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In: Political News

We will make our education system one of the best in the world with equal opportunities for all of our children. We will – •    Expand early education and childcare to 30 hours per week – this will require, by the end of the par-liament, additional investment of £500 million per year by 2021, 600 new childcare centres and 20,000 new childcare staff. •    Invest £750 million in raising attainment for all – targeting school funding where it is needed, and put-ting more resources in the hands of individual schools including £500m raised directly from local taxa-tion for investment in schools. •    Implement the NationalRead More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

With the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament on March 23 2016 came the retiral of our constituency MSP, Rob Gibson. Rob had been constituency MSP for Caithness, Sutherland & Ross since 2011 when he took the title from LibDem Jamie Stone and had been list MSP for the Highlands and Islands for eight years before that. For a constituency, indeed a region, that had been forever Liberal in all their guises, this was no mean feat and was the beginning of the changes that we would see throughout the country several years later. A long time SNP activist, he has devoted much of his lifeRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Debt. It’s been a fairly topical subject in recent weeks. With The Hootsmon, revealing on March 10 that Scotland currently would have a “black hole of £15 billion”. And  on March 24 revealed that it would have been only £10 billion on March 24 if we had voted YES instead of NO on Black Thursday! So, that means according to the voice of Unionism, that Scotland has lost another £5 billion (£5,000,000,000) by staying with the “delights” of London’s Tory austerity agenda in just 18 months. But, debt, real or imagined, has been on my mind for another reason as well! I had a conversationRead More →

On:
In: Guest Blogger

by Steve Daley Scotland’s economy is strong with certain sectors such as the construction sector outperforming the rest of the UK. However Scotland’s economy recently has been slowing for the last two consecutive quarters. Tourism is a huge part of Scotland’s economy with an expenditure of nearly of nearly £5 billion and with 40 percent of that coming from oversea students It has been noted numerous times how British Air Passenger Duty (APD) is the most expensive air passenger tax in the world with only five other European countries using this regressive tax.  With APD being devolved to the Scottish Parliament, it is no surpriseRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

So, this past week has seen all the parties state what they would do about local tax if they are in government after May 5th, or did they? Ruth Davidson’s Tories don’t seem to have said anything except that it would be bad not to give those in the 40p tax bracket the added £2000 to limit where starting to pay the 40p begins. From what I can see the SNP are only going to raise that threshold by £387, the rate of inflation. By sticking with what the Tory chancellor has announced, Ruth would lose Scotland an income of £120 million in the nextRead More →

On:
In: Clare Adamson

Young people in North Lanarkshire, eligible to vote for the first time, have been denied direct access to Scotland’s First Minister in a bizarre move by Labour run North Lanarkshire Council.   In denying our young people the chance to attend the question and answer event the Labour party has moved beyond desperation to hysteria.   This was not a ‘rally’ as the ill-informed Cllr Frank McNally suggests but an event, hosted alongside youth organisation Young Scot, for young people to engage with the First Minister in a question and answer session. It is similar to other such events previously held.  A diverse group ofRead More →

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In: Political News

The Scottish Government is the most trusted government in the European Union, new analysis has shown. Earlier this week, the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found that 73 per cent of respondents trust the Scottish Government – compared to only 23 per cent who trust the UK Government. When compared to a study of trust in national governments across the EU, analysis shows that the Scottish Government is the most trusted in Europe – with significantly higher trust levels than the nearest challengers in Finland and Denmark, who trail behind Scotland at 60% and 55% respectively. The study also shows that trust in the Scottish GovernmentRead More →

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In: Uncategorized

Kezia Dugdale has come under renewed pressure to use her party’s conference to set out a credible position on council tax – amidst polling evidence showing that even her own party’s voters are backing the SNP’s fair, progressive reforms to local tax. Labour has yet to detail any firm plans for local taxation – while a poll last week showed that the SNP’s planed reforms are by far the most popular option amongst even Labour voters.  The poll confirmed that the SNP’s plans were favoured amongst the majority of those who expressed an opinion. The SNP Government has announced plans to reform local tax, whichRead More →

On:
In: Political News

Welcoming the passing of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill, SNP MSP Kevin Stewart said: “The Private Housing (Tenancies) Bill will provide for a transformative change in the private rented sector – providing security for Scotland’s 700,000 tenants. “The Bill creates a modern tenancy, ends no fault evictions and limits rent increases to once every 12 months. “This legislation addresses the problem of excessive rent rises by giving councils the ability to apply to introduce rent controls in designated rent pressure areas. This is the first time any such control has been introduced in Scotland and is an ambitious plan to ensure protection for tenantsRead More →