Latest news with #Swinney
Glasgow Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
SNP and Labour can't be anti-Reform choice; Scottish Greens can
Any SNP leader would struggle to make them credible as an anti-Reform option. They have been the party of government for the best part of two decades. The anger people feel about the decline in public services is squarely on them. But Mr Swinney's bland managerialism just adds to their problems. Patrick Harvie was absolutely right to call this out recently at his last ever FMQs as co-leader of the Scottish Greens. Since taking charge, John Swinney has watered down rent controls, stopped legislation to help get homes off expensive fossil fuels, abandoned human rights and equality laws, and ditched environmental action such as creating a new national park. Fighting Reform demands action, not inaction. Labour is no better, though. Despite having the keys to power in Westminster for a lot less time, Labour can't shake the self-inflicted harm of welfare cuts, winter fuel, and keeping the two-child cap that is driving their slump in the polls. Even more limiting in them being seen as an anti-Reform option is their penchant for lapping up Reform talking points. It is a fundamental error to think you can beat the far right by copying the far right. Reform's politics are poisonous and divisive and must be opposed head-on. Greens are ready and able to do this. We know that the millionaires behind Reform are not on the side of working people. We know the solutions they are selling are nothing but snake oil, scapegoating migrants for our problems when the real threat is those who are hoarding vast wealth. We know that the enemy of the people arrives by private jet, not by dinghy. Greens can also demonstrate a deep connection to communities when there is widespread distrust in the political establishment. In the last council elections in Glasgow, Green votes went up everywhere, but they went up the most where there already was a Green councillor. When people have a Green representative, they want to keep them. In contrast, Reform councillors just don't seem up to the job. This week, I called out Cllr Thomas Kerr. He defected to Reform in January but hasn't said a peep in Council meetings since. He's not asked a question on behalf of his constituents or spoken up in important debates, and he sat on his hands during the budget in February. All while taking a wage out of taxpayers' pockets. He has more time for the TV cameras than he does for his constituents. That's not good enough. As a party, the Greens have work to do. We are selecting our Holyrood candidates and that is a chance for us to present a fresh face to voters. We can also learn from others on the left who are sharpening how they communicate and connect on issues that matter. But it is increasingly obvious that the only credible anti-Reform option in Scotland is the Scottish Greens. Join us.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Starmer U-turns on welfare reform to avoid Labour rebellion
"This is not the society we should try to build," he added. "I will not support this." READ MORE 'Everyone agrees we need reform:' Sarwar plays down Scottish Labour welfare splits Swinney defends Gray Japan trip as opposition quiz FM on record cancer delays Wilson: Welfare reforms risk tearing Labour apart The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Bill faced almost certain defeat in the Commons on Tuesday after 126 Labour MPs backed an amendment that would have effectively derailed the flagship reforms. The legislation aimed to restrict eligibility for PIP in England and limit sickness-related payments under Universal Credit, as part of a package aimed at saving up to £5 billion a year. PIP has been mostly devolved to the Scottish Government, which began replacing it with Adult Disability Payment (ADP) in 2022. The SNP administration has ruled out replicating the changes. However, any changes in PIP spending will have an impact on the block grant. Last-ditch talks with some of the rebels saw No 10 promise to make the reforms to eligibility apply only to new claimants from November 2026. Current Universal Credit recipients will also have their incomes protected in real terms. A review of the PIP assessment process will also be led by Disabilities Minister Sir Stephen Timms and "co-produced" with disabled people. The changes are expected to cost around £1.5bn. Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the Commons Treasury Committee, who led the rebellion, said the concessions represented "a good and workable compromise". "This is a positive outcome that has seen the Government listen and engage with the concerns of Labour MPs and their constituents," she said. "It's encouraging that we have reached what I believe is a workable compromise that will protect disabled people and support people back into work while ensuring the welfare system can be meaningfully reformed." But Dame Meg also admitted that the handling of the reforms had damaged trust between the Government and its own benches. Asked what had gone wrong, she said: "There's huge talent, experience and knowledge in Parliament, and it's important it's better listened to. I think that message has landed." READ MORE Health Minister Stephen Kinnock insisted the U-turn did not reflect weakness from the Prime Minister. "People respond very positively to politicians listening, engaging, recognising that we don't get everything right and making the adjustments and changes that are needed," he said. Asked whether the Government still expected the Bill to pass, he replied: "Yes." SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn said the Prime Minister was "on the brink of creating a two-tier disability system where the young will be treated worse than the old." He added: "The message from the Labour Party is clear – if you have an accident that causes a disability, develop a disability over time or if you have a child with a disability you will receive less support than those who have come before you. "I was a perfectly fit and healthy kid when I collapsed at school before spending eighteen years on crutches. To think that a child in the same position now would be treated differently than I was, simply to save the Prime Minister's reputation, is disgusting. "If these rebels truly care about the cause in the way that they suggest, then they will tell the Prime Minister to think again, again." Charities were split in their response. Mencap described the concessions as "a huge relief" and "the right thing to do", while the MS Society said they did not go far enough. Charlotte Gill, the society's head of campaigns, warned: "We urge MPs not to be swayed by these last-ditch attempts to force through a harmful Bill with supposed concessions. The only way to avoid a catastrophe is to stop the cuts altogether."
Daily Record
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
John Swinney in funding threat to councils over flagship education policy
EXCLUSIVE: An exasperated First Minister has written to COSLA and accused councils of stalling on a deal to cut class contact time for teachers. An angry John Swinney has threatened to withhold funding from councils unless they fulfill a promise to free up time for teachers. In a letter obtained by the Record, the First Minister has accused town hall chiefs of stalling on a deal to cut class contact time for teachers. He said he could 'withhold or recover relevant monies' if councils backslide on the agreement. A senior council source hit back by saying the policy is 'simply unaffordable and potentially undeliverable'. The row stems from a £186.5m Budget deal on restoring teacher numbers to 2023 levels and making meaningful progress on reducing class contact time for teachers. Ministers want class contact time reduced by an hour and a half a week to help teachers prepare for lessons, raise standards and undertake professional development. In his letter to council umbrella group, Swinney accused councils of not coming good on the deal: 'I am concerned about the lack of progress on delivery of the commitment to make meaningful progress on reducing class contact time. 'We simply cannot afford to stall on this any longer, particularly when we are facing a dispute and ballot on industrial action from the teacher unions on this issue, as part of their concerns over workload.' He added: 'The agreement to provide increased funding of £186.5 million was made in good faith by the Scottish Government. It is essential that meaningful progress on reducing class contact time is now made, with a credible proposal to the unions ready for August, in order to fulfil the requirements of our agreement.. 'Ultimately, where we do not consider that satisfactory progress is being made on delivery of the agreement, the Scottish Government reserves the right to adjust, withhold or recover relevant monies allocated to individual councils for these purposes.' His threat came ahead of a meeting of COSLA today where the class contact time commitment will be discussed. A COSLA paper makes clear council chiefs do not believe they have enough money to deliver the policy: 'There is a strong consensus that councils would not be able to deliver the policy from the existing funding envelope available to Local Government.' COSLA also claimed a phased reduction of class contact time cannot be achieved if councils revert to 2023 levels of teachers. They also cited modelling which suggested over 3800 additional teachers would be required for a reduction in class contact time by 1.5 hours. COSLA's proposed position is to seek extra funding for reducing class contact time if the Government confirms it as a priority. A council insider said: "A 1.5 hour reduction in class contact time for teachers is simply unaffordable and potentially undeliverable in many areas due to a shortage of teachers, even if the Scottish Government came up with extra funding, which they say they don't have. 'If the Scottish Government tries to force this policy through it will require cuts to other aspects of education, which would impact detrimentally on children and young people. This policy has not been fully thought through by Ministers. They are desperate to appease the teaching unions and avoid industrial action."
New Statesman
a day ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
Dishonesty now rules Scottish politics
Photo by Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert / Alamy Stock Photo Hope is, famously, one of the most powerful words in politics. Every party lays claim to offering it. It helped get Barack Obama elected. It's rarely far from the lips of any politician with something to sell you. So it proved on Wednesday evening, when John Swinney and Anas Sarwar took part in a live event for the Holyrood Sources podcast. The First Minister said he would put independence at the heart of his devolved election campaign, as this was where 'hope' could be found for Scotland. The Labour leader talked of bringing 'hopefulness' back to the nation if he wins in May. A powerful word, but sadly not much more than a word these days. There's not much of it around on the international, national or devolved stages, is there? Voters see a deteriorating global scene, desolated public services and an economy that continues to fail them, and wonder where this hope that their leaders speak of is to be located. Like so many words that are common in political rhetoric, this one has been thoroughly devalued: we don't believe you. Swinney, who has suddenly begun talking about independence again after a refreshing period of silence on the matter, has clearly decided that the best – perhaps only – strategy available to him is to hold out some vague idea that a separate Scotland would be able to do all the nice things that he claims it can't as part of the UK. This is what we might call a bold approach, in that it's neither new nor convincing. It merely takes us back to 2014, when the Yes campaign argued that independence would deliver the best of all possible worlds, and then produced a large, hugely detailed document that managed to answer none of the hard questions about economics and borders. Enough of the population saw the gaps to ensure a win for No. Those pesky questions remain wholly unanswered today. So who is Swinney's message of hope aimed at? Support for independence sits somewhere just shy of 50 per cent, though support for the SNP is well below that now, at just over 30 per cent. There is a hardcore who will be delighted that the First Minister has started banging on about independence once more. There are a lot more whose reaction is likely to be along the lines of 'not now, John!' The fact that the SNP has been in power for two underwhelming decades also makes its claim to offer hope appear somewhat hollow. But even Sarwar, who promotes himself as the new broom that Scotland needs, will struggle to convince. The Scottish Labour leader is hamstrung, for now at least, by the difficulties facing Keir Starmer's government at Westminster. He is quizzed constantly about his views on benefit cuts, on the winter fuel payment, on the conflict in the Middle East. Does he agree with Starmer's position on these issues, or is he with the rebels? He can do nothing about any of it, but is forced to triangulate every time he opens his mouth. He can't afford to tie himself too closely to the Prime Minister's unpopular decisions, but doesn't want to appear disloyal. Hence, he says nothing, repeatedly, at great length. What neither leader seems to grasp is that hope, like happiness, is something that comes as a result of effort, of doing the hard stuff well, of creating the conditions that allow people to glimpse the prospect of a better future. But neither has so far shown themselves willing to have a frank conversation with the electorate about what must be done to build that future. For example, Scotland's failing schools system needs radical reform, in ways that would inevitably provoke fury among the teaching unions and the broader educational establishment. There really is no other way to fix it. But neither Swinney nor Sarwar seem to be up for that particular scrap. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe There is no money, which means the devolved state is in no position to continue to deliver the universal benefits so beloved by the dominant soft left. The state itself has grown like topsy and needs dramatically cut down in size. The population is aging at an alarming rate, and the workforce is predicted to shrink as a proportion over the coming decades. Things are going to get worse, not better; harder, not easier. The data is there, the experts are all saying the same thing, and yet the politicians give the impression they have their fingers firmly stuck in their ears. Jam today, tomorrow, and forever is their retail offer. It is a lie. The disconnect between the daily lived experience of Scots and the Scotland their leaders tell them they inhabit is growing ever wider. It all plays into the hands of Reform and other fringe movements. What's the point in supporting the moderate mainstream if that moderate mainstream repeatedly refuses to do what needs to be done? Where are Scotland's mainstream revolutionaries – its Thatchers, Blairs, Milburns, Goves, even Streetings? Where are the ministers who will seize their departments by the scruff of the neck and deliver a programme of change that at least stands a chance of making a measurable, visible difference? That, I believe, is what it will take to bring optimism back to the nation. People are willing to be led through harsh decisions if the values behind them are clear and the outcomes worth shooting for. Can Scotland's politicians change tack, and start telling the truth about what's required? I wish I could say I'm hopeful. [See also: Inside the SNP civil war] Related
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Polite but persistent: Brian Taylor on the art of political interviews
'Think of the people watching, the people voting,' Mr Taylor tells me as I chat to him ahead of The Herald heading to The Fringe this year. With a career in the media spanning over 40 years - much of that time spent as political editor for the BBC - it's more than fair to say that The Herald columnist knows a thing or two about conducting a good interview. And he will be doing just that when The Herald's Unspun Live at the Fringe heads to Summerhall's Dissection Room in over a month's time. First Minister John Swinney will be in the hot seat as Brian Taylor interviews him on August 5. This is certainly not Mr Taylor's first rodeo when it comes to interviewing Mr Swinney. Brian Taylor on the art of a good political interview (Image: Colin Mearns) He has followed the First Minister's career in the SNP from the get-go. From when he was national secretary of the party to his first spell as SNP leader, then to backbench MSP to taking on ministerial roles, and being once again thrusted into the top job of the party and becoming the 'unexpected First Minister', as Mr Taylor puts it. READ MORE: Mr Swinney has often been branded as the 'safe pair of hands' politician. The man who has steadied the ship as the party faced choppy waters under his predecessors. 'Has that always been the case?', I ask the seasoned broadcaster. 'He is a remarkable figure within the SNP because he brings stability, he certainly has endeavoured to do so in the past year, but he is a passionate, fervent nationalist as well. 'He is a passionate, fervent advocate for independence which some perhaps miss when they see that he pursues a tactical and strategic role.' 'He is the unexpected First Minister. If anything we thought his ministerial career was over. 'And then a crisis within the SNP and therefore within the Scottish Government arose and the cry was, 'Send for John'. 'He thought about it and, boy, did he have to think about it.' Mr Swinney has opened up about the personal conflict he felt when considering taking the country's top job. Being there for his wife who has multiple sclerosis and his teenage son, weighing at the forefront of his mind. Brian Taylor and Hannah Brown (Image: Colin Mearns) During his interview with the First Minister in August, Mr Taylor wants to get past 'the sound and fury' in Scottish politics. He wants to find out their 'real' offering to voters ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2026. Mr Taylor said: 'I've never experienced in more than forty years as a journalist a period of tension and disquiet in the body politic and in people as there is now. "I called it repeatedly in my Herald column the age of anxiety, and I'm quite certain that is the case." Some questions Mr Taylor is keen to pose to Mr Swinney include: What does he think about challenges confronting him ahead of the Holyrood elections, what does he think about his rivals for the post of First Minister and what does he think about his predecessors? With so much to cover and only 45 minutes of the First Minister's time, how does Mr Taylor get the best out of a prominent political figure like Mr Swinney? 'What I'm trying to do with any political interview,' Mr Taylor said, 'It is to think not of my objectives, think not of what the First Minister brings to the table, think of the people watching, the people voting. What would they want to ask if they were in my position? 'You ask the questions on behalf of the public that they want answers to, legitimately want answers to. Not the froth, not the frippery, not the nonsense but the genuine answers that the folk on the doorsteps want answers to but you ask them from a position of analytical knowledge." The broadcasting and political expert said 'analytical knowledge' could cover a range of things such as comparing previous statements made by ministers to current ones as well as insight into issues such as the independence strategy or health statistics. But how you frame questions to interviewees is key. 'You say it persistently but you say it politely," he tells me, 'The people should be watching the interview and saying, 'That's it. That's the question I want answers to.' Unspun Live at the Fringe will also include Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar who will face questions from The Herald's editor Catherine Salmond on August 6. We will also hear from deputy first minister Kate Forbes on August 7 and polling expert Sir John Curtice alongside "special guests" on August 4. At every event, there will also be ample time for Q & A with the audience. 'It's quite an exceptional line-up for what promises to be an exceptional series of events,' Mr Taylor said, 'The Edinburgh festivals generally are a core part of Scotland's existence and The Herald is also a core institution in Scotland so it's a natural match between the two.' For those on the fence about buying tickets, Mr Taylor has a message: "Rush, rush, the tickets! "It's going to be a great series of events." 🎟️ Book now for The Herald's Unspun Live at the Edinburgh Fringe – featuring John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, Kate Forbes and more
