After over 20 years existence, instead of extending the principle of devolution within Scotland, the Scottish Government has not only retained all the transfers from Westminster but also taken away functions from Local Government: writes George Thorley
governance
Blame Westminster but Holyrood has powers
Councillor Gordon Munro. was suspended from the Labour group on Edinburgh City Council after refusing to back the SNP-Labour coalition budget in May. He makes his case in the week Scotland’s Accounts Commission released a strongly worded report about the fiscal challenges facing all councils.
Scottish councils at breaking point
‘This will not be unique to Scotland’s capital but does illustrate the double bind that local government is in with COVID-19: tackling the problems created along with the cost of doing so with insufficient funding and still having to make cuts of £39m at the same time. This is where the unallocated monies and the underspend can be used especially now in this time of great need.’
Mixed messages on migration
Why will EU citizens find it more difficult to come to the UK to live and work after the end of the transition period? Because UK policy and laws will be designed to deter them – along with others – from coming here.
Boris Johnson: Covid-19 and the dark side of optimism
‘Our prime minister has discovered the hard way that cheery optimism alone will not protect us from this virus; the only certainty about the future is that it is uncertain. Bad things can, and do, happen. We are all ‘buffeted by events.’ I hope this reality check will extend to his view of Brexit.’
No magic cure for Scotland’s stubborn health inequality
Devolution has failed to reduce Scotland’s stubborn health inequality. Norman Bonney doubts that greater powers are necessarily the answer to Scotland’s problems.