Latest news with #SNP
The Herald Scotland
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Farage 'can't be trusted to oppose SNP' says Scotland in Union
The by-election was called following the death of the constituency MSP, Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie who had held the seat since 2011. Prior to 2011 the seat was held by Labour. But Mr Farage's populist right party Reform UK has been campaigning vigorously in the area boosted by its success in local elections in England earlier this month and polling showing it is gathering more support in Scotland. He is due to visit Hamilton in the coming days. READ MORE: Analysis: Can Reform UK actually win the Hamilton by-election? What you need to know about the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election SNP complain to Facebook over Reform 'race-baiting' advert targeting Sarwar A survey by Survation published on May 7 put it on course for becoming the main opposition party at the Holyrood elections next year taking 21 seats with the SNP remaining the largest party on 58. Labour would take 18 and the Conservatives 13, an analysis of the poll suggested. Calling on supporters to back Labour candidate Davy Russell a press statement from Scotland in Union pointed to a recent interview given by Mr Farage when he said Reform MSPs would sooner allow the SNP into power at Holyrood next year than back Anas Sarwar to become First Minister. Previously, it had been assumed that Holyrood's unionist parties would back Mr Sarwar to become First Minister over John Swinney, if Labour emerges as the largest pro-UK party. The late SNP MSP Christina McKelvie (Image: PA) The scenario would have opened up a route to Labour seizing control of the Scottish Government even if the SNP was the largest party, if there is no pro-independence majority after elections in May next year. Asked if Mr Sarwar needed Reform votes to become First Minister, Mr Farage told The Times on April 18: 'I'm not that worried about the SNP. Yes, they're going to have a resurgence. Scotland is not going to leave the United Kingdom. It's not going to happen in a month of Sundays. 'We're not doing a deal with Labour. No: we're just not going to do it.' Pointing to the comments made by Mr Farage in April, Scotland in Union chair Alastair Cameron said a vote for Reform risks letting the SNP in 'by the back door' and warned voters not to make the by-election a protest against the UK government. READ MORE: Reform can 'win Hamilton by-election and take power' in Holyrood Anas Sarwar: Scottish Conservatives in 'terminal decline' Update on winter fuel payments to more pensioners expected in coming weeks 'Nigel Farage can't be trusted to stand against Scottish nationalism and the SNP. Despite two decades of nationalist failure in government, Reform is willing to let the SNP remain in power," said Mr Cameron. 'Some voters may be tempted to use this by-election to protest against governments at Holyrood or Westminster, but a vote for Reform risks letting the SNP in by the back door. 'Scotland is best served by getting rid of this incompetent SNP government – and in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election that journey starts with voting for the Scottish Labour candidate. 'We need politicians who will work in Scotland's interests. Farage's latest statements suggest that the only interests he prioritises are his own." A row between Reform UK and Labour has dominated the campaign since Monday when the former party was accused of releasing a "racist" advert targeting Mr Sarwar. Mr Farage played the online ad at a press conference in London on Tuesday, before claiming the Scottish Labour leader had "introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics". On Thursday Mr Sarwar brand the Clacton MP a "poisonous man who doesn't understand Scotland" and said he will challenge him "anytime, any place" as the controversy continued. He insisted: "The people of Scotland will utterly reject him." Hitting out at his rival, Mr Sarwar told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "This man has no idea where Hamilton is. I've been in Hamilton most days, I know other political parties have been in Hamilton a lot. "What I suggest to Nigel Farage is he should ask his chauffeur to put Hamilton into Google Maps. "Come up here. I'll challenge him anytime, any place, in Hamilton, any town hall, and he can challenge me on my views, I'll challenge him on his views, and you can see that the people of Scotland will utterly reject him, because he can't win there and he can't win in Scotland. "This man wants to pretend he's a great champion of working people across our country." But Mr Sarwar, who worked as a dentist before going into elected politics, added: "While I was working in Scotland's NHS in one of the most deprived communities in the country, he was on the Brussels gravy train. "While I'm campaigning to defend our NHS and save our NHS, this man wants to privatise our NHS. "He's got no interest in Scotland. He probably couldn't even tell you where Hamilton was on the map." In the ad - which both Labour and the SNP have demanded be removed from Facebook - Reform claims Mr Sarwar, who was born in Glasgow to Pakistani Muslim parents, will "prioritise" Pakistani people. However clips of the Scottish Labour leader speaking do not show him saying that. Speaking about the on Tuesday, Mr Farage said: "All we've done is to put out the exact words spoken by him without any comment. "We've said nothing, just that we will represent the people of that constituency. "The fact that they, having chosen to go down the sectarian route, choose to throw accusations back at us says to me that we are winning." Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, was asked by The Herald on Sunday in an interview in Hamilton this month if Reform would work with Labour in Holyrood to keep out the SNP. He said: "Let's wait and see." With polling suggesting his party could become the next UK Government he was asked if it would agree to a second independence referendum if there was a pro-independence majority in Holyrood. He replied: "No. There was a referendum here and it was convincing and we need to keep focusing on running governments and councils up and down the UK better so people have more money in their pockets and better schools," he said. He went on to describe himself as a "proud Unionist" who always wore a Union Jack badge on his jacket. Reform UK was approached to respond to Mr Cameron's comments.
The Courier
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Courier
JIM SPENCE: SNP arrogance has fuelled rise of Nigel Farage's Reform north of the border
The rise of Reform appears to be unstoppable on both sides of the Tweed. Their rapid elevation under the leadership of beer drinking, chain smoking, garrulously entertaining Nigel Farage seemed to an out-of-touch political class in Scotland as an English phenomenon. How wrong they were. And the SNP, which arrogantly thought the country was resistant to Farage's appeal, can pat itself on the back for assisting his rise in popularity. When folk lose their fear they gain their courage, and growing numbers have lost their fear of being called racists, bigots, transphobes, right wing, and every other empty insult thrown at them by a political class which has ignored their concerns, while growing ever more comfortable on the public purse. The SNP has run Scotland as a fiefdom for 14 years since winning power under Alex Salmond in 2011. Salmond understood the need to work with others and allay the genuine fears and concerns of those who were frightened of independence. There is, of course, no longer any fear of independence, since under Sturgeon's leadership the very idea was quietly stored away only to be brought out and used to fire the blood of the natives in times of emergency. The SNP knowing that independence was unsellable to sufficient numbers of the electorate settled, however, on what seemed to be an inspired solution. They could bang on about it whenever the need presented itself, secure in valour's station that they appeared to have an inbuilt domination of Holyrood in perpetuity. This was the best of both worlds – freeing them from the very difficult task of delivering Scotland from Westminster while, at the same time, running the show in Edinburgh like a Colonial Raj – dictating to the natives on their latest woke wheezes while under no pressure to deliver or govern efficiently. With no real opposition from a disjointed and disorganised Labour Party they could continue to reign unopposed despite their farrago of failures and broken promises. From the ferries fiasco to the broken promises to dual the A9 to the madness of incarcerating male rapists in women's prisons, Holyrood seemed to guarantee perpetual power to a party comprised of pointless politicians. Nicola Sturgeon's bitter legacy is to have blown all of that to smithereens by ignoring the concerns of those who had the temerity to challenge and question her dictatorial views. Ideological obsessions and the appearance of malfeasance levelled at the SNP have badly tarnished the party, and its once seemingly irresistible rise in the polls has slithered to a halt. I wrote here last July that Reform had broken the mould and proved that Scotland wasn't immune to Farage's charms, and the polls are proving that to be true. A host of political commentators who appear to make a living from missing trends like the rise of Farage and Reform are finally catching up with the reality on the ground. The Scottish electorate isn't in truth that much different from the rest of the UK. Working folk here, as in the rest of the UK, have watched their standards of living drop and their cost-of-living increase. They've sat silently seething as the political class indulged itself with net-zero nonsense, trans-rights tantrums, pronouns panic and ignoring immigration issues. The public were discussing these things in hushed tones in living rooms and elsewhere, fearful of being labelled bigots by supposed progressives, but now they're giving a fingered salute to those politicians and throwing their votes behind a party claiming to be on their side. Whether Reform is any different in practice remains to be seen. But I suspect that much of the support for them comes from an incandescent impulse to stick it to the other parties for their duplicity and inaction, and the SNP won't be immune from that revolution.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Fate of new national park proposals to be revealed
The fate of plans to create Scotland's third national park in Galloway are set to be revealed in a Holyrood statement. The proposals - which could see the area join the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs - have proved contentious. Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon will update MSPs following a consultation carried out by NatureScot. Supporters and opponents of the plans are waiting to hear if they will move forward, be dropped or deferred until the next parliamentary session. Scotland currently has two national parks but it is more than 20 years since a new one was created. A power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens in 2021 agreed that "at least one" would be designated by the end of this parliamentary session in 2026. Although that political agreement collapsed in 2024, the national park process has continued. Consultation started in 2022 on where the park could be sited and Galloway was announced as the potential location for a new national park in July last year. Soon after an opposition campaign was launched and an extended consultation was carried out over 14 weeks. NatureScot has delivered its report on that feedback to the Scottish government which is now to decide the way forward. The scheme - should it proceed - would mainly be in Dumfries and Galloway but would extend into parts of Ayrshire. Campaigners in favour of the designation say it could put the region on the map and boost the local economy. However, opponents have argued it would push up house prices, increase bureaucracy and put transport infrastructure under strain. Both have been waiting to hear the latest announcement from the Scottish government. No Galloway National Park campaign co-founder Elizabeth Hitschmann said they could not speculate what would be in the statement. However, she said the whole idea had been a "complete dog's breakfast from the start" in which a "very small group of unrepresentative activists wrongly claimed there was overwhelming support". She said people in Galloway had "no faith" in any stage of the process including the selection of the area, consultation and the rejection of calls for a referendum and a review of the existing parks. Ms Hitschmann added: "The strength of opposition to any form of national park in Galloway is so great that we think it would be madness for any party to impose something that so many people clearly don't want. "It would certainly be a wise decision to call a halt now before any more time and public money is wasted." But Rob Lucas, who chairs of the Galloway National Park Association, called for the designation to be given to a "forgotten corner" of Scotland without delay. "Galloway desperately needs a national park to give it the long-term certainty and commitment that has been missing for so long," he said. "Our area has a fragile economy and remains among the poorest rural areas in the UK, despite two decades of intensive forestry, farm aggregation and large-scale renewables. "We need a different approach that works with nature to build a resilient and sustainable future for local people." That call has been backed by Action to Protect Rural Scotland and the Scottish Campaign for National Parks. If a designation order was issued that would trigger another round of consultation before the status is confirmed. The earliest that could happen would be spring 2026. Galloway chosen as preferred site of next national park Extension sought for national park report delivery
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Fate of new Galloway national park proposals to be revealed
The fate of plans to create Scotland's third national park in Galloway are set to be revealed in a Holyrood proposals - which could see the area join the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs - have proved Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon will update MSPs following a consultation carried out by and opponents of the plans are waiting to hear if they will move forward, be dropped or deferred until the next parliamentary session. How did we get here? Scotland currently has two national parks but it is more than 20 years since a new one was created.A power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens in 2021 agreed that "at least one" would be designated by the end of this parliamentary session in that political agreement collapsed in 2024, the national park process has started in 2022 on where the park could be sited and Galloway was announced as the potential location for a new national park in July last after an opposition campaign was launched and an extended consultation was carried out over 14 has delivered its report on that feedback to the Scottish government which is now to decide the way scheme - should it proceed - would mainly be in Dumfries and Galloway but would extend into parts of Ayrshire. For and against Campaigners in favour of the designation say it could put the region on the map and boost the local opponents have argued it would push up house prices, increase bureaucracy and put transport infrastructure under have been waiting to hear the latest announcement from the Scottish Galloway National Park campaign co-founder Elizabeth Hitschmann said they could not speculate what would be in the statement. However, she said the whole idea had been a "complete dog's breakfast from the start" in which a "very small group of unrepresentative activists wrongly claimed there was overwhelming support".She said people in Galloway had "no faith" in any stage of the process including the selection of the area, consultation and the rejection of calls for a referendum and a review of the existing Hitschmann added: "The strength of opposition to any form of national park in Galloway is so great that we think it would be madness for any party to impose something that so many people clearly don't want."It would certainly be a wise decision to call a halt now before any more time and public money is wasted." But Rob Lucas, who chairs of the Galloway National Park Association, called for the designation to be given to a "forgotten corner" of Scotland without delay."Galloway desperately needs a national park to give it the long-term certainty and commitment that has been missing for so long," he said."Our area has a fragile economy and remains among the poorest rural areas in the UK, despite two decades of intensive forestry, farm aggregation and large-scale renewables."We need a different approach that works with nature to build a resilient and sustainable future for local people."That call has been backed by Action to Protect Rural Scotland and the Scottish Campaign for National a designation order was issued that would trigger another round of consultation before the status is earliest that could happen would be spring 2026.
Edinburgh Live
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh councillor hits back at 'serious allegations' over 'vile' tweets
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info An Edinburgh councillor has disputed claims that he called for the death of the man behind one of Scotland's most well known pro-UK accounts on X Cllr David Key, who represents the Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart ward, made the original post on X (formerly Twitter) back in February, when he said: "I see that Effie Deans is no longer with us (on Twitter anyway) Agent P next please", reports The Scottish Daily Express. A crying emoji was added to the text after the Effie Deans reference and a high five emoji. Effie Deans was the nom de plume of a Scottish political blogger, whose output suddenly stopped in November 2024 after more than 12 years. Some have speculated that the person behind the blog must have passed away, although their identity has never been made public. Fellow pro-UK personality, Agent P, also keeps his identity out of the public domain. After being alerted to the post, Agent P responded: "Imagine an SNP Edinburgh councillor tweeting that they want you to die. It's vile and completely unacceptable – made worse by the fact that my council tax helps pay his salary. How disgusting". But Cllr Key – who served 25 years in the Royal Navy – has insisted that his post was not "disrespectful" and then tagged in a fellow councillor – Iain Whyte, the Conservative group leader on Edinburgh City Council. He wrote: "As you well know, my comment was about "Effie" and you leaving Twitter, nothing else. It is, quite clearly, not disrespecting a member of the public. PS if you're going to make serious allegations like this then please come out from behind your cloak of anonymity @CllrWhyte". It is not clear if he is suggesting that Cllr Whyte, who represents Craigentinny/Duddingston, is in fact the man behind Agent P, or whether he simply wants the Conservative group leader to be alerted. The exchange didn't stop there, with Agent P hitting back: "Don't insult everyone's intelligence – we all know exactly what you were implying. My anonymity isn't up for your approval either. And just so you remember: I fund your salary, not the other way around. Coming from a public servant, your tweet was a disgrace." The spat has now served to put the spotlight on the disappearance of Effie Deans. On her blog, Lily of St Leonards, she writes that she began blogging in 2012 during the early years of the 2014 referendum campaign. The 'About Me' section states: "My name is Effie Deans. I was named after the character in the novel Heart of Midlothian who is also known as "The Lily of St. Leonards". That's the reason for the blog name. I live in Aberdeenshire. Prior to that I lived and worked in Russia and the Soviet Union where I met my Russian husband. "Because I lived in a closed city in the USSR where foreigners were not allowed I had to adopt both my husband's surname and a Russian first name. This is still the name I use professionally. But friends and family have always known me as Effie Deans." Some followers have pointed to an obituary and donations page posted online for a lady named Effie Deans who passed away in Callander in Perthshire on September 21, 2024. However, the blog continued until November 6, 2024. The final post – which you can read by clicking here – was a piece about the "tendency in certain Scottish nationalist circles to obsess about the Scottishness of vegetables" and the fact that Donald Trump – whose mother hailed from the Isle of Lewis – is "never Scottish".
