MPs back plans for ministers to ease pub last orders without Parliament debate
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The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Lindsay Hoyle urged to release secret Israeli emails
The Commons Speaker prevented his emails to Israeli politicians and other figures from being made public after a Freedom of Information request from Declassified. The investigative outlet had requested copies of all written correspondence since October 1, 2023 between him and the Israeli Embassy, Labour Friends of Israel and members or officials of the Knesset. READ MORE: Scottish Labour disown fake Anas Sarwar quote on lawyer's website In response, the Commons said that the Speaker had blocked its release because he had 'formed the reasonable opinion that disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs'. It came after Hoyle flew to Israel in November 2023, after the country had already been accused of committing war crimes in Gaza, on a 'solidarity trip'. Now, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie (below) has said that the Speaker's dealings with foreign states such as Israel 'must be conducted with full transparency'. (Image: Andrew Milligan) He told The National: 'We have witnessed 22 months of genocide in Gaza, tens of thousands of innocent lives lost, entire generations of families have been wiped out, and now Gaza has the highest rate of child amputees globally. 'People are being displaced repeatedly, they are being starved, the meagre aid provided is being weaponised against them, and still, there is no end in sight. Some of the most horrific war crimes in recent history are still being live streamed by the perpetrators. READ MORE: Lindsay Hoyle blocks release of emails he sent to Israeli politicians 'For Lindsay Hoyle to undertake a so-called 'solidarity visit' in these circumstances is deplorable, and the fact he now wants to keep his correspondence private suggests that he knows this should never have happened in the first place.' Hoyle came close to losing his job early last year, after he bent parliamentary procedure to help Keir Starmer dodge a potentially embarrassing backbench rebellion when the SNP forced a vote on a [[Gaza]] ceasefire. The House of Commons previously denied that Hoyle had 'personally' intervened to block the correspondence and was approached for further comment.
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Forbes exit: Could we see a Flynn McAllan SNP next year?
There was a sense Scotland was losing perhaps the best First Minister it never had. And now of course, her withdrawal from frontline politics in Edinburgh in order to spend more time with her three year old daughter Naomi, her three step daughters and her husband Alastair in the Highlands has put the spotlight on who will replace her as Mr Swinney's likely successor. READ MORE: Attention is now focused on Stephen Flynn, the [[SNP]]'s Westminster leader, and Holyrood Cabinet minister Mairi McAllan. Mr Flynn, 36, came to prominence after ousting Ian Blackford from the party's top job in the Commons just three years after he was elected as the MP for Aberdeen South in 2019. In that role he gained a high profile media presence at the end of the Tory years in power. For many left leaning commentators in London he became the face of the 'real opposition' to the Conservative government in the Commons. Mr Flynn faces a current disadvantage in any leadership race as he is not in Holyrood, and therefore not in government, but such an obstacle could be overcome if he gets elected to Holyrood come next May. Kate Forbes and Stephen Flynn pictured last year (Image: PA) Ms McAllan, 32, was first elected MSP for Clydesdale in May 2021 having previously worked as a special advisor to former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The former lawyer has risen swiftly up the ranks at [[Holyrood]]. Within weeks of her taking her seat, she was appointed to the new government as Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform. Promotion to Cabinet followed in March 2023 when she was appointed under First Minister Humza Yousaf to the role of Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition. When Mr Yousaf stood down, she was the politician who introduced John Swinney in Spring 2024 when Mr Swinney surprised many in his party and the country by announcing that he was returning from the backbenches to stand to be SNP leader. Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan (Image: PA) In June, Ms McAllan was newly appointed housing secretary fresh from her return from maternity leave. Her main task in that post will be tackling the country's housing emergency and providing energy efficient homes for the future – big challenges and measurable ones too. It's clear we'll be hearing considerably more from and about both Mr Flynn and Ms McAllan in the weeks and months ahead in the run up to the Holyrood election next year. But the key big question is when will such a leadership race take place? At the same event where he was introduced by Ms McAllan, Mr Swinney told supporters and journalists that if elected he would want to be leader and First Minister for the full term of the next Parliament - which would mean 2026 to 2032. He has since repeated this ambition. But of course, voters and his own party may have other ideas. Should the SNP not win the election, Mr Swinney will no longer be First Minister. It's also probable that such a defeat would trigger an SNP leadership contest. But what if the SNP is the biggest party after the May election but don't win a majority of seats? It's possible that this scenario too could spark a party leadership race. This is because the First Minister has set out his strategy to achieve independence which requires the SNP to win a majority of seats in May next year. It is a very clear condition which has high stakes consequences. The implication is that should Mr Swinney not lead the SNP to a majority win he would have failed to meet the threshold he had set himself and his party. Sir Keir Starmer would refuse to agree a referendum on that basis and the [[SNP]] grassroots would be very fed up - not just with the Prime Minister. The worry for the First Minister is that polling doesn't suggest the SNP will indeed win a majority. Last night leading political scientist Professor Sir John Curtice of Strathclyde University told The Herald's Unspun at the Fringe that such an outcome was "most extremely unlikely". So if Sir John's thinking proves correct we may well be just a year or so from another SNP leadership race.
The National
14 hours ago
- The National
From rising star to Deputy FM – Kate Forbes' career in brief
The Deputy First Minister was selected to contest the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency in 2026, but now the party will have to rerun the contest and find a new candidate. Party members and politicians expressed shock at the news, while opposition politicians used it as an excuse to take shots at the SNP. Forbes was first elected to Holyrood in 2016, aged 26, having previously worked as an accountant in the banking industry and for former MSP Dave Thompson in the same constituency. READ MORE: Kate Forbes to quit Holyrood in 2026 – read her statements in full The MSP studied history at Cambridge before completing an MSc in diaspora and migration history at the University of Edinburgh. Born in Dingwall, she spent part of her childhood in India and Glasgow, and attended a Gaelic school. She quickly rose through the ranks, first as public finance minister in 2018 before becoming Scotland's first female finance secretary under Nicola Sturgeon in 2020. Forbes was praised for delivering the budget speech at short notice, taking on the role the night before after her predecessor Derek Mackay was forced to stand down when it emerged he had sent inappropriate messages to a teenager. During her time as a backbencher, she delivered the first speech in the Holyrood chamber entirely in Gaelic, later becoming the first Cabinet Secretary for the language, alongside responsibilities for the economy, when she was appointed DFM. (Image: PA) Forbes narrowly lost out on the SNP leadership contest after Sturgeon resigned to Humza Yousaf, who is also set to leave [[Holyrood]] when the parliamentary term ends. She fought the contest while on maternity leave, coming second in the first round of voting with 40.7%, to Yousaf's 48.2%. The second round saw Yousaf win with 52.1%, compared to Forbes' 47.9%. During the campaign, Forbes came under fire for her views on abortion, gay marriage and trans rights. A member of the Free Church of Scotland, she said that having children outside of marriage was 'wrong' and that she would not have supported equal marriage as a 'matter of conscience'. Forbes was on maternity leave while the Scottish Parliament voted on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which would have allowed transgender people to self-identify. In 2019, she joined 15 other SNP politicians in writing an open letter to Sturgeon calling for a delay to the reforms, and would later reiterate her concerns during the leadership campaign. READ MORE: Keith Brown: UK can't ignore independence demand with SNP majority On independence, she said during the contest that the party should use the Westminster election to win a mandate and demand powers to allow a referendum to go ahead. After the contest, she told the New Statesman she would have been 'haunted' if she had not stayed true to her religious beliefs during the campaign. Leaving the cabinet in 2023 after Yousaf offered her the rural affairs brief, seen as a major demotion by some, Forbes spent a year on the backbenches. When Yousaf resigned as first minister, following the collapse of the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens, Forbes took on the deputy first minister role when John Swinney took over leadership of the party and government. She was given responsibilities for the economy and [[Gaelic]], and last week welcomed the approval of a massive offshore wind farm off the coast of East Lothian. Forbes had been considered a potential successor to Swinney, prior to her shock announcement and will continue in her MSP role for the next nine months. She added on social media that despite standing down, she is looking forward to campaigning at the election to 'lead Scotland to independence'.
