“Starmer, in his speech, said both Farage, the Tories, ‘the extremes of the left’ and the SNP want Britain to fail. But as the Prime Minister struggles on, the biggest risk is that Starmer will fail and Labour will end up where the Tories were, desperately swapping one bad leader for another. The UK does not need such poor leadership.”
UK
Political change across Britain and Ireland (2)
“Underlying most of these is a deep disenchantment across the UK with its democratic credentials and constitutional settlements a generation on from devolution. Such issues have fallen down the political agenda amid a complacency about the need to address them…Support for Scottish and Welsh independence in the EU, and for referendums on Irish unity, grows in response and would accelerate under a Farage-led government.”
Defence spending in GERS: anatomy of a myth
“Through an official government news release, Scotland’s Finance Secretary has created a false narrative which has now become an outright falsehood being promoted by SNP activists on social media. This should concern anybody interested in the problem of misinformation in political debate.”
GERS 25: making Scotland pay for Starmer’s wars
The latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report, GERS, came out this week. Within it lies a fiscal trap that will hit Scotland in future years as the UK ramps up spending on the military.
Labour and ending poverty
“When governments are remembered after they lose office, their achievements are unforgivingly distilled into a few pithy bullet points. Does Keir Starmer really want one of his bullet points to be that he was the unusual Labour prime minister who presided over an increase in child poverty?”
Starmer risks self-harm by alienating his party
Political parties with commanding parliamentary majorities are often tempted by the promise of assertive leadership and decisive action. Yet, as the events of the last few weeks reveal, a large majority is no substitute for the subtler arts of political management, party cohesion and narrative discipline. Missteps like suspending four MPs and sacking three trade […]
Starmer Y1: what now for Scotland and a fractured union?
“Labour’s hopes, when it won the general election, to be in government in England, Wales and Scotland by 2026 currently look off the agenda, not to say absurd. A fractured Labour government and parliamentary party is not well positioned to think about the fractured union that it claims to govern. And a UK government focused on England looks set to continue doing so.”
The spending rollercoaster is well and truly back
The Scottish Government says it and Scotland have been “short-changed” by Rachel Reeves but what does the Spending Review mean for us really?
What tighter immigration controls mean for Scotland
“The Scottish Government faces a tight fiscal environment. These reforms may pose additional challenges to the Scottish economy without offering much in the way of solutions.”
Welfare reforms: the (unknown) Scottish dimension
“The Scottish Government’s block grant adjustment is based on the projected expenditure in England and Wales, and therefore a tightening of access to PIP will (all else equal) make the Scottish Budget worse off. It is then the Scottish Government’s decision to move in lockstep or to find the additional funds from other sources.”