Latest news with #AssaSamake-Roman
The National
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Child poverty falling in Scotland but rising in rest of UK
Westminster has been urged to learn from Holyrood after a study by the Big Issue found that Scotland has seen a 12% drop in child poverty since introducing reduction targets into law in 2017 - equivalent to a reduction of 21,000 living in relative poverty. Yet in the same period, England and Wales have seen a 15% rise. READ MORE: Assa Samake-Roman: Build-to-rent won't solve housing crisis but will bleed people dry The magazine said its study highlighted why Westminster should implement similar poverty reduction targets as Scotland. Its analysis of UK child poverty statistics found that the assent of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 was a 'parting of the ways' for the different home nations' trajectories on child poverty. The report said a cyclical target-setting method would translate Labour's stated ambition of 'enduring poverty reduction' into concrete, measurable steps. Lord John Bird, Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, said: 'With child poverty in England and Wales predicted to rise to new pernicious highs, we cannot accept rhetoric in place of real change – we must demand sustained, legislative action. 'Parliamentarians possess the authority to drive this transformation. Let us not look back and regret another missed opportunity. The time has come to stop simply managing poverty and to begin ending it.' READ MORE: Children's care service threatened with closure after 'serious concerns' raised The Scottish Government has previously said it is on a "national mission" to end child poverty. On Monday, First Minister John Swinney announced more families would be able to benefit from free school meals for children after the summer holidays. The Scottish Government is investing £3 million in a trial phase which will extend the provision of free school meals to S1 to S3 pupils who receive the Scottish child payment. And earlier this month, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville announced the Scottish Government would be ditching the two-child benefit cap on March 2. The two-child limit denies child allowances in Universal Credit and tax credits to third or subsequent children born after April 2017 and has been kept in place by Keir Starmer's Labour UK Government.
The National
11-06-2025
- Business
- The National
Why Scotland joining Efta or EEA is infinitely preferable to the EU
Since then, there has been an understandable desire expressed by many to rejoin the EU after independence, though how that is delivered remains to be seen. However, the debate thus far has not fully addressed other options: notably membership of Efta/the EEA, at least in the medium term. Efta is the European Free Trade Association. It was formed in 1960 as kind of an economic waiting room prior to EU accession. The UK was a member of Efta before 1973 when it passed legislation to become a member of the EU. Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Lichtenstein never left the waiting room, and currently comprise Efta. READ MORE: These key economic truths show how independent Scotland and Wales can succeed The EEA is the European Economic Area. This was a treaty signed in 1992 which enabled all the EU states and the Efta members (excluding Switzerland) to be part of the single market. This requires all members of the EEA to respect the four freedoms of movement – workers, goods, services, and capital. Switzerland has a series of bilateral treaties with the EU under which it must abide by these four freedoms, but it is much more complicated than EEA membership. I have attended two biennial seminars of the Efta/EEA council in Brussels, and was struck by the positive engagement between all EEA members, Efta and the EU. There is this slogan against Efta membership that Scotland would be 'rule takers, not rule makers'. This ignores the fact that within the EEA treaty, all EEA states must be closely consulted on any change in EU law pertaining to the EEA agreement. On many occasions, Efta/EEA members engaged in the process early and had a positive formative influence on the law. READ MORE: Assa Samake-Roman: What if we are wrong about reasons for rise in far-right support? While Efta/EEA members do not have a vote on laws, I asked Efta members if they had ever had EU laws forced on them against their will. They couldn't think of any such occasions. Many smaller EU states feel they have no influence at all. Upon a 'democratic event' affirming majority support for independence, Scotland could apply to join Efta. While I cannot speak on their behalf, I can safely say there is great support among Efta officials for Scottish membership. The three Efta/EEA members would then lobby to get an independent Scotland into the EEA. Again, I cannot speak on their behalf, but when I last spoke with Efta officials they saw no impediment to Scotland joining Efta and the EEA within a few short months. Compare this to the EU accession process. This could easily take 10 years. EU law (the acquis) comprises 35 chapters, all of which would need to be reflected in Scots law, and Scotland would have to demonstrate that it has the institutions in place to apply EU law. It doesn't, because the 'Scottish' civil service is merely an appendage of the UK state. File photo of a Yes for EU rally at the Scottish parliamentAll 27 EU member states have veto power at any stage in the process. Think Spain and Catalonia. At the recent SSRG conference in Dunfermline, we held a panel on Efta/EEA membership. I was in touch with @YesforEU, and asked if any known prominent advocate for Scotland in the EU would be willing to speak. We got zero responses. There seems to be a contrived prevailing assumption that, because Scots voted to remain in the EU in 2016, rejoining the EU after independence would be easy and preferable to Efta membership. I was in touch with a well-known purportedly pro-indy corporate lobbyist, who after changing his mind, assured me that the EU membership 'polled' better than Efta/EEA, therefore independence should be automatically linked with EU membership. However, that assumes Scots are well-informed about the pros and cons of membership of both, and can make an informed decision. This debate has yet to be held. This ignores the many independence supporters who, despite the Scottish vote to remain in 2016, take a dim view of EU membership. As an American with UK citizenship through my Scottish father, I have been able to carve out a career as a university teacher in France. When I came to France in 1995, I felt a genuine optimism towards the economic objectives of the EU, and have benefited from it. My view of the EU has changed drastically since then. The musician Frank Zappa famously remarked that '[US] Politics is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex'. Regrettably, the same can increasingly be said of the EU and Nato, which are becoming indistinguishable. At the same time, the EU is increasingly authoritarian. Whether you agree with them or not, look at how Viktor Orban in Hungary and Robert Fico in Slovakia have been threatened because of their opposition to the EU approach to Russia and Ukraine. It also managed to get Calin Georgescu eliminated in Romania as a presidential candidate because he dissented from Ursula Von der Leyen's orthodoxy. Kaja Kallas is the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyAnd don't get me going on the incompetence and stupidity of Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign minister. She is openly Russophobic, speaks about defeating and carving up Russia, and laments that if the EU cannot defeat Russia, how can it defeat China? Does Scotland want to join THAT EU? What happens when that bile is directed at Scotland if it dissents from EU-manufactured consent? Maybe, over time, the EU leadership will regain some sanity, get back to its original economic purpose and stop violating its members' sovereignty and cultures. Until then, Scotland should join Efta/the EEA, recoup and exercise its popular sovereignty, and let the EU sort itself out. Whether it does or not, Scotland will be much better off as an Efta/EEA member, and will be warmly welcomed. Later, there is no obstacle to joining the EU, if that is what Scots democratically decide. Dr Mark McNaught is the founder of the Scottish Sovereignty Research Group and Maître de Conférences at the University of Rennes 2, France
The National
04-06-2025
- Business
- The National
Spain cancels contract for missiles built by Israeli subsidiary
The decision will affect the purchase of 168 Spike LR2 anti-tank missile systems with an estimated value of €285 million (£241m). The systems would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a subsidiary of Israel's Rafael Advance Defence Systems, according to local press. READ MORE: Assa Samake-Roman: France is a case study in how we approach stopping far right The Spanish government approved the project on October 3, 2023, four days before the attack by Hamas on southern Israel sparked the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The government said it had stopped exporting arms to Israel as of October 2, 2023, but there were reports some shipments slipped through. In May last year, Spain formally recognized a Palestinian state in a coordinated effort with Norway and Ireland. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in relation to the onslaught in Gaza. The Israeli government has denied accusations of genocide.
The National
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
The illusion of a shift to the ‘far right' is not the fault of the SNP
As a young man, I was a long-haired, combat-jacket-wearing, Che Guevara-following leftie, and proud to be so given the clear social injustice I perceived those 60 years ago, none of which has really changed. READ MORE: Assa Samake-Roman: The rise of the far-right in Europe reveals a citizenship crisis Voting Labour for much of the intervening years, I was inured in the illusion of left-wing v right-wing politics. Now, claiming Britain is moving to the 'far right', and that somehow the SNP are responsible for actions it's said they should have taken, but failed to, denies reality. Life experience brings me to understand the shades of our political spectrum, red through blue, are irrelevant. What actually matters is who is controlling who. And it's not the shades of the political parties' promoted illusion which are controlled by the funds-donating vested interests who are organising society in their interests, because they have the money and its power to do so. As we have seen with Labour, party election manifestos are merely illusory marketing tools to persuade voters to elect their brand of control. The illusion of a shift to the 'far right' is clearly not the 'fault' of the SNP, it is a global phenomenon. As we saw in the 1930s it is the prelude to over-arching fascist control, in the interest of those who profit from us. This didn't begin with the SNP, it began with the totalitarianism of the Soviet state (which Putin and his cabal are trying to recreate), the ascent of German Nazism, the spread to Chinese 'communism', North Korea etc; and its tentacles have spread to the US with Trump's latest version of the same 'elected' dictatorial ideology, a revival based on propagandised populism achieved through a media sowing discontent by feeding off the selfishness mantra it promotes to individuals in a deliberately fractured society. READ MORE: Keir Starmer denies Labour have ruled out scrapping two-child cap If Farage's Reform UK, spawned from the obscenity of his own outwardly xenophobic and racist Ukip (itself born from the National Front), are achieving prominence at the polls it is vested-interest control of the media that's promoted it. Nearly 30 appearances on BBC's Question Time alone – when the SNP, once the third-biggest party in Westminster, had a handful of appearances – is no accident; just one of many clear examples of bias from a BBC that's the propaganda machine of a Westminster establishment running Britain in the interests of those millionaires and billionaires they allow to suck the lifeblood out of our economy while refraining from clawing back the excess profits created from naked profiteering and the sweat of short-changed labour that produces them. We're taxed to fund in-work benefits to subsidise the low pay endured by those prostituting themselves to the money-makers' bottom line. READ MORE: Scottish Labour pick London councillor to contest Highlands seat AGAIN To the bankers who, by moving us to a cashless society, dip their hands into our pockets for commission every time we buy something with their cards; private profit-takers permitted by government to tax us all. It's a global problem, not specifically the SNP's fault. However, what the SNP can be blamed for is their acceptance of devolution and reticence in working with others to deliver the independence to allow us to design a better, fairer model. So, do they lack the courage to put country before party and drive independence to seize a better future for us, or are they just the Scottish branch of the political establishment demeaning us as a cash-cow for the vested interests that control us as mindless profit centres? Jim Taylor Scotland
