNP
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Against, the odds, depressing poll numbers and barely believable claims of Nigel Farage's invincibility, this was a significant victory for Labour and a boost for the leadership of Anas Sarwar. The phrase often attributed to Mark Twain seems appropriate - 'reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour party, celebrates with deputy leader Jackie Baillie. | Lisa Ferguson This by-election is also a timely reminder that after 18 years in government, the SNP look weary, divided and lacking momentum. The reality for most Scots is a governing party that has become less concerned with fighting Westminster, but is still not tackling with conviction the many policy areas impacting the everyday lives of the electors. Farage and Reform remain a threat. They are eating into the Scottish Tory vote and act primarily as a party of protest with a populist, ultranationalist (English) and isolationist agenda. The achievement to date, in the form of Ukip, was Brexit, an act of national insanity, more recently their barely concealed racist attack on the Scottish Labour Leader on social media and yesterday the offer of a referendum to ban the burka. The Reform party has no pedigree, or political creed, or positive policies and is Trumpian in it's behaviour and political outlook. Its appeal reflects protest, opportunism, cheap patriotism and a claim to be on the side of working people and a dislike of elites. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This is a poisonous fraud, a vulture party exposing predatory behaviour, and an amateur version of populist parties elsewhere in Europe. But because they represent the 'anti-politics' lurking in the minds of many in the UK, they are dangerous, especially under the first-past-the-post electoral system. Their sickening addiction to barely concealed racism, hatred of immigrants and contempt for the European Union are unfortunately helping to divide and possibly destroy a once respected Conservative Party. For the SNP, the picture is more confused. Scotland is stalled as a nation. Scotland is bitterly divided on its constitutional future, where many Scots see campaigning on Independence as a major distraction from the effective governance of the nation. John Swinney in Hamilton ahead of the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election (Photo by Jeff) | Getty Images For the SNP, the drive to independence has lost momentum. This has led to much soul searching over the party's immediate tactics and to what extent there should be a more enthusiastic push towards their primary purpose as a party. It is a curious irony of politics that Scottish Labour now faces two nationalist parties that represent protest as a political weapon against the UK government. This provides an opportunity for Scottish Labour to project a more unified approach to our politics and hammer home the point that, as happened between 1999 and 2007, that rebuilding a critical harmony between Holyrood and Westminster and building on devolution is long overdue. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This is 'Unfinished Business', representing a journey, not a destination - opening up a new era of devolved government that makes more of Scotland's potential and places our priorities much higher up the Westminster agenda and the public agenda. This, of course, requires the UK government to waken up to the wisdom of four-nation governance and make much more significant concessions, opening up the possibility of a more Federated form of Union in the future as even England opens up to the benefits of decentralisation, which may then evolve into something more significant. This would help allay the fears of many Labour politicians and supporters that being more Scottish would be equated with support for independence. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The remark from President Roosevelt seems appropriate. 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,' he said. But for all the new opportunities facing Labour in Scotland, the fact the SNP has been in government for 18 years is hugely significant. Being in government is hard work and the pressures and never-ending challenges of office can be draining. But for the SNP, the constant turmoil of competing priorities is clearly taking its toll. Despite John Swinney steadying the ship after the Sturgeon era, the conflict between governing and campaigning is taking its toll as are the divisions within the SNP about priorities. This affords Labour the opportunity to become once again the party of choice for an ambitious Scotland. For the labour Party in Scotland, there is, of course, more work to be done after a period of stress in the first year of the new Labour government at Westminster. Policy missteps, the impression that Scotland was slipping down the Westminster agenda, and proposed changes in welfare and cuts in benefits have concerned traditional Labour voters and supporters, and Mr Sarwar. These darker days are easing and a more progressive agenda looks likely. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scottish Labour Deputy leader Jackie Ballie, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Davy Russell, newly elected Scottish Labour MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse yesterday (Picture: Jeff) First Scottish Labour should continue to value distinctive Scottish perspectives on UK issues and be confident in emphasising differences with Westminster, when appropriate. Second, the Labour Leader should follow the example of the Welsh Senedd Leader who does contest unpopular Westminster policies publicly in her role of defending Wales. Third, Labour should intensify their assault on SNP policy failures in areas such as, education, health, prisons, industrial strategy and poverty - the peoples agenda. Fourth, there is a pressing need to break the tribalism in the Scottish Parliament and accept that 'coalitions of the willing' could achieve more consensus as happened with a real coalition in the period 1999 to 2007. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Five, assert a greater degree of willingness for dialogue and action with the other nations and the UK where issues and differences are resolved between governments, not in the Supreme Court. Warfare provides good copy but poor policy. Six, there is a need for the Parliament to be freed from the tyranny of the Scottish Government who are suffocating innovation. The boundaries have become blurred. The legislature should represent all parties. As 2026 approaches, Labour can offer a new deal for Scots and realise the potential of a remarkable idea, devolution, which is still in its infancy. Sir Keir Starmer must work to better understand that devolution can't stand still and accept that further change is essential not just because it makes sense, but because it is the only way for Scotland to be content within a changing Union and knowing there are attractive alternatives to independence. Scotland is a remarkable nation; it is also unfinished business. The next phase of devolution is long overdue and is required to set out a vision for the next quarter of a century. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad More Britishness will not answer the 'Scottish Question', but Gordon Brown's idea of a 'Union of the Nations' could work if Westminster accepted the fact the debate about Scotland has a long way to go. This article started with my description of Labour's victory in Hamilton being significant, but it is more than that. Spectacular would be more appropriate in relation to the victory in difficult circumstances, but mainly because of the potential it provides for Scottish Labour to once again be at the heart of how Scotland is governed. Sarwar's rallying call should be, 'the chance to serve our country – that is all we ask', which were the late John Smith's last words.
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Mainstreaming of far-right ideas in UK politics shows why John Swinney was right to raise alarm
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Received wisdom at Westminster has it that the far-right has never made it into UK politics. Coupled with that theory is then the debate by the same commentators around what constitutes the 'far-right'. However using the measurement of policies pursued, which is, after all, the very essence of a political movement or party, the far-right has most certainly arrived in UK politics. UK parties, across the political spectrum, now embrace the hardest of hard Brexit, unthinkable even in the aftermath of the referendum in June 2016, and a policy that has done untold damage to the economy and our rights. We also had a government that promoted the sending of asylum seekers to Rwanda and MPs who openly campaign on leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which has underpinned our rights since the end of the Second World War. Were the UK to leave, it would be joining Russia and Belarus in doing so, hardly polite company. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Brexit, leaving the ECHR, and the Rwanda scheme are or were mainstream policy proposals in the UK yet they are policies that far-right parties elsewhere in Europe would baulk at. Even the hardest of hard-right parties in other parts of Europe such as the National Rally in France, the Vlaams Belaang in Belgium or Alternative fur Deutschland in Germany have abandoned plans to leave the EU, given the UK's Brexit debacle. John Swinney's stances on the EU, Donald Trump and migration, among others, have won plaudits (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images An attack on justice Yet despite these policy failures, the mainstreaming of the far-right has become all too common in our politics along with their tactics. Over the past few days alone, Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary, Robert Jenrick, attacked the Labour Attorney General for doing his job and defending his clients. His remarks were described by former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve 'as a direct attack on our principles of justice'. As we saw in this week's Hamilton by-election, we in Scotland are certainly not immune. Nigel Farage's attack on Anas Sarwar, which he doubled down on when challenged by the press, should act as a warning to us all. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Such remarks are unacceptable and whereas I may have legitimate policy differences with the Scottish Labour leader, they should have no place in our political discourse. For all the heat of the campaign in the run-up to what was a hard-fought by-election, it was good to see SNP and Labour leaders call out these disgraceful comments. Zia Yusuf's resignation as chair of Reform on Thursday and his concerns around Reform in the Commons should also act as a warning. Calling out bigotry That is why the First Minister was right to bring together colleagues from across the political spectrum in a summit seeking to 'lock out' Reform from Holyrood earlier this year. John Swinney is right to call out their policies and the 'bigotry' that they represent and to call out Farage as 'an accomplice of the Russian agenda'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fair play to the politicians and representatives of civil society who put any political differences aside and joined the First Minister. That meeting was criticised at the time by the Conservatives and a range of commentators. Given Reform's tactics and language over the course of the by-election campaign, we have seen just how badly needed that stance was and remains. Labour will be pleased with Thursday's win, and I congratulate them on it, however, no party can afford to be complacent about Reform. One of the lessons from Hamilton must be that the key to taking on the far-right is to challenge them on their ideas. Nigel Farage's track record is not a particularly good one. He has been a driving force campaigning to leave the EU for decades. That was a decision that has exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis, removed rights from UK citizens, damaged business, especially small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and ultimately made us all poorer. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He backed Donald Trump whose presidency has destabilised the world, seen tariffs introduced that have damaged the global economy, and undermined efforts to support Ukraine against Russian aggression. 'Island of Strangers' The Reform policy platform is weak. For their opponents, that should provide ample targets. Yet, in the Westminster bubble their policies are given far too much credibility. There is an omertà around discussing the glaring failure of the Brexit experiment and the less said about Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech on migration frankly the better. John Swinney would be the first to admit that the Scottish Government haven't got everything right. However, on the big calls around our relationship with the EU, the impact of Donald Trump's presidency, migration, child poverty and the rights we should enjoy as citizens, the SNP leader has maintained credibility for his stances, winning plaudits at Westminster and further afield. Politics is about ideas and Reform's are simply not good ones. The Conservatives and Reform are increasingly aligning on a range of policies and a pact or even merger is not out of the question. This is to be expected, given that Reform draws its politicians and many voters from the Conservatives. They have, in turn, turned their backs on One Nation conservatism, and instead the party is dominated by the Johnson/Truss populist wing, which is not so different from Farage and Reform. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This week's by-election and the preceding campaign must act as a wake-up call. During the run-up to the Holyrood elections, there is an opportunity for all parties to set out their vision for Scotland. On the one hand, there is an inclusive, outward-looking and internationalist vision represented by John Swinney, on the other is Reform's inward and exclusive offering. I know which one I'm backing.
