25-04-2025
Why won't Labour give Scotland same deal Canada gives its provinces?
SNP MP Stephen Gethins has proposed a Private Member's Bill in the House of Commons which would amend the Scotland Act 1998 to allow the Scottish Government to set up a Scottish visa scheme.
The bill proposes to devolve more powers over immigration to Holyrood, to increase Scotland's workforce in the hospitality, tourism and care sectors, all of which are suffering a recruitment crisis due to Brexit.
Speaking on Sky News, the MP pointed out that the plan had been proposed by former Tory minister Michael Gove before the EU referendum and was discussed by the Labour party in Scotland ahead of the last General Election.
READ MORE: Scotland shouldn't aim for independence without a currency plan, says expert
Both Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie promised voters, during the UK election campaign last year, that a Labour government would be open to introducing a Scottish visa. However like most of the campaign promises of the Labour party in Scotland, once the votes are counted the promise is filed in the bin.
Other countries, including Canada and Australia, have decentralised immigration systems, allowing their states, provinces and territories to tailor immigration to their own particular needs.
There is no reason at all why the UK could not do the same.
What does the SNP's by-election victory tell us?
Council by-elections always have very low turnout, even when council elections are held across the entire country.
The only council elections in recent years in which turnout has exceeded 50% were in 2007. However, this was because that year the Holyrood election was held on the same day.
When there's a council by-election, turnout plummets even from the low baseline. There is little publicity that the by-election is taking place – and even politically engaged members of the electorate might not realise it's happening. Even in local media, it may be buried between stories about a fight outside a local pub and a fundraising event in a primary school.
Voter turnout in these circumstances depends on the ability of political parties to knock on doors and ensure that their voters are aware.
Ross Vettraino passed away in February (Image: Fife Council) That said, there was a by-election yesterday in Fife, in the Glenrothes Central and Thornton ward following the death of veteran SNP councillor Ross Vettraino in February.
This election was no exception to the rule that turnout is always low; just 24.2% of the electorate voted. This is in line with the turnout in local authority by elections held in Scotland, which in 2024 averaged 24.6%.
Nevertheless, unlike an opinion poll, these are real votes in a real election and as such are very informative about the state of play on the political playing field.
This election was dominated by the SNP which took 2439 votes or 47.6% of the first preference votes, more than double the 649 or 21.5% which went to Labour.
The hard-right Reform UK came in third with 541 or 17.9%, and the LibDems trailed in fourth place with 207 or 6.9%. The Conservatives came in last place with just 185 or 6.1%.
The LibDems recorded a slight improvement in vote share since 2022, both Labour and the Tories experienced significant declines.
READ MORE: James Kelly: What we can learn from the SNP's massive Fife by-election win
Although Reform seems to have done well, during the 2016 EU referendum Glenrothes was one of the areas in Scotland with a relatively high Leave vote, albeit still far short of a majority. This will have given the Reform UK candidate a strong voter base upon which to build, aided by disaffected Conservatives and hardline Unionists amongst former Labour voters.
This is now the fifth council by-election in a row which has been won by the SNP. Given all that the SNP has faced in the intervening years, its vote has held up remarkably well, while Labour's share of the vote dropped significantly.
Labour was never likely to do too well in this by-election, but if the party was on track to win next year's Holyrood vote it should have performed better than it did in 2022. On current showing Labour is set to do even worse in the next Holyrood election than it did in 2021. Cue the world's tiniest violin.
The result also confirmed that the Tories, the original nasty party, are haemorrhaging votes to the even nastier Reform UK.
Reform UK leader Nigel FarageSince Reform have never held power in any meaningful way, they are still able to pretend that they can offer all things to all people. That will surely change if they ever take power – and may all the gods help us – Nigel Farage becomes prime minister and 30p Lee Anderson holds an important Cabinet post. Then all the corrupt horror of what Reform really stands for will be revealed and voter disappointment and anger will be even greater and more comprehensive than that experienced by the Labour party after Keir Starmer took power.
The Labour prime minister may lose the title of the greatest charlatan ever to mar the face of British politics.
This piece is an extract from today's REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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