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The Herald Scotland
09-08-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
There will be no Blackford bounce when Kate leaves politics
Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen. Letters: SNP MSPs should copy the Tories and rebel against their leaders Letters: Labour and the Tories have reduced politics to a sorry state Letters: Edinburgh Council is wrong to re-use misleading wording on Melville plaque Poor things THE article on whether Ian Blackford should be a candidate for the SNP at the next Scottish Parliamentary elections ('Politics is a 'brutal' place to be, says Forbes', The Herald, August 8), makes for some serious thinking. Not just by the SNP, but also by the Scottish electorate in general. There is the common belief, amongst said electorate, that the large majority of the existing and potential candidates are of poor quality. The political parties should acknowledge that they are elected for the good of every citizen, and not simply for the aggrandisement of the particular party or individual. Such a hope may appear to be utopian, but with a little more care and attention, it is achievable. In the specific case of the suitability of Ian Blackford, and whether or not he would fit the bill, being politically close to Stephen Flynn, the SNP's leader in the House of Commons, should not provide the casting vote when it comes to his selection. Mike Dooley, Ayr. Local solution UNLIKE Irene Munro (Letters, August 7), I feel no dismay at Kate Forbes stepping back from the Scottish Parliament. Politics might benefit from her earning a living as a local councillor, where she could better grasp the realities of local governance and the way Holyrood has drained the life from public services and local democracy. Should she choose to return to national politics after this experience, she may be better equipped to assess the cost-benefit of top-down policies like the misguided Community Wealth Building Bill - another layer of bureaucracy and expensive officer time in public sector bodies, delivering little in local benefit. If Kevin McKenna is correct ('The last reason to vote SNP has just walked out the door', The Herald, August 5), then perhaps we can look forward to positive change. Unlike Irene Munro, my dismay lies in the lack of attention to detail across all levels of government, including elements of the work of Kate Forbes in her role as Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic. When asked to consider a regulatory change for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), she said on 24 July 2025 that: 'the management and governance of BIDs in Scotland is not a matter in which the Scottish Government can intervene.' Yet the Scottish Government funds the Scotland's Towns Partnership (STP) to the tune of around £700k a year, and it has a key role in developing BIDs. By way of justification, she described Scotland's BID legislation as 'the most robust' in the UK. If by robust she means that a barber with a single chair, paying rent, electricity, water and insurance, and then £312 a year to a BID company without benefit, redress or relief is robust, then indeed the BID legislation is almost bullet proof. Where it stands on the scale of morality and supporting community wealth building is indeed questionable. The Scottish Government could introduce through statutory instruments a requirement that BID companies keep within levy charge guidelines, or be vetoed, and then task STP to set guidelines that recommend the industry standard of 1% to 2% like the rest of the UK. Kate, like her predecessor Joe FitzPatrick, seems to have a blind spot on this issue, and like many others appears to have been taken in by the greater unregulated BID industry. As a former councillor, I am confident that most businesses would engage with a fair BID, like those in Linlithgow, Stirling, or Falkirk, or indeed in the rest of the UK. But in Scotland fairness for the least powerful is what's missing, and adds further to the cynicism of politics whoever walks out the door. Teresa McNally, Alloa. Fighting talk WITH no end to the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine in sight ('US envoy Witkoff in Moscow for direct talks with Putin over Ukraine', The Herald, August 7), despite the efforts of Western governments to intervene, it is now time for the rhetoric and platitudes to end. Russian President, Vladamir Putin, is sanctioning the daily barbarous bombing of civilian areas of a neighbouring country, resulting in the murder of innocents. This cannot be allowed to continue. Bullies like Putin will only respond to strength, and while accession of Ukraine into NATO is off the table at present, setting an early date for its admittance is far more likely to bring about peace than the deadline set by USA president, Donald Trump, to introduce further sanctions and tariffs on Russia and its Allies. Russia claims their invasion was provoked by the imaginary threat posed by the expansion of NATO on its borders, but under no circumstances would they actually countenance extending their war if faced with the combined might of this Western Alliance. Christopher H Jones, Giffnock. Common sense uncommon HOW did it come to this, that you can lose your job over pronouns, but civil servants at the HMRC can arrange a 'guilty of being British seminar' and keep theirs? Army veteran David Toshack lost his job as a trainee custody officer in Kirkcaldy because he refuses to use the pronoun 'she' for a male to female trans person. Really there should be an attempt at a work around or compromise in situations like this. Using the words 'they', 'them' and 'their' might well be the answer. Similarly, in the Sandie Peggie case it would have been far better to try to find some sort of practical solution, such as giving Dr Beth Upton her own changing room. While Dr Upton has got to be able to change somewhere, she really should have made an effort to see Nurse Peggie's point of view. Of course, compromise and common sense are out of the question as long as transgenderism is a protected characteristic under discrimination law. While mountains are made out of molehills over trans issues, civil servants are free to demonstrate their hatred of Britain. These people are employed to advance the interests of the British state and people. They cannot do this if they hate our country, its history and culture. In a sane world, it wouldn't simply be a matter of cancelling the seminar, but of dismissing those responsible and barring them from all future employment in the public sector. The reason we have got into this mess is that our politicians and civil servants have long since forgotten that their duty is to serve us, not to spend their time promoting revolutionary social change. Otto Inglis, Fife. Fast and loose with truth AM I the only person who gets irritated when a Scottish Government spokesperson claims that they "are working at pace" to deliver some policy or other? This statement was used by the spokesperson who explained why only 2% of buildings with Grenfell Tower type cladding had been addressed after 8 years. Clearly the opposite of "at pace". After the Glen Rosa ferry exited dry dock for repairs and maintenance due to the age of the vessel, the spokesperson grandly told us they were working "at pace" to deliver an 8 year late vessel. Repeated Government spokespeople tell us they are working "at pace" to cut medical waiting times. Oh no, you are most certainly not. I'm sure it's been used to describe progress on the A9 road, too. Can these spin doctors please stop insulting us, the taxpayers, with this outrageous lie 'at pace". Oh, and throw "no stone unturned" into the bin with it. Ian McNair, Cellardyke. Hot and bothered AS the authoritarian ideology of net zero steers us into the stygian darkness of economic failure ('Push to net zero too slow, councils admit', The Herald, August 7) one wonders why the global warming enthusiasts never mention Earth's orbit around the Sun. Probably because nothing can be done about that, and a lot of people would lose a good living from trying to get rid of CO2, which makes the crops and plants grow. Not a good idea really. Plus, it also makes Britain the place to be for mad inventors and subsidy junkies. But back to reality. There is Earth's wobble, for example, which once made a lot of Africa green. Then there is the elongation effect, caused by gravity from other celestial bodies, which produces hotter summers as we get closer to the sun, and colder winters as we get further from the sun. Currently we are in a near-circular orbit, which yields conventional winters and summers. CO2 doesn't have anything to do with it, but gives the global warming industry its expensive lifestyle, and the politicians something to lecture us about, to take our minds off economic failure. Malcolm Parkin, Kinross-shire. Demand and supply I'M surprised that you published Neil MacKay's opinion piece ('Us vs them: why the rich like Musk and Bezos are destroying our world', The Herald, August 7), though in another way I'm glad that you have done so. I hope that you get a great deal of response to it. Neil's conclusion is hopeful… if our political classes can act and do so without fearing the reaction from the rich and powerful. Do our politicians, for example, have enough power to destroy society and rebuild it how they decide it should be? Meanwhile, I would suggest a change to Neil's concluding sentence; where he says: 'There is hope. You just have to want it." The last sentence should perhaps read: 'You just have to demand it.' Ian Gray, Croftamie. Bog standard I REFER to the correspondence concerning the desirability, or otherwise, of residing in Bearsden and / or Milngavie (Letters, August 7). Ian W Thomson asserts that one positive of living in Milngavie is being able to make your way to the start of the West Highland Way. This is true, but a word of warning. Before you do so, make sure that you have dealt with your toilet needs. Unbelievably, there are no public conveniences available. Yet another own goal from East Dunbartonshire Council. James Martin, Bearsden. Mussels should never be missed (Image: Image: Contributed) Mussel-ing in I WAS very interested to read about the variety of life in one of Scotland's remotest lochs ('Divers reveal a wealth of marine life thriving in remote loch', The Herald, August 8), but astounded to see no mention of mussels, which swamped the area some 40 years ago, when I picked up a bag to take home to Beauly, where my father cooked them and served them to his bar customers, free of charge. George F Campbell, Glasgow.
The Herald Scotland
28-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Government must make a binding commitment to 'love local'
As a case in point, take the new study by the Centre of Local Economic Strategies (CLES), commissioned by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and published last week. This finds, sadly if not entirely unexpectedly, that the publicly available data can't tell us how much local authorities are actually spending with local or small firms. Read more: The problem isn't that councils don't have the raw data. They'll know who they've paid and for what. Rather, the issue is all the gaps and inconsistencies in the way they record their spending. Some are, for example, shakier on how big a supplier is or whether or not they're 'local'. Reporting is also insufficiently transparent and accessible. Matters aren't helped by non-standardised reporting requirements across Scotland, as well as some local authorities not disclosing contract spend under a certain amount (even after being subject to a Freedom of Information request). All of this matters because placing more contracts with local, smaller businesses is good for local jobs, revenues and overall economic activity. Money spent local, stays local. Read more: Indeed, previous research by CLES highlights the 'significant amplifier effect' that small businesses have in local economies, generating greater community benefits than the equivalent spend with large corporations. So, it's a good thing and we want more. But, if you don't know how much you're spending in the first place, how can you plan to increase it? This isn't a new issue, but the need to address it is has taken on an added urgency because the coming months present us with a once-in-a-decade opportunity to reform public procurement. A key plank of the Community Wealth Building Bill, many years in the making and now introduced to Holyrood, is the progressive procurement of goods and services – i.e. prioritising spend with local firms, so that as much of the benefit as possible is retained in the local economy. Read more: The experts at CLES are clear that Community Wealth Building can deliver benefits for small businesses. But crucially, they warn that this won't happen without accurate and consistent reporting of local spending; without knowing where we're starting from; without making sure we're comparing like with like. So how do we amend the bill to get the information we need to address the slow, stalled progress on increasing local community spend? We've argued for years that the answer is to set public bodies binding targets for how much they spend with small businesses each year, backed up by statutory reporting requirements. There's evidence this approach works. Local authorities like Clackmannanshire, which took part in Community Wealth Building pilot schemes, ended up exceeding the target they set themselves. But, because not everyone will be as forward-thinking as Clackmannanshire, it's now time to make targets – and consistent, transparent annual reporting against them – a legal requirement. And that needs primary legislation. Read more: Of course, these targets must be meaningful. There's no point in pulling a number out of thin air – or imposing blanket requirements across the board (which wouldn't exactly mirror the core principles of community wealth building). Rather, targets need to be agreed for each area, reflecting the local economy. Finally, targets won't be hit unless local businesses have the ability to bid for them. And, sadly, the report highlights a disconnect between the aspirations within local authorities to increase procurement spend with small firms and the experience of local firms on the ground. The latter continue to find procurement practices complex, with 'procurement language and processes… felt to be unduly burdensome on small businesses'. Any law change must therefore go hand-in-hand with smart procurement strategies and practical support to get more local firms bid-ready. There's a huge amount of extra economic and social value out there to be unlocked from taxpayers' money that's being spent anyway. The key is sitting in front of us. Colin Borland is director of devolved nations for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
The Herald Scotland
20-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Support for local businesses in Scotland 'stronger than ever'
As restrictions began to ease, its call to action and support for enterprises and community organisations was credited with helping to rebuild confidence among consumers, protecting the future of local businesses and saving jobs. And the organisation which spearheads the drive says its legacy is a wave of "continued positive action", with people encouraged to act to create stronger, more successful and sustainable communities, as well as an initiative which is locking millions of pounds into local economies. Having evolved from an emergency response campaign, Scotland Loves Local is now a broader mission to secure long-term economic prosperity for places - reminding people that the simple act of choosing local provides the foundation for encouraging innovation and investment in the future. READ MORE: Scotland's Towns Partnership (STP), the organisation which champions the role that towns have at the heart of national life and the economy, continues to lead the movement with support from the Scottish Government. Professor Leigh Sparks, a retail academic who is also STP's chair, said: 'Whilst we all had high hopes that Scotland Loves Local would resonate and have an impact, the reality was far more powerful than we had anticipated. It hit the spot with many people, consumers, communities and businesses. 'Five years ago, we did not anticipate that Scotland Loves Local would be such a success and broaden beyond its original conception. 'Its purpose though remains the same - building a movement to support local businesses and local communities by tying together local spending.' And it is one which supporters say could hold even greater importance with a Community Wealth Building Bill - including proposals which would place statutory requirements on local authorities to support local businesses - working its way through the Scottish Parliament. Professor Leigh Sparks, Chair of Scotland's Towns Partnership (Image: Scotland's Towns Partnership) 'Scotland Loves Local is the essence of community wealth building,' added Prof Sparks, who was also author of the New Future for Scotland's Towns report for the Scottish Government in 2021, which led to the importance of towns and town centres being strengthened in national planning policies. The success of the initiative in triggering community action in encouraging people to choose local led to the rollout of the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card, in partnership with Perth-based fintech Miconex. Since its launch in 2021, it has driven more than £16 million in spending directly into local businesses across Scotland. With work underway to develop that further - technologically, as well as targeting new Scottish diaspora worldwide to support Scotland's places and expanding its use across the transport network and among visitor attractions - STP is confident that its worth will continue to grow. 'The more we can think about how we use the card in more places - more different types of places - across Scotland, the more that reinforces the sense of place, but also how people tie into place,' Prof Sparks explained. READ MORE: 'That's the important thing about the gift card and Scotland Loves Local.' The 'love local' banner is one which many organisations have embraced to encourage people to enhance their towns as places to live, work, visit and play. Members of Milngavie Business Improvement District (BID) were among those who were the faces of Scotland Loves Local's launch, telling their stories about the importance of choosing local. Wendy Ross, owner of Ruby Red and Driftwood - a neighbouring gift shop and boutique in the town centre - was one of them. Such was the support five years ago - and since - that she believes the town is in a stronger place than it was pre-pandemic. • Milngavie business owner Wendy Ross outside Ruby Red gift store (Image: Scotland's Towns Partnership) 'With the Scotland Loves Local campaign, and our successful BID in Milngavie, encouraging people it's made people an awful lot closer,' said Ms Ross, who has been in business for 19 years. 'It feels more of a community now. "With the hard work that we've all done, Milngavie is a much better place to come and visit than it was five years ago. The place is looking the best it ever has.' Much of the work that is taking place to transform towns - including creating new homes, rejuvenating formerly derelict blights as part of community-led action and repurposing redundant retail units for leisure, hospitality and offices while encouraging more people into town centres - will be celebrated as part of Scotland Loves Local Week next month. Prof Sparks, who is Professor of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling's Institute for Retail Studies, said: 'If you think about Scotland's towns, we spent 50 years destroying them in many ways by the way we disaggregated and decentralised a lot of the way we live, shop and work. We're now trying to rebuild that. 'If we look at individuals, community groups, local authorities and Business Improvement Districts, we have a network of people doing great things around our town centres to drive them forward. 'We should be encouraged with what's happening and we should be encouraging people more in the way that they do it. 'Town centres are great places. We've got massive innovation in lots of our town centres. We just need now to build on that, get more of it and get everyone pulling in the same direction.' For more information about Scotland Loves Local and the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card visit
