Comparison of political party membership numbers is cause for optimism
If these figures were more widely publicised it might generate some much-needed optimism.
Graham Park
Stirling
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The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
The inside story of the battle for control of Edinburgh
There might still have been a second Colinton by-election, because the SNP's Marco Biagi would probably still have left when appointed a government special adviser, and without the Spence controversy the Lib Dems would have won that too, giving them 16 seats. But even with 14, the Lib Dems are in pole position at the head of an informal Stop-the-Nats-and-Crazy-Greens coalition which, with Conservative support, has until now kept the bedraggled Labour administration in place. Read more Labour did surprisingly well, topping first preferences despite national chaos over welfare and winter fuel allowances, as well as bruising allegations of sexual harassment against former council group leader Cammy Day, for which police found no evidence of criminality. While a move to make Cllr Day the new planning convener at the final council meeting before the summer recess was wisely shelved – it would have come immediately before the angry debate over former Scottish Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion's report about how complaints against him were handled – the issue of his fitness for a return to a senior position has not gone away. The 11-strong Labour group – it would only have been ten had it not been for Ms Spence's resignation – is unstable because they cannot rely on Leith councillor Katrina Faccenda, already suspended once for voting against the whip, who has refused to accept Cllr Day's return after the end of his suspension. The plan for Cllr Day to be appointed at the next meeting in August after things have settled down presumes all Lib Dem and Conservative councillors will vote in favour, but also if the Lib Dems stick with their previous position of turning down the opportunity to lead the administration. This increasingly looks untenable. The Lib Dems can't continue to stand on a ticket of delivering better services, win the trust of voters and then refuse to take charge, ostensibly because too many of their councillors have other work commitments. Until now, the Conservative group has grudgingly accepted the situation to keep the SNP and their Green friends out of administration, which after the experience of 2017-22 is understandable. Lib-Dems celebrate their surprise victory (Image: free) But the SNP is running out of steam locally and nationally – beaten into fourth in last week's by-election – and in what were once Conservative heartlands they do not present a threat. Conversely, since the 2022 elections and all subsequent by-elections bar the unusual circumstances of the Colinton re-run in January, the Lib Dems are not just eating the Tories' lunch, but their breakfast and supper too, and Reform is taking home the leftovers in a doggy bag. It is therefore not in the Conservative interest for the Lib Dems to continue evading responsibility for running the city and being held to the promises in their many election leaflets. The three Conservative councillors who were around in 2007 when the Lib Dems formed a coalition with the SNP will remember just how hard they found it, and five years later the 17 Lib Dem councillors were reduced to three. But there are those in the Conservative group who cannot see past the old constitutional battle lines, failing to accept voters once prepared to lend them their support have moved on from prioritising the threat of independence. No longer the main alternative to Labour or the Nationalists, Edinburgh Conservatives now face an existential threat from both left and right, yet it appears some councillors would rather not force the Lib Dems into administration and instead approve a £40,000 a year convenership for Cammy Day to keep the SNP out. Like Cllr Faccenda, several Conservatives and Lib Dems have a significant problem with welcoming back Cllr Day as if nothing had happened, and the lack of any sign of contrition from the ex-leader has not helped. If not quite a full split, there is now a high chance of serious division in the Tory group, and as it stands if just four Conservatives oppose Cllr Day's appointment it will fail. The obvious solution is for the Lib Dems to step up to the plate, and with the next full council meeting not till August 28 they have all summer to reach a decision, time they intend to take, with nothing ruled in or out, and that presumably includes some being prepared to reduce their other commitments. Read more Labour won't give up a raft of convenerships and the accompanying responsibility payments – up to the £71,500 the leader Jane Meagher receives – without a fight, but they might have no option with a revived pact with the SNP ruled out by the national leadership. It's either that or letting the SNP lead a chaotic minority administration which will probably be unable to pass a budget. But if the Conservatives are to survive as a council force in 2027, the Lib Dems need to be prised out of the same comfort zone enjoyed by the SNP at Holyrood for so long, of taking responsibility for nothing and credit for everything and making electoral gains across swathes of middle-class Edinburgh simply by not being the Conservatives. It all seems such a long time since 2017 when the Conservatives took just short of 30 per cent of first preference votes and returned 18 councillors compared to just six Lib Dems, but that was before Partygate, Liz Truss and Reform. It's the same situation across the country, and former Morningside councillor Mark McInnes, now Lord McInnes of Kilwinning and the UK Conservatives' newly appointed chief executive, has his work cut out. John McLellan is a former Edinburgh Evening News and Scotsman editor. He served as a City of Edinburgh councillor for five years for the Conservatives. Brought up in Glasgow, McLellan has lived and worked in Edinburgh for 30 years
Glasgow Times
4 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow among 'top performing councils' for climate change action
The local authority is now ranked 10th in the country in an assessment from Climate Emergency UK with the London Borough of Islington topping the chart. Glasgow also achieved an A rating from the global Carbon Disclosure Project, which measures environmental impact. Councillor Lana Reid-McConnell raised the council's 'improved ranking' in the Council Climate Action Scorecard at a meeting – asking for the city's environment convenor to comment on it. READ MORE: Major solar scheme delivers clean water to over 700,000 people in Glasgow In response, Councillor Angus Millar said: 'Glasgow is continuing its mission to achieve net zero and we are very proud to have achieved this significant milestone and recognition. 'In the latest 2025 Climate Action Scorecard Assessment conducted by Climate Emergency UK, Glasgow received a score of 64% – a 9% increase on last year. This places us in joint first position in Scotland alongside Edinburgh and among the top performing councils across the UK.' Speaking at a recent full council meeting, the SNP local politician said Glasgow is one of only 62 councils UK-wide (out of 391) to score above 50%. There is an average score of 38%. Councillor Millar added: 'This recognition follows closely on the heels of Glasgow receiving an A rating from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) confirming our leadership in both climate mitigation and adaptation. We are now just one of 112 global cities on the CDP's A list – placing us in the top 15 per cent of nearly 1,000 reporting cities worldwide.' Councillor Millar continued: 'These achievements are testament to the hard work and dedication of our teams and partners across the city. While we will continue to review and respond to the scorecard's findings this result clearly demonstrates that Glasgow is making strong and measurable progress in tackling the climate and ecological emergency.'
Scotsman
5 hours ago
- Scotsman
Menace or misunderstood? The battle over Scotland's seagulls, as tales of 'brazen' attacks grow
Sign up to our Politics newsletter 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... They have been condemned as a menace and a threat to human life, with disturbing tales of residents under siege and children left with blood running down their faces. Seagulls, it would seem, have a lot to answer for. And now some MSPs are determined to take action. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Jim Fairlie, the SNP minister for agriculture and connectivity, has announced a "summit" on gulls will be held later this year in Inverness, and last week former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross held a debate on gull control in Holyrood. Are seagulls causing a growing nuisance in Scotland's towns and cities? | Getty Images Among the cases he raised was the 'terrible story' of a woman in Elgin who 'fell outside her house as a result of a gull attack, broke her leg, went to hospital, came out of hospital and was attacked again'. Elsewhere, an elderly woman in nearby Miltonduff had to spend £2,000 a year removing nests from her property as a result of dive-bombing gulls, he said. Mr Ross called for action 'before we see someone killed'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Speaking to The Scotsman, the Highlands and Islands MSP said gulls were becoming more 'brazen', adding: 'They seem to be just growing in numbers in the urban areas and the attacks seem to be getting more vicious.' His party colleague Craig Hoy said seven children were attacked over a single month outside one local business in Eyemouth and left with 'gashes to the scalp and blood running down their faces'. Aberdeen is often touted as Scotland's seagull hotspot, with reports of "XL Gullies" terrorising residents. Tory councillor Michael Kusznir has called for the legal protections that apply to gulls to be loosened or removed. He described the Granite City's gulls as "big vicious creatures", adding: "We're in a situation where they have got far too many protections and we should be looking at making it easier to curb their numbers." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But others argue seagulls - a colloquial name for several different species of gull - are misunderstood and misrepresented, while populations are actually in serious decline. "I think words like 'menace' or 'nuisance' are really unhelpful and sort of inaccurate, because what that type of language does is it creates and reinforces this perception that the gulls are somehow acting maliciously, that they are out to get us, which is not true at all,' Kirsty Jenkins, director of policy at animal welfare charity OneKind, told The Scotsman. "The reason that gulls have ended up moving to our towns is that their natural nesting sites and food sources are becoming more scarce, and that's primarily due to human activities. They're intelligent, they're quite resourceful, so they've learned to adapt to living in towns instead. And what they find there are safe nesting sites and an abundant source of food.' Paul Walton, head of habitats and species at RSPB Scotland, said non-lethal measures to deal with gulls could 'genuinely work'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said: 'The gull species seen in urban areas are, like nearly all of Scotland's globally important seabird populations, in steep decline nationally. Pressures on the marine environment like climate change and competition for food with human fisheries are driving the overall declines, and the gulls' move into urban areas. 'In towns they find roofs as predator-free nest sites and plentiful food on streets, mostly from accessible food waste. Non-lethal measures can genuinely work: by installing, before the breeding season begins in spring, devices like wires on roofs to deter nesting, and by keeping waste food off our streets, we can ease the areas of conflict and learn to live alongside these wild birds.' Ms Jenkins said the risk posed to some vulnerable people needs to be recognised, but also pointed to non-lethal solutions. "I'm not trying to make something simple when it's not,' she said. 'I think it's complicated. But I think it's the willingness to look into it and start trying to find solutions rather than just resorting to blaming the gulls and saying we just have to kill them all." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad NatureScot, which can issue licences to destroy nests and eggs and kill chicks, says it has a duty to balance health and safety concerns with gull conservation. But Mr Ross is strongly critical of the quango. 'NatureScot, in particular, are a joke,' he told The Scotsman. 'I mean, the way they have approached this in recent years is ridiculous. 'For example, telling businesses to supply shoppers with umbrellas to protect them from being dive-bombed by these gulls surely is not sensible or credible, but that was genuine advice issued by a Scottish Government quango.' He said the agency had a 'huge' conflict of interest. 'They are on the one hand charged by the Government to protect bird numbers and to conserve bird species, and on the other hand they are the arbiter of license applications to control these birds,' he said. 'And it is simply not possible for one organisation to do both.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Ross wants the coming summit in Inverness to be open to the public and chaired by an independent figure. The Scottish Government said logistics were still being finalised. A NatureScot spokeswoman said it took its responsibilities 'very seriously' and carried them out 'in line with the relevant legislation and the Scottish Regulators Strategic Code of Practice, ensuring all licensing is lawful and proportionate'. She said: "We understand gulls can sometimes cause problems in our towns and cities. At the same time, gull populations are facing serious declines. NatureScot has a duty to balance health and safety concerns with gull conservation. "In the longer term, we need to find ways to live with gulls and other wildlife. This calls for collective action and we welcome the discussions in Parliament, as well as the minister's commitment to hold a summit bringing together key partners. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
