The SNP is remembering its populist roots
He has already made it clear he will not resurrect Nicola Sturgeon's disastrous Gender Recognition Bill. This is the legislation, passed overwhelmingly by the Scottish Parliament in December 2022, which would have allowed 16-year-olds to change their legal sex by making a simple declaration.
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The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Police arrest demonstrators supporting the Palestine Action group in central London
Police in London have begun making arrests after hundreds of people intentionally violated a new law banning support for a pro-Palestinian group because they say the legislation improperly restricts freedom of expression. Backers of Palestine Action have staged a series of protests across the U.K. since early July, when Parliament outlawed the group and prohibited anyone from publicly showing support for it. Lawmakers banned the group as a terrorist organization after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized two tanker aircraft. Protesters gathered Saturday afternoon in the square outside Parliament, with dozens displaying signs reading 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.' That was enough for police to step in. 'Within this crowd a significant number of people are displaying placards expressing support for Palestine Action, which is a proscribed group,' the Metropolitan Police Service said on X. 'Officers have moved in and are making arrests.' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper moved to ban Palestine Action after activists broke into a British air force base in southern England on June 20 to protest British military support for Israel's war with Hamas. The activists sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes at the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and caused further damage with crowbars. Palestine Action had previously targeted Israeli defense contractors and other sites in Britain that they believe have links with the Israeli military. Supporters of the group are challenging the ban in court, saying the government has gone too far in declaring Palestine Action a terrorist organization. 'Once the meaning of 'terrorism' is separated from campaigns of violence against a civilian population, and extended to include those causing economic damage or embarrassment to the rich, the powerful and the criminal, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning and democracy is dead,' the group Defend Our Juries said on its website. The arrests outside Parliament came amid what is expected to be a busy weekend of demonstrations in London as the war in Gaza and concerns about immigration spur protests and counter-protests across the United Kingdom. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has angered Israel with plans to recognize a Palestinian state later this year, many Palestinian supporters in Britain criticize the government for not doing enough to end the war in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian protesters were gathering Saturday afternoon in central London for a march that is scheduled to end outside the gates of No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence and offices. On Sunday, a number of groups are scheduled to march through central London to demand the safe release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza. Palestinian militants have held the captives since they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Police are also preparing for protests outside hotels across the country that are being used to house asylum seekers. Protesters and counter-protesters have squared off outside the hotels in recent weeks, with some saying the migrants pose a risk to their communities and others decrying anti-immigrant racism. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said the scale of the events would 'put pressure' on the police department. 'This is going to be a particularly busy few days in London with many simultaneous protests and events that will require a significant policing presence,' Adelekan said before the protests began.
STV News
6 hours ago
- STV News
Netanyahu ‘not a partner in peace', says Scottish Labour leader Sarwar
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is 'not a partner in peace' who will eventually have to answer to international courts over the crisis in Gaza, the leader of Scottish Labour has said. Anas Sarwar hit out at the Israeli premier as he announced plans to take over Gaza City in a new offensive. While Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the plans were 'wrong', Sarwar was much more strident, describing Netanyahu as a 'war criminal'. Following news of the offensive, the Scottish Greens urged the Prime Minister to expel the Israeli ambassador from the UK. But Sarwar said he did not want to 'get into stunts'. 'The problem here is Benjamin Netanyahu, his Israel government, his illegal occupation, his lack of interest in peace and the fact that he clearly has no respect for international law, and gives no value to the sanctity of human life,' he told the PA news agency. 'He is a danger to his own population in Israel, but he's also a danger to the Palestinian population and a danger to the wider region in the Middle East.' He added: 'We all have to be resolute in saying that Netanyahu is a war criminal, he's not acting in the interests of peace. 'He's not a partner for peace, Hamas is a terrorist organisation that committed horrific acts on October 7 2023 – they aren't partners for peace.' Diplomacy, the Scottish Labour leader said, had not yet worked in ending the conflict, but shutting off communications would not help matters. 'Diplomacy hasn't worked in terms of the war ending, because the war is still ongoing,' he said. 'There is a plausible case for genocide that the Israeli government has to answer and one day I believe will have to answer to the ICC and the ICJ. 'But we have to urgently end the war – if we think just stopping talking to the Israeli government means that we end the war, I think that's a pretty naive view of the situation right now.' The only person who the Israel Government would listen to, he said, would be US President Donald Trump, as he urged the international community to exert as much pressure as possible on the administration. Asked if he felt the UK Government had done enough to solve the issue, the Scottish Labour leader said it had done 'a lot', but added: 'I think there's still more we have to look at.' Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater said the UK Government has been an 'active participant' in what she described as a 'genocide' in Gaza. 'Urging restraint is not enough, the hypocrisy must end. The arms sales must stop and so must the military collaboration and political support that has gone with them. 'That must mean backing sanctions against Israeli forces and expelling the Israeli ambassador who has served as a mouthpiece for genocide. 'This has been a disgraceful chapter in UK foreign policy and has made the Prime Minister and his colleagues complicit in some of the worst war crimes of this century.' The UK Government has been contacted for comment. Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister John Swinney hit out at the announcement of the new offensive. 'The decision of the Israeli Government to seize control of Gaza City is completely and utterly unacceptable,' he said in a post on X. 'It will create even more human suffering for the Palestinian people and further escalate the conflict. 'The international community must stop Israel and secure a ceasefire.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Herald Scotland
7 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
The realists have left the building – now the SNP really is in trouble
By my reckoning ,there are only three competent SNP MSPs at the moment: Forbes, Michelle Thompson and Fergus Ewing. The latter is not even an SNP MSP anymore and will be standing as an independent next time - good for him. The other two will both be gone. Competence matters, experience outside Parliament matters, understanding that wealth generation must come before more spending matters. Alex Salmond had a grasp of economics and knew he had to draw from across the traditional political spectrum in order to succeed, and he nearly did. Sturgeon in contrast was a political pygmy. She thought wealth creators' sole purpose was to provide more money for her to spend. Instead of governing well for us all, hugely divisive social policies were endlessly pursed and now look rather daft. She quickly fades in the rear-view mirror. Yousaf is a chapter best skipped over and now we have Swinney. He has hit upon a brilliant new strategy: do as little as possible then you are less likely to annoy people or muck things up. What it is not is a strategy to inspire or really take things forward. Forbes understood that in order to make a success of independence - and that's the point, just getting it is no achievement at all - there would have to be a decisive majority of Scots in favour. Forget 51/49, more like 2 to 1 and in order to achieve that the Scottish Parliament would need to show over perhaps over 20 or 30 years it was clearly governing Scotland well and demonstrably better than the rest of the UK. Over the last nearly 20 years, successive SNP governments have failed to hit that target. Read more More economic trouble is coming. And there's only one escape route | The Herald It's time to cast aside prejudice and go for the cash Can anyone truly say the Scottish Parliament been a great success? I can't Without Forbes they won't even try. The SNP look to Stephen Flynn, a man of no achievement or experience outside politics, as a beacon of hope when actually they would lead the SNP and unfortunately the rest of us, onto the rocks. People often go into politics with good motives - to change things for the better. Unfortunately, within the ranks of SNP MSPs this essentially means only one thing: spend more money. Despite the Scottish Government's wailing that Scotland is hard done by, the truth is that we have a generous financial settlement as part of the UK. There is no Westminster-imposed austerity as the SNP would have us believe. Added to this, we pay higher taxes than the rest of the UK which the SNP thinks provides more money but in reality provides none as higher earners switch their residence and economic activity elsewhere. We like the fact that we have a lot of public servants when in truth we should try to manage with as few as possible. We pay them more than they would get in the rest of the UK and pretend this extra spending is "investment". We agree with the unions that civil servants can work from home and should move towards a four-day week with no loss of pay. Humza Yousaf (Image: Newsquest) We pay more in benefits. We don't require those who receive benefits to have regular face-to-face meetings to make sure they are still entitled to those benefits and help them improve their position - we just hand out the money - because we are nicer. The job of government is not to be nice but to be effective. How well a government is doing depends not on its inputs in terms of people and cash but on its outputs in terms of what is achieves for its citizens at a sensible cost to taxpayers. Effective government is not about failing to take on the unions and so building farcically large ferries. Nor is it preening about the number of wind turbines we have but being dead against new nuclear power which as well as creating thousands of jobs will keep the lights on during a cold still winter's night. Insisting that students won't have to pay for higher education but at the same time not providing the funds to our universities to enable them to compete in the longer term against those in England and elsewhere. That's not smart either. The fiscal position in the UK is bad and it's worse in Scotland. More challenging demographics, less economic growth, spending rising faster. The Scottish Government is not the proprietor of a sweetie shop, it needs to make hard choices in order to restrain spending and promote growth. So far it has shown no will to do either. With the departure of its few economic realists, it would be dangerous to hold your breath for improvement.
