Displaying items by tag: Scotland

After continued work by the Salvation Army, a campaign to reduce the stigma around deaths caused by alcohol and drugs has gained the support of MSPs in Scotland. ‘See Beyond - See the Lives - Scotland’ hopes to use testimonies of people affected by deaths caused by addiction to shatter myths about substance abuse, and encourage more compassion. At a Holyrood reception MSPs Miles Briggs and Monica Lennon shared their experiences of losing their fathers to alcohol addiction. Their letters are included with fourteen others who have written to their loved ones on the campaign's website. In her letter, Monica, who attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with her father in Glasgow as a teenager, writes: ‘A whole lot of life happens when you are waiting for rock bottom. Part of me always believed that you would fall so hard that recovery would follow. There were times it was too difficult to be around.’

Speaking at a Scottish Police Authority meeting on 25 May, Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone said, ‘It is the right thing for me, as Chief Constable, to state clearly that institutional racism, sexism, misogyny and discrimination exist within the force. Publicly acknowledging they exist is essential to our absolute commitment to championing equality and becoming an anti-racist service. There is no place in Police Scotland for anyone rejecting our values and standards. Our vigilance has never been stronger - rigorous recruitment, enhanced vetting, more visible conduct outcomes and a focus on prevention. The onus is on us, the police, to address gaps and challenge bias, known or unwitting, at every level, and wherever bias occurs, to maintain and build confidence with all communities’. Sir Iain will retire in August; his statement is the first of its kind by a police chief and a ‘watershed moment’ for policing in Scotland and the UK.

According to a YouGov poll, almost three-quarters of people in Scotland do not care about the coronation, and only 46% think that Britain should continue to have a monarchy in future, with 40% saying it should have an elected head of state instead. The poll of 1,032 people between 17 and 20 April found that 44% of respondents have a positive view of the royal family in general, 47% have a negative view, and the remainder do not know. See Scotland’s centuries old Stone of Destiny is an important traditional part of the coronation service. It was transported from Edinburgh to be set into the coronation throne on which the King will sit when he is crowned.

The SNP is reviewing party management after finance controversies. Colin Beattie was reappointed as treasurer in 2021 after previously holding the position for 16 years. Police arrested him on 18 April in an investigation into SNP finances. First minister Humza Yousaf said this arrest was a very serious matter but Mr Beattie was not suspended from the position as people are innocent until proven guilty. The next day Beattie resigned as treasurer, saying he would also step back from his role on the public audit committee until the police investigation had concluded. His arrest had come just hours before Mr Yousaf set out his government's priorities for the next three years. He said that he decided to resign to avoid further distractions to the important work being led by Mr Yousaf to improve the SNP's governance and transparency. Nicola Sturgeon’s husband was arrested two weeks ago but released without charge, pending further inquiries into this investigation.

Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, was arrested, questioned for eleven hours and then released pending further investigation into the SNP’s fundraising and finances. Searches were carried out at a number of addresses including his home and SNP offices. The inquiry was launched after complaints about the SNP’s handling of £600,000 in donations raised by the party, ostensibly to campaign for and hold a second independence referendum. It is alleged that the money was used instead to help with the party’s day-to-day running costs. As the investigation is ongoing the police are unable to comment further. A report will be sent to the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service. On 19 March Murrell resigned after misleading the media about party membership numbers. He had been chief executive since 1999 and was responsible for running the SNP. On 1 April the SNP decided to review its governance and transparency. See

Humza Yousaf has a history of meeting with Hamas and has called for an arms embargo against the state of Israel. He is the first Muslim and at 37 the youngest person to hold the leadership position. But his meeting with Hamas has prompted concerns over his selection. In May 2021, when Israel retaliated to thousands of Hamas rockets he tweeted, ‘Wife in floods of tears all evening, her brother living in Gaza telling us it’s raining rockets’. Yousaf has also said, ‘People are starving and dying a slow death in the Gaza Strip.’ The Jewish Chronicle reported him having attended the high-level meeting with Hamas leader Mohammad Sawalha. The BBC has named Sawalha as having masterminded much of Hamas’ political and military strategy. Scottish parliamentary questions reveal that he attended the Holyrood meeting as a representative of Islam Expo, which was funded by a £2 million grant from Qatar.

New SNP leader Humza Yousaf has said that despite his battles with the UK government he will work with them and other devolved nations constructively. Rishi Sunak congratulated Nicola Sturgeon's successor, saying they should both focus on ‘issues that matter to people’, like reducing inflation, rather than Scottish independence. Yousaf told his party, ‘Now it is time for the SNP to come together and deliver independence.’ He paid tribute to his rivals, finance secretary Forbes and former minister Regan, saying, ‘I know collectively we will continue to work hard as part of Team SNP’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-65086830 Mr Yousaf had been health secretary, so is aware of the mammoth need to fix health and social care problems. 600,000+ are on a waiting list; A&E departments are regularly full. One in six hospital patients cannot get out, despite being ready to be discharged.

On 27 February around 100 people gathered online from across Scotland and beyond in prayer declaring the greatness and goodness of God, confessing the sins of the nation, and praying into aspects of the conduct and process of the SNP leadership campaign. They decided to meet online again on 13 March, the same day that SNP members began voting for their new leader. Voting ends on 27 March. This election is not only important for the SNP, it is significant for the whole of Scotland and beyond.  The new SNP leader will be Scotland’s First Minister, leading the Scottish Government, dealing with leaders of the rest of the United Kingdom, notably with London’s PM and Cabinet. They must maintain the SNP's place in Government, while pushing forward Independence. With Sturgeon no longer leader, her opponents could grasp the opportunity for electing an alternative government - firmly cementing the future of the Union.  See also

Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes are leading candidates to be the next first minister. Kate Forbes said she would not have backed the Scottish government's bill to make it easier to change gender legally. At the heart of her identity is membership of the socially conservative Free Church of Scotland. As a Christian she believes marriage to be between a man and a woman, but she insists she would defend the law as ‘a servant of democracy.’ Mr Yousaf describes himself as a proud Muslim who will be fasting during Ramadan, which falls in the final week of the leadership campaign. He said that he does not legislate on the basis of his faith, and he has a track record of supporting gender reform, gay marriage, and buffer zones around abortion clinics. Ms Forbes also does not legislate on the basis of her faith, favouring votes of conscience. See also

Nicola Sturgeon will step down as Scotland's first minister after over eight years in the job. She has resigned without achieving the one overriding ambition which first sparked her interest in politics as a teenager - Scottish independence. She has been a central figure in Scottish and UK politics and Scotland's longest serving first minister. Her departure comes after a rocky period for her party. Reform of gender recognition laws caused controversy inside and outside the SNP. There are tensions over how to secure a second independence referendum. She said she had been ‘wrestling’ with the question of her future for some weeks as ‘the nature and form of modern political discourse means there is much greater intensity, brutality, to life as a politician than in years gone by’. One of her friends said, ‘She's had enough’.