After months of evidence collection, the Commission on Local Tax Reform has published its final report: Just Change: A New Approach to Local Taxation.   The cross-party commission, established jointly by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), brought together representatives from across the political spectrum to look at options for a fairer local tax system.   Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, Marco Biagi, one of the commission’s co-chairs, said: “The First Minister established this commission to allow an informed debate on the future of local taxation.   “We welcome the fact that four of the five parties inRead More →

Local MSP Signs Book of Commitment on Holocaust Memorial Day Dave Thompson, SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch recently (27/01/15) signed the Book of Commitment in the Scottish Parliament on Holocaust Memorial day. The Holocaust Educational Trust who was sponsoring the event was established in 1988. Their aim is to educate young people from every background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learned for today and is bringing together testimony from people who sought sanctuary in Scotland to escape the racism of Nazi-dominated Europe. Mr Thompson said, “The 27th of January was the day for everyone to remember the six millionRead More →

Clare Adamson MSP welcomes legislation which will help modernise the criminal justice system A new law setting out improvements to the criminal justice system has been passed by the Scottish Parliament. Speaking after the Stage 3 debate, Ms Adamson said: “I am delighted that the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill has been approved by the Scottish Parliament today. I believe the Bill strikes the right balance between strengthening the powers available to police and prosecutors while protecting the rights of the accused and it takes forward a wide range of proposals all designed to modernise and improve our current criminal justice system in Scotland”. A newRead More →

Welcome to those who have shown an interest in getting your Scots Independent in digital format. You need to click the shop button above this post. Once on the shop homepage, click newspapers button and click either option in the drop down menu. For the current edtion click on the October issue and click add to cart.(back issues will also be available for a period of time i.e. Septembers issue is also available) You then click the shopping cart button on top right of page, a box appears, click checkout in bottom right corner of box. You will now be asked if you are aRead More →

Almost everybody I meet at the moment asks me what it’s like to be an MP. So I thought I’d explain a wee bit about The House of Commons part of the job. Parliament meets in Westminster roughly 32 weeks a year. The weeks vary drastically, but usually I leave the house about 7am on a Monday morning and fly to London. I go straight to Westminster and arrive by 1pm. Parliament sits from 2:30pm to 10pm on a Monday, although a half hour adjournment debate follows the 10pm votes. On Tuesday and Wednesday the House sits 11:30am to 7pm and on Thursdays from 9:30amRead More →

A week or two back I had occasion to go to St John’s Hospital in Livingston; as they had warned about problems with parking I opted for the bus.  As such I had ample time to note all the towns and villages along the route, many of which had become familiar during the Livingston by election a few years back. That by election was caused by the death of Robin Cook, and Labour put up Jim Devine who had been Robin Cook’s election agent; he was not prominent in the campaign as I recall as Labour tried to hide him from view, and we wereRead More →