The Alba leader and former First Minister has died aged 69. He was apparently giving a speech in North Macedonia this morning…
SNP Finance Minister Shona Robison has just announced much-anticipated spending cuts in the 2024/25 Scottish Government budget. £500 million getting immediately cut, including from “sustainable and active travel” spending. What will the Greens say?
Robison blames the Tory government for failing to increase Scotland’s funding settlement and Labour for imposing “austerity.” The Scottish Fiscal Commission, Scotland’s OBR, has actually placed the blame on Robison for giving out millions in unbudgeted public sector pay rise deals. Cue groans in the Holyrood chamber as Robison says this wouldn’t have happened with independence…
Guido has uncovered the threat of mass of US-style class action lawsuits under Labour, thanks in part to measures included in Angela Rayner’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’, targeting job creators and high street businesses (making it easier to sue them on political grounds). Labour’s extensive links to the lefty lawfare industry are unravelling…
Word is spreading as councils and companies face ever-increasing legal demands – and a recent appointment by Starmer won’t calm nerves. On Thursday, Sir Keir promoted Catherine Smith KC to one of the highest legal positions in the land: Advocate General for Scotland. Smith is Labour royalty: not only is she the daughter of former Labour leader John Smith (a red princess to match Labour’s collection of red princes), but she is yet another experienced claimant lawyer, specialising in “personal injury, clinical negligence and judicial review cases.” A speciality which often means clobbering employers and businesses with expensive legal action…
Starmer has once again promoted a claimant lawyer to a top role. Packing the place with lefty activist lawyers, no wonder UK firms think the shine is coming off Labour’s attempt to woo business…
As Scots scrimp and save to pay the highest income tax rates in the United Kingdom, those in the public sector won’t be feeling so despondent. It turns out in 2022-2023 1,414 Scottish public sector employees reeled in over £100,000 in salary, bonuses and perks, according to the Taxpayers’ Alliance. A whopping 291 employees received over £150,000 in one financial year. A record high figure of busy bodies having higher wages than even the Prime Minister…
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
“Scots will be shocked to learn of the number of bureaucrats with six-figure pay packets across Scotland’s ballooning public sector. With significant responsibilities handed to Scottish ministers and officials, taxpayers would be willing to accept a small number of well-paid, high performers delivering frontline services, but instead they are being given a bloated, inefficient state.”
The eye-watering figures will certainly rile-up a fair few. A true Scot knows the value of a penny…
While Humza Yousaf’s popularity ratings plunge to -32 and Police Scotland sifts through tens of thousands of “hate crime” reports at least the taxpayer is getting their money’s worth from the SNP government. Figures released on the Scottish Government’s propagandising “Independence Papers” show they cost a pretty penny for every read. A paper on the marine sector after independence has been viewed just 1,295 times at a cost of £14,059 to produce. Meanwhile the SNP’s “Independence Minister” gets paid £81,449…
The papers include fantasy 81-page imaginings of “An Independent Scotland in the EU” which pretend that the bloc won’t be able to resist Scotland’s accession thanks to its “vibrant culture“. The Tories say it “is outrageous that hard-pressed Scots are still expected to foot the bill for these SNP propaganda papers which hardly anyone reads“. The Scottish government argue they have a “clear mandate” from voters “to provide the people of Scotland with the information they need.” The SNP might soon find they’re given a mandate to clear off…
It looks like Scottish politicians have more important things to do than submit any of their WhatsApps to the Covid Inquiry. Cultivating their public image seems appears more important. The Sun have tracked the IP addresses of Wikipedia edits on prominent MSPs’ pages and found them to have come from – you guessed it – Holyrood work computers. Staffers’ time is clearly being put to good use…
Paul Sweeney, Scottish Labour MSP, had his Wikipedia page edited a whopping 14 times, which included getting rid of any reference to him being appointed a shadow Scotland minister by Jeremy Corbyn. Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton’s page was edited to remove criticism of his sweary 2021 outburst at children’s minister Maree Todd. Former Scottish Reform leader Michelle Ballantyne had the entire “controversies” section of her page removed. Meanwhile Holyrood computers have added Humza Yousaf’s name to a list of “notable alumni” of a U.S State Department leadership programme. If you can’t be good, look good…
