Latest news with #Indyref2
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
Readers' Letters: Here's how John Swinney can dig himself out of a hole
A reader has thoughts on how John Swinney can help himself, and Scotland Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... John Swinney is digging a lot of holes for himself these days, culminating in the protests at his Edinburgh Fringe interview by pro-Palestine protesters demanding a more forceful condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza. He is paying the price for copying his predecessors playing at being world leaders instead of doing the job they were elected for. He may have found, however, a tightrope with which to pull himself out of the Indyref2 hole, if he succeeds in arguing down the planned motion to use a majority of list votes cast for pro-independence parties as a mandate for skipping Indyref2 and starting negotiations to leave the Union. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad That should be easy because for the past several years the vote share of anti-UK parties in council and Westminster by-elections has hovered around 30 per cent, peaking at 35 per cent (30 per cent for the SNP) in last year's general election. First Minister John Swinney appearing with comedian Susan Morrison at the Edinburgh Fringe - the event was disrupted five times by six different groups of protesters (Picture: Craig Paton/PA Wire) Winning an outright majority of seats is going to be a big ask, but forming a government might be possible because it is very possible that the pro-UK party vote will be split in favour of the SNP. In that scenario I suspect Mr Swinney will then look at the total percentage of votes cast for Scexit parties, decide to stay put and leave it to the new intake to sort out. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire Festival fatality? Has the left wing damaged the Edinburgh Festival irreparably? Last year it was the Baillie Gifford crisis and now the Scottish Government is having to bail out the book festival. This year it is the Palestinians and the hard left versus anyone associated with Israel that is the battleground, with Israel effectively being 'sent off' even before kick-off. The Scotsman front page (2 August) featured the smiling face of Miriam Margolyes, with the strapline regarding humour, political content and shocking language. Ms Margoyles has herself used shocking language against Israel to the extent of calls for her OBE to be removed. There appears to be no one left to take Israel's side. How can an arts festival be so biased. There are always two sides, or more, to the same story. This flies in the face of just what art is all about. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Can the Edinburgh Festival survive constant controversy especially given the steep costs for performers and the public alike and even the Fringe's Best Joke competition being cancelled? Exit stage left? Gerald Edwards, Glasgow Sort cladding The SNP's progress in removing possible fatal cladding from residential properties would embarrass a snail (your report, 2 August). Only 0.2 per cent of the possibly 1,500 buildings concerned have had the work completed. Unless they begin to take this seriously, it could perhaps outdo the ferries fiasco. Or worse. Forget the meetings with the US President, Mr Swinney. Or your regular missives on Gaza. This is something over which you have total responsibility. The SNP walk straight into avoidable quagmires time after time after time. We must hope and pray there is no tragic ending to this instance. Alexander McKay, Edinburgh Going bananas A few days ago a correspondent referred to Scotland as something akin to 'becoming a banana republic'. This stuck with me when I read about the plight of children in England living in temporary accommodation with their families. There are 164,040 children in this sorry position, the highest number on record (in Scotland the figure is a little over 10,000). Child poverty is a scourge in the UK (particularly in England and Wales) at the moment and the Labour government could mitigate things if they introduced an equivalent to the Scottish Child Payment or were not joined at the hip to the Tories' two-child benefit cap. They could also initiate a wealth tax to be applied to billionaires/millionaires but Rachel Reeves has made her opposition to this crystal clear. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I have no wish to indulge in point scoring on what is clearly a serious issue right across the UK, but surely the desperate situation south of the Border in terms of child poverty and children without permanent homes makes England much closer to a banana republic than Scotland! Alan Woodcock, Dundee Time to deliver Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's Special Envoy, will visit Russia this week on the back of the President ordering two nuclear submarines to be 'repositioned' closer to Russia. This unprecedented situation came after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused the President's trade ultimatums of taking 'a step towards war', potentially nuclear war. This war of words is not new but the action is. The timing of Trump's decision may not be accidental given Witkoff's pending meeting with Putin. Russia seems to have been taken by surprise, with no Kremlin response so far. Medvedev is known to be a close comrade of Putin, having yielded power to him; it is possible Putin may have endorsed or even authored his comments. Since Witkoff's last trip to Moscow in April the war with Ukraine has escalated. Trump has ramped up the rhetoric and his latest action may help persuade Putin he will follow through on threats of punitive sanctions on Russia and its trading partners. Witkoff, however, is the weak link. The billionaire has very little political experience and his negotiating strategy is based on real estate dealing. After multiple trips to Israel and Russia, talks have yielded little. Like President Biden's principal negotiator, Antony Blinken, Witkoff is Jewish, which will rankle with Gaza's leaders, especially with his habit of blaming only Hamas for the conflict and failure to find peace. He has been described as 'out of his depth' when negotiating with Putin, whom he considers honest, smart and a great guy. With Trump upping the pressure, Witkoff's rapprochement with Putin will be put to the test. More is at stake, and it's time he delivers. Neil Anderson, Edinburgh Write to The Scotsman Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
The Herald Scotland
02-08-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Let's hope Nicola's book reminds us of her many achievements
Ruth Marr, Stirling. • Frankly I can see a screenplay of Nicola Sturgeon's Frankly start to write itself before my eyes. "We want the truth! You can't handle the truth! You have the luxury of not knowing what I know!" (A Few Good Men). "Facts may be coloured by the personalities of the people who present them" ("12 Angry Men"). And on the subject of the jury being out, I wonder how many people will be poring over Frankly to analyse if Ms Sturgeon has remembered to forget in the book that same evidence that she forgot to remember on oath. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. Alasdair Sampson, Stewarton. Heading for Indyref8 Stan Grodynski (Letters, August 1) once again issues the weary demand of the separatists to insist on "Indyref2" due to recent selected polling – and queries the unionists' reluctance to accept this. The SNP consistently fights every election with the break-up of the UK overriding all other manifesto policies, referring to any potential [[SNP]] majority as "de facto referenda" and "mandates for independence". Yet, since 2014, there have been six general and Scottish elections – and what Mr Grodynski appears conveniently to ignore is the fact that not a single one of these has yielded a majority of votes for independence parties. Each and every one, in a "democratic manner" as he requests, confirmed that those who still think that Scotland should remain in the UK do in fact "represent the majority view of the people of Scotland". At the most recent election SNP support stood at 30% – just one year ago – having peaked at 49% in 2021 with the added, albeit minor, inclusion of its Green colleagues. In fact, no election has ever produced a majority of votes for Scottish nationalist parties. Given these election outcomes of 2015-2024, what Mr Grodynski is in fact seeking is not "Indyref2" but "Indyref8". The first seven are evidence enough – there are other, higher priorities on which our politicians should focus. Robin McNaught, Bridge of Weir. • Scottish nationalists continue to agitate, in the press and on social media, for another referendum on Scottish secession. They cannot, however, tell us which European countries have had repeat referendums on the same major constitutional question every few years. The losers in 2014 were indulged quite enough with the Smith Commission and the Scotland Act of 2016, which significantly extended Holyrood's powers – and not for the better. Now they want to impose their wishes in full on the winners. I have a question for them: having lost in 2014, you demand a new referendum. If there was one, and you won for the first time, would you accept the need to put the question again? Would you accept that winning once was not enough, and that a second referendum should be held, as you expect us to do now? I think we know the answer to that question. Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh. Read more letters We want parity with NI Alan Fitzpatrick (Letters, August 1) asks me to give the parameters required for a Scottish referendum, when all I had asked for was constitutional parity with Northern Ireland, where under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 a legal duty is imposed on the Secretary of State to hold a border poll 'if it appears likely that a majority of people... would vote for Irish unification'. Not hard is it? There is also the question of Scotland's status: Scotland was 'extinguished' in 1707 according to the constitutional advisors to the UK Government in 2014. So are we then a colony, in which case a referendum becomes moot, and a majority desire for de-colonising is simply recognised by Westminster? I was on a Royal Navy warship at Mauritius at the time of their independence. They had simply passed an Independence Bill in the Mauritian parliament in 1967 and were independent in 1968. Many others simply morphed into independence. Easy peasy. There is also the question of the media. How can a fair referendum be held in a country with a media which is totally partisan to one side? GR Weir, Ochiltree. Maximising the indy vote At last, at least some in the [[SNP]] realise that we now have a choice of independence-supporting parties to vote for ("[[SNP]] rebels launching challenge to Swinney's strategy on new Indyref", The Herald, August 1), but we do need to keep our options open. The task should be to maximise the votes, both for constituency and list seats, going to pro-independence candidates. This, of course, means that all pro-independence parties must have good policies, not just for the here and now, but for an independent Scotland. If this is done, then once the votes are counted, with MSPs in place, comes the discussion as to whether the people have spoken and independence is ours, or whether we need to attack Westminster's delaying tactics to gain control of Scotland. Patricia Fort, Glasgow. Trump is so unpredictable I find Ian Lakin's logic when arguing against Brexit and independence (Letters, July 30) sadly mistaken. Mind you it is based on Donald Trump's kind of logic (and his mercurial temperament). It is true that we receive (or suffer) smaller tariffs than the EU – and many other countries – so at present we are in a better trading position than them this week, possibly because Mr Trump only speaks an English similar to ours and his mother was Scottish. What will he do next week? It was sad to see Keir Starmer and John Swinney running to beg/negotiate with him last weekend. However the truth is that we are still in a worse trading position than we were before [[Donald Trump]] was reappointed. Last week the bold Donald claimed to have stopped some wars and hoped to settle more. So far he has not stopped any conflicts and has stated his wish to take over Canada and Greenland, not to mention Gaza for leisure development. Perhaps Ian Lakin would be happy to have him take over the UK (or at least Scotland)? The real truth is that we do not know what he will do next and should fear our future. Europe, for all its problems, is still closer and more constant than the USA of today. JB Drummond, Kilmarnock. • Ian Lakin argues that the EU trade deal with the US with its 15% tariffs means that the UK is much better off with its putative 10% deal. He perhaps does not know that the UK doesn't have a trade surplus with the US, according to US figures which exclude money moving through the Isle of Man etc. The US calculates that the EU does. The EU is a much more important market for Scotland and the whole UK than the US. Non-tariff barriers are costing many Scottish businesses. The trade barriers between the UK and Northern Ireland caused by Brexit are also growing higher over time. Jackie Kemp, Edinburgh. A kinder benefits system The findings of a report commissioned by Scottish ministers into the performance of the Adult Disability Payment have been published. They embrace the ethos of Social Security Scotland: "Fairness, Dignity and Respect". The findings say that ADP is "kinder in tone and more dignified in approach" and was "significantly more compassionate" than the DWP system it replaced. Claiming benefits is not a lifestyle choice, it is a necessity for millions and should be made as accessible as possible, as noted in this report. While the Westminster Government is intent on reducing welfare costs which in many cases results in a false economy, with many claimants experiencing a decline in conditions and needing additional healthcare, the Scottish Government has committed to continuing its investment in the people of Scotland and Scotland's social security system. We must always invest in the safety net that defines the kind of society we are. Catriona C Clark, Falkirk. Keep Open away from Turnberry I agree with everything Andy Maciver has written today about junior doctors ("Doctors are wrong to strike but they are right that they deserve better pay", The Herald, August 1), but am astonished that his piece last week about Turnberry and The Open ("Swinney must help bring the Open to Turnberry", The Herald, July 25) attracted no comment. Having watched the BBC interview with Eric Trump, the overwhelming arrogance of this man, which is not surprising given his lineage, is a very good reason why the R&A should continue to give Turnberry a very wide berth. The revamped Ailsa course may well now be the best course in Britain, and many others have said it is, but that is no reason to rush into giving it back the game's premier tournament. Eric Trump did not say 'The Open deserves Turnberry'. He did not say 'Professional golfers deserve the chance to play Turnberry'. He said: 'My father deserves The Open.' The only thing Donald Trump deserves is a prison sentence. He finished with an expletive sentence which simply unlined his unfitness to have anything to do with this tournament. The Open is bigger than Donald Trump and does not need his golf course. John N E Rankin, Bridge of Allan. Donald Trump at his Turnberry golf course (Image: Getty) Glasgow's kindness Myself and five friends were in Glasgow to celebrate our 70th birthday year. We went to the King's to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, then to Sarti's for dinner. One of the 'girls' put '70' table centres on the table. The family at the next table wished us happy birthday. After they left the restaurant the waiter came across with a bottle of Prosecco which they had paid for. As if that kind gesture wasn't enough, the couple sitting behind us chatted and wished us well. As they left the restaurant they turned and put £40 on the table and said to take it off the bill. They disappeared before we could react. We were all shocked with the generosity of complete strangers but it did give us all great faith in Glasgow's kindness. Liz Morley, Strathaven. Comfort zone Brian Watt's story about a Newtongrange social club's bus party to Wembley to support the national team in the 1970s (Letters, July 31) reminded me of the story of the young mine worker from the Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange, Midlothian, who had been admitted to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with multiple fractures after being caught in a roof fall. On his ward round the next morning the orthopaedic surgeon asked the miner: 'You comfy?' The Newtongrange mine worker replied: 'Nitten'. Stuart Swanston, Edinburgh.
The National
28-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Only SNP majority can deliver Indyref 2, Swinney says
Swinney will bring a motion to the SNP's upcoming party conference that abandons the previous position held by Nicola Sturgeon that a joint pro-independence majority of SNP and Green MSPs was sufficient to mandate a vote. Instead, Swinney says a clear-cut SNP majority is the only proven path to achieving a legally recognised referendum, citing the precedent set in 2011 when Alex Salmond led the SNP to a majority, resulting in the 2014 vote agreed with Westminster. READ MORE: John Swinney to press Trump on whisky tariffs and Gaza in Aberdeen talks Writing in the Daily Record, Swinney said: 'For us to achieve that independence, the first step is to secure a legal referendum recognised by all. 'In 2011 we secured that reliable and dependable route when the SNP achieved a majority of seats at Holyrood. 'That is the only mechanism that has been proven to deliver such a vote – so that is what we need to deliver again.' He continued: 'That is why I have submitted a motion to the SNP conference proposing that we work to deliver a majority of SNP MSPs in the Scottish Parliament to secure that referendum on independence. 'The SNP has high ambitions for Scotland, and we must be bold to deliver on those ambitions. We must be ready to follow the path which we know can lead us to an independent state.' The shift in strategy comes amid growing calls within the independence movement for clarity following the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that Holyrood does not have the legal authority to hold a referendum without UK Government consent. A senior SNP source told the Record that the Scottish Government still believes an [[SNP]]-Green majority 'should' be enough to justify Indyref2, but added: 'The reality of the past four years shows this is not going to happen. This is a pragmatic step forward that Westminster will find harder to ignore.' Swinney's renewed focus on a single-party majority is also seen as a direct appeal to undecided voters and independence supporters seeking a clear, deliverable mandate. READ MORE: Richard Murphy: Independence will be won by narratives, not technicalities While some in the wider movement believe a Holyrood or Westminster majority should be enough to begin negotiations on independence without a referendum, Swinney is firmly of the view that a democratic vote remains essential. His latest intervention reaffirms both his personal and political commitment to delivering independence through a credible and internationally recognised process. With the 2026 Holyrood election on the horizon, Swinney's message is clear that only an SNP majority will open the door to Scotland's future as an independent nation.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EUAN McCOLM: Streeting's taken the gloves off over analogue John's neglect of Scots NHS - and the SNP don't like it up 'em, not one bit
For years, the SNP 's failures in government were shielded by the prospect of a second independence referendum. Any and all inadequacies were ignored or excused by the party's supporters so long as Indyref 2 appeared to be within reach. This willingness to put The Project before the SNP's performance allowed the party to record a string of election victories despite its catalogue of catastrophe. Falling standards in schools, terrifyingly high drug death numbers, the ongoing ferries scandal… all of these, and more, failed to shake the SNP's popularity during years when former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was promising independence supporters a second referendum was just one last heave away. These days, nobody thinks a sequel to 2014's vote is anywhere close to being imminent. The legal position - that the power to stage a constitutional referendum lies with the UK Government - is settled. And, anyway, the last thing First Minister John Swinney wants, right now, is another grinding referendum campaign. The SNP is tired and fractured. Mr Swinney's focus is on trying to shore up support before next May's Holyrood election. For a long time, it was understood within SNP circles that to criticise a political decision was to undermine the independence movement. Anyone daring to express disquiet over a policy was urged to 'Wheesht for Indy'. The main thing was to win independence then begin building a beautiful new nation. And if there were downsides, winning the prize was worth any amount of pain. There is nobody more cynical than the idealist, is there? Now, the SNP can no longer use the prospect of another referendum to deflect criticism. When John Swinney's opponents point to the things his government has got so badly wrong, he cannot - as Nicola Sturgeon so often did - dangle the shiny bauble of Indyref 2 in front of supporters. It is customary for SNP health secretaries, when confronted with the failings of the NHS in Scotland, to point to greater problems in England. What poverty of ambition in the wail: 'At least we're not as bad as them.' In fact, it is that bad. There are areas where NHS Scotland outperforms - or, more accurately, doesn't underperform as badly as - the service in England but there are others where it lags behind. Anyway, comparisons with the NHS in England should be regarded as an irrelevance. Health is a fully devolved matter, the Scottish Government has the power to raise taxes and invest further in the service, should it choose to do so. The SNP - and the SNP, alone - is responsible for the parlous state of NHS Scotland. This is a truth the UK's Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting decided, this week, to highlight. During an interview about an improved App for NHS patients in England and Wales, Mr Streeting pointed out that a promised NHS Scotland App is still years from launch. John Swinney was 'an analogue politician in a digital age', a smart line that pithily summed up the situation while also serving as a neat critique of the SNP's stewardship of the NHS since the party came to power at Holyrood in 2007. Twenty years ago, Scotland's health service was undergoing a major process of reform under the guidance of internationally renowned oncologist and academic Professor David Kerr, who created a blueprint for a more efficient and effective NHS. Professor Kerr began his work under a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition at Holyrood but the SNP was quite happy with his ideas, which included the creation of centres of excellence for certain life saving procedures and the closure of failing facilities. While Professor's Kerr's reforms were being put in place, the SNP spent a great deal of time and effort positioning itself as the natural guardian of the NHS. In 2004, private polling commissioned by the SNP found that when the party attacked Labour over the NHS, Labour supporters took it personally. So emotionally connected were many voters to the NHS that to suggest the party they backed had neglected the health service was to accuse them of personally failing it. The SNP adopted a new approach. Then health spokesperson Nicola Sturgeon spoke about what her party would do with the NHS rather than about Labour's failures. Ms Sturgeon gave a series of impressive speeches in the years between 2004-07 in which she made a persuasive case for the SNP as natural heirs to the NHS. In opposition the SNP carefully nurtured and grew the idea that only it could be trusted to look after the NHS. In power, the party has neglected it. Beyond the extension of the provision of free prescriptions to include the wealthy and the gift of a 'baby box' to new parents, the nationalists have done next to nothing to address the health needs of an ever-growing elderly population and the demands of an NHS already failing to keep up with innovation. Inaction is not passive. There are real consequences to the SNP's failure to address the needs of the health service. Waiting time guarantees are so often broken as to be meaningless and stories of desperately ill patients forced to wait on trolleys in corridors while medics struggle to deal with intolerable workloads are routine. So Wes Streeting was quite right, this week, to take the gloves off and start throwing punches. More commonly, minister-on-minister attacks emanate from Edinburgh. The SNP is never more alive than when it is pointing out the stupidity and moral vacuity of the Unionist foe. And it is never more brittle than when a nerve is struck. They don't like it up 'em. Not one bit. The new NHS App stands to make life considerably easier for patients in England and Wales and it is certainly true that Scotland should not be lagging behind. But the SNP's failure when it comes to NHS runs far deeper and wider. While ministers preened and blustered about a second independence referendum, they neglected the health service. In election campaign after election campaign, they promised waiting and treatment targets that could, and would, never be met. And when these failures caught up with ministers, they created a new law, guaranteeing targets would be met (Laughably, no sanction was written into this law so it may be broken with impunity. Which, given the current state of the NHS, is just as well). Over the past 18 years, the SNP has brought Scotland's NHS to its knees. Wes Streeting's criticisms were entirely justified. But pointing out problems is not enough. If Scottish Labour is to win back voters' trust over the NHS, it will have to start - just as the SNP did two decades ago - telling a positive story of what it would do differently.
The National
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Reform set to overtake Scottish Labour in Holyrood, polling finds
Nigel Farage's party are set to take 19% on the constituency ballot and 20% on the regional list, research by Survation has found, putting them in second place behind the SNP. Seat projections show there would be an independence majority with 66 Yes MSPs elected if these figures were borne out. Scottish Labour are neck and neck with Reform in the constituency ballot but slip behind on the regional list where they are expected to pick up 18%. The polling, commissioned by True North Advisors, showed that the SNP could expect to pick up 33% of the constituency vote. The results for the Tories are bruising, with Russell Findlay's troops expected to pick up just 11% on the constituency ballot. And the research found that both sides of the constitutional divide remain roughly equal in terms of support, with Yes on 49% and No on 51%. Projections from Prof Sir John Curtice on these figures would return the SNP on 58 seats, Labour on 18 and the Conservatives on 13. Reform would move into second place as the main opposition party on 21 seats, with the Lib Dems and Greens on 10 and eight seats respectively. READ MORE: Indyref2 possible if SNP 'do really well' in Holyrood elections, John Swinney says He said: "After its success in last week's English local elections, Reform now pose a significant threat to the Conservatives' and Labour's prospects at Holyrood, too. 'More than one in four of those who voted Conservative in last year's Westminster election and nearly one in five of those who backed Labour have now switched to Reform. 'As a result, Reform's poll rating in Scotland has risen to 20% for the first time and the party is now a serious competitor for the position of principal opposition party at Holyrood. 'The fracturing of the Unionist vote is good news for John Swinney. Even though the party's share of the vote is now well down on May 2021, it could still win the bulk of Holyrood's first past the post seats, and as a result, be left with only a little short of its current tally of MSPs at Holyrood. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA) 'Crucially, the fragmentation of Scotland's politics could help ease the path towards another pro-independence majority at Holyrood at a time when, still, almost half of Scotland would like to leave the UK.' Fergus Mutch, managing partner of True North, added: "The SNP remains, by some distance, the largest party but will have to look to other parties for the support needed to secure a working majority. 'The party of independence will, however, be asking itself why its electoral support lags so far behind the 49% of voters who wish to see Scotland go it alone. 'Reform UK, buoyed by their recent success in English local elections, are nipping at Labour's heels on the constituency vote in Scotland and now a nose ahead on the list. 'Converting these figures into seats, we're at a tipping point where they emerge as the second party in Scottish politics heading into a May 2026 election – representing a significant breakthrough north of the border." Mutch blamed the "woes" of UK Labour for the Scottish branch's poor performance in opinion polling.
