Scotland's school toilet ruling is another win for women's rights
In the Scottish Borders, Earlston Primary School's newly built campus has no single-sex toilet provision. This astonishing planning decision was reportedly made after undertaking training by LGBT Youth Scotland. It was also based on the Scottish government's similar guidance, which one can easily assume may well be based on the same advice, so eager have the SNP been to outsource their thinking on policy in this area to activist lobby groups they generously fund to then lobby them.
Yesterday, this illegality was brought to a halt, aided in no small part by the victory of For Women Scotland in the Supreme Court last Wednesday, which reconfirmed that the legal situation all along had been that 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 means, well, sex. A week on from this, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled on Wednesday that Scottish schools must provide single-sex toilets for students in a win for worried parents.
The latest ruling came about after parents Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley raised a judicial review over the lack of single-sex provision at Earlston primary, which their young son attended.
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Scottish Sun
16 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
John Swinney claims youth violence is falling – so why is government holding a knife crime summit?
IF everything is so great and youth violence really is falling, why did John Swinney hold an emergency summit on the matter? It's an important question for the Scottish Government after it called the gathering last week amid growing concerns about a wave of horrendous knife incidents. 4 First Minister John Swinney MSP 4 There is growing alarm after knife tragedies like Kory McCrimmon, 16 Credit: Refer to Caption When SNP ministers announced Thursday's summit — as well as after the event, and probably during it — they went out of their way to tell people how rosy everything was, waving around stats suggesting that youth violence is in fact diminishing. This cowardly muddle is symptomatic of a government which can't decide what's most important. Doing the absolute utmost to make the country a better place, or protecting its own reputation. But, then, that's what 'summits' are so often about. At worst, they are the epitome of a vacuous, on-the-hoof, style-over-substance politics that governments love to embrace when they are running on empty. They're usually called when ministers want to look like they're getting tough with some issue of public concern which they've failed to tackle. Getting lots of folk who already agree with each other to sit around a table, sip free tea and scoff biscuits, and say the same things they've been saying for years is pretty much the opposite of honestly confronting a crisis. And as past experience shows, summits tend to solve nothing. But under the SNP, they have been a go-to, barrel-scraping tool at times of trouble. There have been too many to mention them all, but into this category falls the sectarianism summit following the Old Firm 'shame game' in 2011. It led to the disastrous Offensive Behaviour at Football Act — later repealed, of course. In 2020, Nicola Sturgeon held a drug deaths summit. Fatalities kept rising, and ministers are still sticking to the same, failing formula of keeping people hooked rather than tipping the balance towards rehab. On today's issue — youth violence — the Scottish Government held a series of summits in 2023 about pupil behaviour and ways to create 'safe' environments in schools. Find out what's really going on Register now for our free weekly politics newsletter for an insightful and irreverent look at the (sometimes excruciating) world of Scottish Politics. Every Thursday our hotshot politics team goes behind the headlines to bring you a rundown of key events - plus insights and gossip from the corridors of power, including a 'Plonker' and 'Star' of the Week. Sign up now and make sure you don't miss a beat. The politicians would hate that. SIGN UP FOR FREE NOW If you want to know how successful they were, look no further at where we are now. Summits tend to be PR rather than policy exercises. But a further potential motivation is even more cynical. It's when a government whips up a storm over some moral panic for political gain. Admittedly, this is rare, but when it does happen then further summits will rightly raise even more suspicions. It is in that territory we find ourselves with the issue of youth violence, given the Scottish Government's last summit in April. That gathering saw John Swinney summon a group of organisations and political parties to talk about the rise of Reform UK and — as he put it — 'protecting Scotland's values'. As elections guru Prof Sir John Curtice alluded to at the time, that event looked suspiciously like a tactic, aimed at making it unpalatable for Scottish Labour to accept Reform's votes if there's a hung parliament in 2026. It also had the effect of further publicising Reform — much like Swinneys's tawdry tactics in the Hamilton by-election, when he falsely claimed it was a 'two-horse race between the SNP and Farage' in a bid to strangle Labour support. So, forgive me for casting a skeptical eye on this latest event. Because it looks like yet another example of kneejerk grandstanding that won't fix anything — especially given those Scottish Government statements downplaying its need. In the press release announcing the youth violence summit, and in statements from Justice Secretary Angela Constance afterwards, they cherry-picked figures claiming 'serious assaults by 11 to 18 year olds fell 27 per cent between 2019/20 and 2024/25 from 428 to 313'. They also listed all the great things being done by the SNP government and 'record funding' for tackling violence. But they went out of their way to avoid mentioning the two fatal alleged stabbings of teenage boys in Scotland, and another tragedy last year. Or that last month, Chief Constable Jo Farrell raised concerns about trends around violent crime by youngsters against youngsters with, as she put it, a 'notable proportion' of it in and around schools. They didn't mention that in May, figures emerged showing a record 248 confiscations of weapons in schools in 2024, compared to 169 in 2018. Or that figures flagged at Holyrood suggested a 600 per cent rise in serious assaults by teenagers in the past five years, with eleven injured by knives in the two months to May. Or that last week's Scottish Crime and Justice Survey publication showed a quarter of all violent crime last year — up from five per cent previously — took place at the victim's workplace and was inflicted by someone aged under 16, with the most common location being education or care settings. Ministers did not talk about how they have persistently faced questions about inadequate police resourcing a lenient approach to youth sentencing which may give young people the impression that they won't get seriously punished even if they are violent. Or that ministers have passed the buck on the deeply problematic use of mobiles in schools which experts say is fuelling misogynistic behaviour and attacks on female teachers. And the bottom line remains — if things are so bloody wonderful, why were they calling an emergency summit? Like many things in life, you only learn how to fix a problem if you face up to it. With youth violence, SNP ministers still seem a long way off this. 4 Chris Musson Credit: Andrew Barr
The National
21 minutes ago
- The National
Top Scottish Greens face coordinated challenges for MSP spots
In Glasgow, outgoing party co-leader Patrick Harvie had the top spot on the Greens list in 2021, and Ross Greer held the top spot on the West of Scotland list. Both are facing challenges for the position ahead of the 2026 Holyrood elections. The Scottish Greens have historically won all of their MSPs through the regional lists, meaning the top spot is a coveted position for party activists hoping to enter parliament. In the West of Scotland, four Scottish Greens are running on a single slate in a bid to oust Greer from the top of the list. READ MORE: Gillian Martin clashes with BBC Scotland host over Scottish independence Ayrshire Greens co-convenor Cara McKee is asking members to rank her in first position, followed by her allies Athol Bond, Louise Andersen, and Charley O'Hear. In Glasgow, Ellie Gomersall is looking to knock Harvie off the top spot, with local members urged to back Iris Duane in second and Seonad Hoy in third. The three have badged themselves the 'Radical Glasgow Greens' and are running on a single ticket. From left: Seonad Hoy, Ellie Gomersall, and Iris Duane (Image: Instagram)In the north east, MSP Maggie Chapman is facing a bullying complaint amid allegations that she contacted the workplace of Green activist Guy Ingerson to brief his employers against him. In 2021, Ingerson was ranked second behind Chapman on the Greens' north east regional list. He is believed to be bidding for the top spot in 2026. Announcing her bid to oust Greer in the west, McKee said: 'Now more than ever it is important the Scottish Greens elect grassroots left-wing candidates. 'I want to see real work done to end the poverty we see so much of in West Scotland. To make childcare work for us. To make sure people have accessible, affordable, and useful public transport. 'With the vote of Scottish Green members, I could be a strong voice in Holyrood to hold other politicians accountable.'
The National
27 minutes ago
- The National
Why using sterling after independence would be huge strategic mistake
Before moving on to consider how the domestic private sector surplus can be balanced to increase the share taken by the household sector and the poorest deciles in the population, there are some other issues to cover regarding the overseas sector, recognising that the rUK will be part of it once Scotland is independent. Despite the best efforts of the Scottish Currency Group and others to persuade the Scottish Government and SNP leadership that the introduction of our own currency immediately after independence is critical, it is clear they remain committed to continued use of sterling. READ MORE: Tories rage as Scottish primary head suggests Union flag is 'sectarian' This is a huge strategic mistake, bearing comparison to Bonnie Prince Charlie's decision at Culloden to take on the Hanoverian army in battle on a bog. To understand why the use of sterling would be a strategic mistake, we need to look again at what GDP is made up of, and why continued use of sterling would adversely affect GDP growth which the SNP sees as the primary goal of economic policy. GDP=G+I+C+(X-M). This is government spending net of tax, plus private sector investment, plus consumer spending, plus exports minus imports. Without our own currency G cannot grow to any great extent. The SNP are committed to 'balancing the books', which means spend minus tax = zero; G = 0. They say we will borrow to finance public spending. Such borrowing But this will be in sterling at interest rates set by the Bank of England, UK banks and other institutional investors. Debt repayments and interest will be an outflow from the Scottish economy and a rise in the overseas surplus, benefiting the rest of the UK. SNP objectives to 'grow the economy' cannot, therefore depend on G. They will depend heavily on I – and much of that would rely on foreign investment, including from the rUK. While this would bring additional capital into the Scottish economy it comes at the cost of an outflow of profits. At present that outflow istotals 6% of GDP – £11bn per year. Scotland would also need to increase exports to earn the sterling currency to pay the debt, meaning our resources are then allocated to meet demand in the rest of the UK and elsewhere rather than being used to meet the needs of our own people. This cannot be a route to the creation of a wellbeing economy or to the eradication of poverty. These are the economic characteristics typical of a colony. This would be no more than a constitutional form of independence, not real independence based on political and economic sovereignty. Choosing to continue to use sterling rather than introduce a Scottish currency would crush our economy, leaving the domestic private sector with a smaller share of the overall non-government sector surplus. Continued use of sterling for anything more than a few weeks after independence would deliver austerity on steroids. Of course, the Unionists know this. They need say nor do nothing – they can just wait for the SNP to walk into a trap of their own making. As in 2014 they can, correctly, argue that independence without your own currency isn't independence at all. While a commitment to our own currency will prompt 'Project Fear' to argue it will be a 'weak currency', at least then there can be a proper discussion about economic policies, enabled by the currency, that support the value of and confidence in the currency and enable the start of a journey towards a wellbeing economy and the eradication of poverty. With the benefit of our own currency, Scottish governments would have the capacity to increase G, leading directly to growth in GDP. With no necessity to 'balance the books' tax need not be more than needed to prevent inflation. The only real constraint on G is the availability of resources to bring into productive use – once all resources have been used, more government spending would cause inflation. The 'deficit' created by spending more than taxing is matched by an equivalent surplus in the non-government sector. The important discussion then is how the non-government sector surplus is shared so that every citizen can benefit from the prosperity and how the resources we have at our disposal are best used to eradicate poverty and increase the wellbeing of all. Next time, we will return to the subject of how the domestic private sector surplus can be increased and allocated in a more balanced manner between financial, industrial and household sectors, with the goal of reducing inequality and increasing wellbeing.
