Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has announced she will stand down from Holyrood at the next Scottish election in May 2026. She will remain as Deputy First Minister until then…
In a public letter to First Minister John Swinney published this morning, Forbes says she is focusing on her family life:
“Dear John,
After careful thought over the summer recess, I have informed the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch Constituency Association today that I intend to step down from the Scottish Parliament at the next election.
It has been an incredible privilege to serve the people of the Highlands since 2016 as the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch. In that time, I have also been grateful for the opportunity to serve in Government, initially as Minister for Public Finance, then as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and more recently as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic.I am in no doubt about the scale of my duties as a local representative, an activist and campaigner, and a Government Minister. Quite rightly this job entails long days far from home, constant attention and total dedication. As I consider the upcoming election and the prospects of another term, I have concluded that I do not wish to seek re-election and miss any more of the precious early years of family life.
I remain wholly supportive of you today just as when I backed you to be Leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland, and I will continue to serve my constituents and the public with diligence over the next year. I look forward to campaigning for the SNP at the next election, to return you as First Minister for another term and lead Scotland to independence.”
Forbes came second to Humza Yousaf (remember him?) in the SNP leadership race to replace Nicola Sturgeon two years ago. A lifetime ago in politics…
President Trump has thrown his full support behind American actress Sydney Sweeney, claiming her new American Eagle jeans advert is “fantastic” upon learning she is a registered Republican:
“Oh now I love her ad. You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans. That’s one I wouldn’t have known, but I’m glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic…”
The ad campaign ruffled the feathers of the usual suspects with too much time on their hands over the last week. Apparently it has ‘problematic’ political messaging. Now it’s got the presidential seal of approval…
Downing Street has clearly decided to keep the Farage Savile row going for as long as they can. Jess Phillips is the latest Labour minister to take up the mantle this morning…
Writing in the Times the Home Office minister said of the Online Safety Act:
“Farage said it’s the biggest threat to freedom of speech in our lifetimes. My colleague Peter Kyle said he was siding with modern-day Jimmy Saviles preying on children online.”
She brought up the case of internet paedophile Alexander McCartney who posed as a teenager to abuse and blackmail children: “That’s why the Online Safety Act exists — to try to provide that basic minimum of protection and make it harder for paedophiles to prey on children at will. And we can’t afford to wait.” That’s why Commons speeches and political news stories should be blocked from the internet…
Phillips claimed Farage doesn’t support child safety because it generates “no clicks for his monetised social media accounts. But I do… I worry about what it means now and what it will mean when boys reared on a diet of ultraviolent online child abuse are adult men having children of their own. I can’t ignore that, neither can Peter Kyle and, most importantly, nor can millions of parents across the country.” The tech-savvy kids all have VPNs and have entered into an even less regulated internet than it was before. Labour has so far resorted to begging people not to use the privacy software – it may not be long before it goes further…
Home Office minister Angela Eagle is this morning refusing to say when the one-in-one-out small boat returns deal will be operationalised. The scheme is only a pilot and is slated to return circa 50 small boat crossers per week. About 6% of crossers at the current rate – 3% of last week’s figure…
Eagle said the deal would be signed this week but refused to say what number the Home Office wants to be detained and sent back under the pilot, nor what figure was the government’s ambition in a year’s time. She began saying people “will be” before saying they will “possibly be” returned to France under the deal. Some nervousness from Labour after the French negotiated the figure down at the last minute in June/July…
On the timing of what she called a “learning exercise” Eagle said Yvette Cooper “will make that announcement in due course but it will be soon… work is ongoing very quickly.” 25,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this year alone. Would’ve been nice if a deterrent was already in place by summer last year, something rhyming with ‘veranda’ comes to mind…
This week 704,532 visitors visited 825,241 times viewing 890,428 pages. The most read and shared stories in order of popularity were:
- Labour Could Ban VPNs After Online Safety Act Surge
- Labour’s Online Safety Act Censors Harmless Story on ‘Keir’ Baby Names
- Farage: Two-Tier Cooper Took Sides After Manchester Airport Brawl
- Downing Street Refuses to Promote Humiliating Starmer-Trump Meeting
- Trump Says ‘Nasty’ Sadiq Khan Has Done a ‘Terrible Job’
- MoJ Refuses to Say How Many Super-Injunctions Labour Has Enacted
- Man Found Guilty of Assault After Manchester Airport Attack
You’re either in front of Guido, or you are behind…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
