Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupt John Swinney Fringe event
Police officers attended the event as tensions rose between the protesters and other members of the audience.The first minister's security team is reported to have aided in retaining people from berating Swinney on the stage.Video posted on the social media site X shows the first minister sitting quietly while the confrontation takes place.
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South Wales Argus
7 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes to stand down as MSP in 2026
The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch said she does not wish to 'miss any more of the precious early years of family life'. She is one of the SNP's most significant politicians, having finished second in the 2023 leadership election, which saw Humza Yousaf succeed Nicola Sturgeon as party leader. When John Swinney became First Minister last year, he appointed Ms Forbes to his cabinet as his deputy, also taking charge of the Government's economy portfolio. John Swinney appointed Ms Forbes to his cabinet (Jane Barlow/PA) In a statement shared on Monday, Ms Forbes said she had reflected over recess and decided not to run again in 2026. She said she had been 'privileged' to serve her various roles in government. Ms Forbes said: 'I remain wholly supportive of the First Minister just as when I backed him to be leader of the SNP and I look forward to campaigning for the SNP at the next election – to lead Scotland to independence. 'I was first elected in my mid-20s, dedicating my most formative adult years to public service. In that time, I presented multiple budgets, supported thousands of businesses and workers during Covid-19 and launched Scotland's most ambitious business start up network TechScaler. 'I now wish to step back from my public duties and focus on new opportunities to serve people. 'I have grown up in the public eye, getting married, having a baby and raising a young family. 'I have consistently put the public's needs ahead of my family's during that time. I am grateful to them for accommodating the heavy demands of being a political figure. 'Looking ahead to the future, I do not want to miss any more of the precious early years of family life – which can never be rewound.' The First Minister wrote back to Ms Forbes, saying he understood her decision and thanking her for her contributions. Mr Swinney said: ''You have made a huge contribution to public life in Scotland and have been instrumental in making progress on economic issues for my Government. 'You have much to be proud of in all of the work you have undertaken but I am especially heartened by the effect of your leadership on advancing support for the Gaelic language. 'We all wrestle with the inevitable conflicts between family and public life and I sympathise with the dilemmas you have faced. 'I wish you, Ali and your family well and much happiness in the years ahead.'
The Independent
7 minutes ago
- The Independent
Will Labour's new migrant controls stop the boats… or encourage Nigel Farage?
Maybe everyone can agree on one thing: if stopping the boats was easy, it would have been done by now. Whether the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, ever deluded herself otherwise, a year of only limited progress in the government's mission to 'smash the gangs' must have brought home to her just how intractable irregular migration is. The numbers of those crossing the Channel are as high as ever – partly because of the warm weather and calm waters, but also because the criminals who run these people-smuggling businesses are also smart and innovative. When Keir Starmer said he would bring the same legal powers and resources to the criminal gangs as had been applied to terrorism and drugs, he seemed to have forgotten that those wars are also far from over – let alone won. Will more of the same work? Cooper must hope so. She's promising another £100m for the National Crime Agency to recruit more officers, and there'll be enhanced 'detection technology' to defeat the people traffickers. Making those distasteful online 'ads' for smuggling services is to be a specific criminal offence. Less convincingly, the government proposes to financially penalise universities where too many foreign students fail to complete their courses because they use their study visas as the first stage in an asylum application. How the university applications officers are supposed to vet all their student applicants in this way is far from clear – quite aside from the fact that the right to claim asylum is absolute and universal under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This, by the way, is why no migrant seeking refugee status can be labelled 'illegal', even though that is what was laid down in domestic law by the previous administration. So Cooper is in this for the long haul, making slow, incremental progress both at home and in cooperation with other concerned nations near and far, patiently waiting for the forces of law and order to push their investigations and prosecutions forward. Any single measure, inevitably, tends to get dismissed as hopelessly inadequate. How, it is asked, can the German authorities stop the trade in dinghies and marine engines? How will a crackdown on TikTok videos stop anyone trying to make the journey? Will the treaty with the French, agreed last month, ever be scaled up to make a real difference? Even if one gang is broken up, surely there will be more ready to take their trade? Such scepticism is entirely justified, but it is no reason to give up. Cooper's political pitch has to be that only painstakingly slow, hard work – constantly bearing down on the gangs, working through the vast asylum claim backlog, and getting other countries to take or take back the failed asylum seekers – can succeed. This dedicated effort has to be contrasted with the deceptively easy solutions promised by Reform UK. Nigel Farage, in other words, does not have the answers and would not solve the problem. Just the same as Brexit, in fact, when he also made extravagant claims about how it would solve our economic problems, and then blamed everyone else when it left the nation impoverished. Now he's blaming the migrants rather than Brussels, and his policies – little more than slogans – should be treated with extreme caution. Leaving the ECHR, for example – which he used to call 'Brexit 2.0' before Brexit 1.0 turned out to be a flop – wouldn't change a thing over in Calais. Yes, it would make claiming asylum impossible, and it would, perhaps in some cases, speed deportation and reduce spurious human rights claims by criminals. But it wouldn't stop anyone – refugee or economic migrant – from seeking a better life in the UK, and doing whatever it takes and paying any price (including loss of their own life) in the process. A policy of 'detain, deport', as so lazily tossed out by the radical right, only works if migrants continue to give themselves up. If they cannot do that, because the ECHR right to claim asylum is abolished, then they will not be willing to approach Border Force so that they can indeed be detained and then removed (somehow – again, never entirely clear to where). Instead, we will have irregular crossings turning into irregular, uncurated landings along the south coast of England. And even if the English Channel was somehow made small-boat proof, other methods would be found, such as further abuse of the visa system. Getting sent to Rwanda, say, only acts as a deterrent if you get caught in the first place. But pushing refugees and economic migrants into the grey economy and slum accommodation run by gangs really would turn them into the criminals they do not wish to be. It's not that the remedies offered by Farage, Rupert Lowe, various fascists and some Conservatives are cruel and morally shameful, which they are, but that they are impractical and costly. They're inured to personal abuse. In the words of Lowe: 'You can call me 'far-right', you can call me 'racist' – I just do not care. Detain these men, and deport these men – every single one of them.' Except it wouldn't work, for the reasons explained. Even getting the Royal Navy to attack the boats wouldn't succeed, because there are too many dinghies and too few Navy vessels (and the Navy has other things to do). The Farage/Lowe way of controlling migration is to sloganise and strike a pose, never to make a practical proposal. Labour's way is to get it done slowly but surely – grinding hard graft, with some respect for humanity, compassion for the most vulnerable, and dealing swiftly with any criminality. It just needs to be seen to be working, and it ain't easy.
Scottish Sun
7 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
The SNP look knackered & they're clinging on – a second independence referendum is last thing John Swinney wants now
Mr Swinney both wants and doesn't want IndyRef2 - both things are true CHRIS MUSSON The SNP look knackered & they're clinging on – a second independence referendum is last thing John Swinney wants now JOHN Swinney may well be telling the country he wants to style next year's Holyrood election as a referendum on having an independence referendum. But here's a thing. I don't think he is remotely serious about the idea of a re-run of 2014, at least not any time in the next few years. Advertisement 3 First Minister John Swinney Credit: PA 3 Swinney wants next year's Holyrood vote to be a referendum on IndyRef2 Credit: Alamy 3 The Scottish Sun's political guru Chris Musson Credit: Andrew Barr In fact, it's probably one of the last things the First Minister wants right now. It's probably on a list somewhere in the recesses of his mind alongside the nightmare news that Donald Trump loved their dinner so much that he's on his way back to Scotland and asking to play 36 holes with him. Advertisement All of this may sound odd — the idea that the SNP leader says he wants an independence referendum, and at the same time he doesn't. But both can be true. Because we have entered the realm of the Nats talking up the break-up of the UK purely because it's a neat line which helps shore up their core vote and whip up their activists at elections, and not because they have any expectation of actually delivering it. That will doubtless come as a disappointment to the many supporters of independence, but there are many advocates of indy who would agree with me. Bluntly, the SNP look knackered. They are clinging to power, with many in the ranks fearing a day of reckoning on May 7 next year, regardless of currently being ahead in the opinion polls due to Labour's rocky first year in power down south. So, here we are. In case of emergency, break glass and hit the indy button. Advertisement Scotland is being asked to go along with the man known as Honest John — if a tad mockingly — but on this occasion, at least, he's being anything but. I have no doubt Swinney wants independence but he would only want a second referendum when he would be sure to win, and having won, have a chance of not plunging Scotland — utterly dependent on UK pooling and sharing — into economic meltdown. That time is not now. And beneath the bluster, there is no serious plan — not for achieving a referendum, and not for indy itself. John Swinney's Edinburgh show interrupted To win independence, the Nats must do three things. Firstly, govern Scotland so well that people think they are capable of running an independent country. Secondly, they must be up front that it will be extremely hard work. Advertisement Thirdly, they must persuade Scots that hard work will be worth it. At the moment they are a light year away from meeting any of these tests, all of which are linked by the key theme of trust. Salmond got pretty close in 2014, but fell short on the second and third. If and when the tests are met, and opinion polling shows a clear majority of Scots want a referendum imminently, then the UK Government will — politically at least — be unable to say no. But there is no mass clamour now for a referendum. Polls may show support for independence among decided voters is at around 50 per cent, but it's a whole lot easier to say Yes to something when it's entirely hypothetical. Our leaders could learn a thing or two from President Trump DONALD Trump may be deeply disliked by many, but he certainly isn't camera shy. Our governments could learn a thing or two about transparency from the President. As underlined by his visit to Scotland, he has a reporters following him everywhere, who he speaks to often multiple times a day. You may not like his answers, but at least he's willing to be quizzed. Compare that to the petty secrecy from the Scottish Government, who act like guard dogs and tend to keep the Press away from the First Minister, and hide his whereabouts. If the Leader the Free World can face the music on a daily basis, why can't the Leader of a Devolved Scottish Administration? The world has become a far more unstable place in recent years, and the idea that a majority of Scots want a referendum thrown into all that is ridiculous, and Swinney knows it. So, what's he up to? He sees those opinion polls, with support for independence far higher than support for the SNP. Advertisement He wants to persuade activists and voters to act in the same way as they would if there was a realistic prospect of a referendum. He is inviting you into an alternative reality. It's a campaigning device. A trick. A ruse. His desired outcome is three-pronged. Mobilise the SNP base, try to hoover up some of those voters who say they back independence but not the Nats, and distract from the real big picture — not the constitution, but the terrible state of Scotland's public services after what will be 19 years of his party's rule. But the strategy is fraught with pitfalls. Will it mobilise the base? With the best will in the world, I'm not sure even Swinney in his self-styled Full-On John mode can energise the Nats like Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon. Advertisement Will it hoover up some of those pro-indy non-SNP voters? It may. But it may also have an opposite effect, which is to alienate the floating voters who think he's at it, or current SNP backers who don't support independence. And on that distraction technique — it may only serve to sharpen the focus on those failures, if the opposition calls it out. The referendum-on-a-referendum strategy is also a lazy one. It betrays a lack of confidence in campaigning on their track record or vision for Scotland. It shows what a state the SNP are in, behind the bravado of the press releases celebrating being ahead in the opinion polls. They know the lead is precarious and they know they are a long way down on their levels of support at the 2021 election. Advertisement They know independence is as far away as it has been at any point since 2014. Yet Swinney is telling you and telling his tribe that the next election is all about indy. Not only does it show how daft Swinney thinks voters are, but also his own party. It's all about clinging on to power — on the back of a lie.
