Scottish politics
‘I don’t recognise my country’ – in crisis, but what crisis?
The immediate conclusion many draw is that the present system is not working. Yet there is no widely accepted account of what ‘the present system’ actually is.
And the winner is…The Absent Voters Party
However in all six Scottish Parliamentary elections since 1999 of the roughly 4 million people registered to vote, those actually voting averaged out at around 2.2million. That’s a difference of 1.8 million – the Absent…
Public pay settlements: a crisis waiting for the next Scottish government
The Scottish government has long practised the exercise of kicking problematic cans down the road. Perhaps wider world crises will keep eyes off Scotland’s immediate pay problems but Fraser of Allander’s deputy director Dr João…
In this Scottish Budget the silences were loudest
The Cabinet Secretary chose to talk about policies such as higher bands of council tax on million-pound-plus properties and increases in the Scottish Child Payment for children under the age of one, but neither takes…
Enough campaigning. Is the next Scottish government prepared to govern?
Hot on the heels of Anton Muscatelli’s hard-hitting report comes Jim Gallagher’s rigorous investigation into Scotland’s failing governance. Fixing Broken Government comes with positive recommendations for a radical re-set in time for the May 2026…
