Government ‘putting its money where its mouth is' with £200m for Acorn scheme

Ministers confirmed they are meeting in full the request for development funding for the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire – the first time a government has provided funding of this scale for such a project to proceed.
The scheme, which proposes storing emissions from across Scotland under the North Sea, had previously been overlooked for support despite repeated calls from the Scottish Government and others for it to be backed.
With the UK Government also pledging to support the Viking carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the Humber, Mr Miliband insisted the two schemes will 'support industrial renewal' with 'thousands of highly skilled jobs'.
According to the sector, Acorn could support about 15,000 jobs at its peak, with up to 20,000 jobs at the Viking project.
As it develops, it is planned the Acorn site will link up with the former oil refinery at Grangemouth via more than 200 miles of pipelines.
An existing 175 miles of gas pipes will be repurposed for this, with 35 miles of new pipeline also being built, allowing CO2 from the Grangemouth site to be transported to Acorn's storage facilities under the North Sea. The move is seen by many as being key in securing a future for the facility, where some 400 workers were recently made redundant.
Ed Miliband visited the Acorn project site near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, on Thursday (Paul Campbell/PA)
Speaking as he visited the site near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Mr Miliband said: 'This Government is putting its money where its mouth is and backing the trailblazing Acorn and Viking CCS projects.
'This will support industrial renewal in Scotland and the Humber with thousands of highly-skilled jobs at good wages to build Britain's clean energy future.
'Carbon capture will make working people in Britain's hard-working communities better off, breathing new life into their towns and cities and reindustrialising the country through our Plan for Change.'
Mr Miliband visited the site the day after Rachel Reeves promised funding for Acorn in her spending review – although the Chancellor did not put a figure on how much support would be given in her statement to MPs.
(PA Graphics)
Tim Stedman, chief executive of Storegga, the lead developer of Acorn, said: 'We warmly welcome the UK Government's support for the Acorn project and the commitment to development funding that will enable the critical work needed to reach final investment decision.'
He added the 'milestone' is 'key not only for Acorn but for establishing Scotland's essential CCS infrastructure needed to grow and scale the UK's wider carbon capture and storage industry'.
Mr Stedman continued: 'We look forward to working with Government in the months ahead to understand the details of today's commitment, and to ensure the policy, regulatory and funding frameworks are in place to build and grow a world-leading UK CCS sector.'
Graeme Davies, executive vice-president at Harbour Energy, which is leading the Viking project, said the commitment in the spending review 'sends a strong signal' that the project is 'an infrastructure-led economic growth priority' for the Parliament.
He added: 'We will work with Government on the critical steps needed to progress Viking CCS towards a final investment decision.'

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Times

15 minutes ago

• Times

Leaving oil and gas in the ground was always a pipe dream

Just call me Mystic Mac. As I forecast in this space earlier this month, the UK has finally opened the door to the development of the Rosebank oilfield off Shetland and the Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen. Ed Miliband, the net zero secretary, famously said that drilling in these two modest reserves would constitute 'climate vandalism'. Well, it looks like he will shortly have to get his spray paint out and daub 'Just Start Oil' on the door of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. To be honest, it didn't take supernatural foresight to predict that these totemic fields would ultimately get the go-ahead. They were given licences by the last government. Production was halted only by a bizarre judgment by the Court of Session in Edinburgh. In January Lord Ericht ruled in favour of the climate activists, Uplift and Greenpeace, who argued that the UK government hadn't carried out a full environmental impact assessment of the emissions from the burning of fossil fuels downstream. It had merely provided an assessment of the carbon dioxide from the process of extracting it and piping it ashore. New methods of extraction can and are producing significant reductions in producer emissions. But the UK government had not formally included an assessment of the downstream emissions since it was deemed self-evident that burning hydrocarbons produces greenhouse gases. What did the court expect? That it would be used to oil bicycle chains and fill balloons? Shell says that Jackdaw alone would produce enough gas to heat 1.4 million households. The environmental and health impact on those households of withdrawing their main source of heating was not, of course, considered in this pettifogging ruling — because that would have required an ounce of common sense. Nor did the court recognise that the gas, which would have to be imported to fuel those domestic boilers if Jackdaw were stoppered, might produce more emissions than using our domestic supply. Yet it should be patently obvious that shipping liquefied natural gas 3,000 miles from America by tanker is more profligate in emissions than using what's produced by extraction from our backyard. The court was tacitly endorsing the perverse logic of the Scottish government and lobbyists such as Greenpeace that, in some morally inexplicable way, imported oil and gas is good while ours is bad. But Sir Keir Starmer was never going to start shutting down an industry that generates about £25 billion a year, according to Offshore Energy UK, and supports around 100,000 jobs. Pointlessly sacrificing these new fields would only have indicated to the few companies still operating in the region that the government is hell bent on closing down the North Sea prematurely. The new rules announced last week by Michael Shanks, the energy minister, will allow further development of the Cambo and Clair fields, expansion of which had also been placed on hold following the January court ruling. This whole episode served only to showcase the absurdity of what is being called the managerial 'lanyard class's' thinking about energy. The Treasury is not stupid and was never going to endorse an exercise in performative self-harm. Nor was No 10. 'Keeping it in the ground', as Patrick Harvie used to advocate, was not what Labour meant by a rational and measured transition to renewable energy. The UK depends on oil and gas for 75 per cent of its energy usage. So the UK government has rejigged the approval process to include a statement of the bleedin' obvious — viz, that burning oil and gas produces emissions. Industry sources believe, rightly, that by submitting this new and more politically correct prospectus, they will be able to go ahead. That is, if firms like Equinor haven't given up in disgust. They're already being hit by a 78 per cent profits tax on North Sea oil, which makes you wonder why they bother. It's not as if the oil price is exactly soaring right now, despite the nasty business in the Strait of Hormuz. Companies such as Harbour Energy have given up and pulled out. Norwegian-owned Equinor, in Rosebank, is hanging on, presumably in the hope that it will be well placed to bid for future wind farm development. It installed the first commercially viable floating wind farm, Hywind, off Peterhead. All of which underlines the lamentable state of our whole approach to energy. Oil companies, demonised by the environmental lobby, happen to possess the very skills and technology which will be needed if and when the green energy bonanza finally materialises. Greenpeace seems to think the wind energy in the North Sea can be harnessed by Native American dream-catchers and transmitted into people's homes by daisy chains. In fact it requires heavy-duty platforms, implanted in turbulent waters, to support wind turbines the size of the Eiffel Tower — and also the laying of undersea cables to get it to the grid (if it can be upgraded in time). This is not very different, technologically, from what fossil fuel companies have been doing for the past 50 years. Rosebank and Jackdaw are not going to solve the UK's strategic energy deficit. They are rather modest operations in a North Sea field that is in steep and irrevocable decline. The glory days are over. But we still need whatever they can provide, if only to ensure a measure of energy security and help reduce costly imports. One of the more specious arguments currently deployed by opponents of Rosebank and Jackdaw is that their hydrocarbons will be exported and are therefore of no use here. Not so: gas goes directly to the UK. Oil is mostly exported to Rotterdam for refining, but it comes back as petrol and other products. It isn't refined here because we've closed nearly all our own refineries, such as Grangemouth, because of our perverse belief that it is morally preferable to import hydrocarbons. Abandoning the North Sea won't bring forward net zero by a single day. It will merely increase our dependency on authoritarian governments in the Middle East, make energy bills even more unaffordable, and deprive the UK of billions in oil revenues to spend on the NHS. Predictably, the Scottish government has not responded to the energy U-turn. The SNP is still under the sway of environmental cretinism. No wonder Fergus Ewing, a voice of energy sanity, has decided to walk. Perhaps Ed Miliband may be following him in the not-too-distant future.

Edinburgh Reporter

44 minutes ago

• Edinburgh Reporter

By-election June 2025 – Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart

A by-election will be held this week to fill the vacant council seat in Edinburgh following the sudden death of Labour councillor, Val Walker in April. Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 26 June 22025 and will be positioned at: Kingsknowe Golf Club Edinburgh Corn Exchange St Michaels Church Hall Fountainbridge Library Boroughmuir Rugby & Community Sports Club Craiglockhart Parish Church Hall Tollcross Community Centre The electronic election count will take place on Thursday 26 June starting at the close of poll at 10pm. The candidates standing for election are as follows: Bonnie Prince Bob, Independent Derrick Emms, Independent Lukasz Furmaniak, Scottish Libertarian Party Mark Hooley, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Richard Crewe Lucas, Scottish Family Party Q Manivannan, Scottish Greens Kevin Joseph McKay, Scottish Liberal Democrats Catriona Munro, Scottish Labour Party Gary Neill, Reform UK Mark Rowbotham, Independent Murray Visentin, Scottish National Party (SNP) Steve Christopher West, Independent Marc Wilkinson, Independent Council Ward 9 Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart The ward stretches from Haymarket west to Colinton Dell. It is as diverse as most others in the city and includes part of the Union Canal, Easter Craiglockhart Hill Local Nature Reserve and the main campus for Edinburgh Napier University. In 2022 at the Local Government election the electorate was 18,284 and there was a 49.8% turnout. Three councillors were elected – Cllr David Key (SNP), Cllr Christopher Cowdy (Conservative) and Cllr Val Walker (Labour). We have interviewed some of the candidates either online or face to face – but here is a breakdown of what we know about all 13 in alphabetical order: Bonnie Prince Bob, Independent Bob is a serial candidate in Edinburgh. He stood in the last two by-elections in Colinton/Fairmilehead. In the last by-election he gathered support from 30 voters in the ward which has an electorate of 19,669. He also stood in the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary election where he lost to Angus Robertson MSP who won the Edinburgh Central seat with 16,276 votes. Bob won 363 votes on that occasion which was 0.9% of the poll. He describes himself as a 'professional political commentator /producer & presenter of #What the X Scotland's most dynamic livestream' and encourages voters to 'Stop electing party political parasites'. Click here to see his social media presence on X. You can watch the unboxing of his campaign leaflets here: Bonnie Prince Bob an Independent candidate in Edinburgh Central with Lady A and Lady B ©2021 The Edinburgh Reporter Derrick Emms, Independent Derrick Emms is an independent candidate who is standing in a loose coalition with two of the other 13 candidates, Marc Wilkinson and Mark Rowbotham (see below). He encourages voters not to elect politicians but rather to elect a team. So if you vote for Mr Emms then the three would work together. He said in a statement to voters: 'Let's set aside party-political differences and come together.' While Wilkinson is declared to be the front-runner, Derrick Emms said he would hold twice weekly surgeries open to all – on Fridays and Saturdays in Fountainbridge Library. He would have the help of the other two independent candidates as 'case workers'. His statement continues: 'Our plan is to come 4th in the twelve wards that elect four Councillors and 3rd in the five wards that elect three. Seventeen Councillors would make us the largest party in the City Chambers as we would have taken these seats from the current five parties. At our surgeries we will represent constituents from all of Edinburgh's Wards. We will help constituents coordinate with each other to lobby their respective Councillors as a team making them more effective. We will make the petition feature on our website which is designed for petitioning elected representatives available. This will transform representative democracy.' Lukasz Furmaniak, Scottish Libertarian Party Lukasz Furmaniak is Polish and has been in the UK for 14 years. He used to work in hospitality but is now a private hire car driver. He wants politics to 'come back to common sense'. He is most exercised by planters which impede progress for drivers on the city's streets. He said: 'We believe that people should decide for themselves if they want to use the cars or not. If they want to use the bus, we are very happy they use the buses. If they want to walk or cycle, we're very happy when they do that. But at the end of the day, it should be their own choice, not imposed by the overlords.' He continued: 'What I believe is that it's time for us to review all the rules and make them simplified, easier to follow 'We all can see there's road works everywhere all year around. Charlotte Square was like that five times last year – closed for a stretch of 200 yards. 'Corstorphine Road – four times in 15 months it was closed again. And there's all the potholes and everything. Why are all the jobs not done in one go? I don't really understand that.' But he would do nothing to affect public libraries or schools saying 'I believe in all this spending – libraries are probably the best choice we can have'. But most of all it is about common sense. He said: 'The biggest thing I'm campaigning on is just come back to common sense – as simple as that. Stop doubling down on the ideas that don't really work and don't help anyone, but they are just, I guess, a vanity project of the councillors. Just to come back to actually sorting the problems rather than creating a new one.' Libertarians have little time for rules. Instead the party is in favour of individual liberty, a free and sound economy, foreign neutrality and political independence. The Scottish Libertarian Party holds a social event every second Sunday. Mark Hooley, Scottish Conservative and Unionist For Mark Hooley a local who has lived in the area for the past ten years, it is all about 'the basics'. He said: 'The theme of the campaign is back to basics. You probably hear going around really popular is fixing the roads, the potholes, you know, the bin collections, but these sort of basics, the weeding, it's just really the theme is kind of the council sometimes forgetting to do the basics for the residents that live here. you know, if some people, they maybe don't understand why. He said: 'There's money to do trams and everything, but the day-to-day basics are getting missed. It is no wonder that people have a bit of disillusionment when they see that. There is usually a bit less of a turnout during by-elections, but I would say there has been a little bit of apathy in vernal about politics.' He explained that he has always loved politics – his father was an SNP supporter. He grew up in the Parkgrove area of the city, studied politics in Dundee and then lived in the US and in Holland. Currently he is studying for a MSc in Journalism at Edinburgh Napier University, and he ran as a Conservative candidate in the Sighthill/Gorgie ward in the 2022 council elections when he attracted 986 first preference votes. He said that he is not a career politician, just 'a regular guy who wants to get involved and is passionate about it'. Reflecting on the lower number of Conservative councillors at the City Chambers after the 2022 election he said that a win here would help to 'chip away' to get back to where the council group was before. He was complimentary to Conservative councillor, Christopher Cowdy who represents the Fountainbruidge/Craiglockhart ward along with SNP councillor, David Key, saying: 'Chris Cowdy is one of the councillors for the ward currently. He's very visible, very vocal, he's very well liked and trusted in the area and known as someone who can get things done and is very responsive. So I would be looking to work together with him and to really reflect residents concerns and the day-to-day stuff.' @edinreporter Mark Hooley is the Scottish Conservative candidate in the June 2025 council by-election in Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Here he explains a bit of his personal background to the Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter. #edinburghnews #edinburghlocalnews #hyperlocalnews #councilbyelection ♬ original sound – EdinReporter Mark Hooley centre with his Conservative supporters out campaigning PHOTO courtesy of Miles Briggs Richard Crewe Lucas, Scottish Family Party Richard Lucas is the Scottish Family Party candidate who has stood at a range of elections in the past few years. He stood in the Colinton/Fairmilehead ward in the 2022 council elections when he achieved 65 votes – and got the same number of votes in January 2025. Mr Lucas hs lived in Colinton for over 25 years, teaching at Merchiston Castle School for most of that time. The party values are: 'Families are the building blocks of a healthy society. The government's job is to support and encourage stable family life, for the sake of children, adults and the wider society.' The party promotes marriage as the best way to lay the foundation for society – but only heterosexual marriage. 'The commitment of marriage helps ensure that a child benefits from the distinct and complementary parenting of their mother and father, a male and female role model in the family home, and the sense of identity that naturally flows from relatedness.' They do not believe in same sex marriage as it does not embody these ideals. Richard Lucas Scottish Family Party candidate Q Manivannan, Scottish Greens Q Manivannan is from the Tamil community and was born in India in 1997, making their home in Scotland since 2021. Q has worked in the United Nations, in trade unions, voluntary organisations, and as an award-winning scholar in universities. Q has won the Kavya Prize for Scottish writers of colour in 2023 and co-convenes the Palestine Solidarity Group for the Scottish Greens. Q said that as an academic at St Andrews University and as a policy expert they have experience of community organising. Projects which they have supported include road safety, pedestrian crossings and tenants rights. Q plans to focus on stricter speed limits and improved infrastructure for disability access if elected. Attracted to the Green Party by its focus on individual expression and environmental conservation, other matters of importance to them include voter transparency and inclusion. Q said: 'My main principles have been around building more inclusive governance structures, particularly ones where residents and voters are more involved with democratic processes from the get go and through different stages of policies and motions. But at the same time, focusing on the very local issues I know we've had in our area, like resident safety alongside along alongside the canal path, for instance, or traffic and road safety along Ashley Terrace where the pedestrian crosssing has been overdue there for 20 years, Harrison Road and Yeamen Place. Lastly of course preserving our green and blue spaces because it feels like a fair few spaces around the city as well as in our ward are under threat.' In relation to some matters these could be solved more easily with a collaborative approach. Q said: 'I think it's also important that issues like road safety as well as tenants rights are across parties. I feel like they're more logistical concerns regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum. I think Cllr Val Walker was excellent in that sense almost removing the more dramatic politics out of it and focussing on the local issues and communities.' Q is involved with fundraising for Palestine running a music and culture event each month in Marchmont. Through that organisation they have been able to help local businesses having troubles with the council about tables and chairs placed outside. Q said: 'It was good to work with them to find solutions to that.' Q has also been part of the activism around pensions and pay cuts for tutors and paid staff members in St Andrews and Edinburgh. At the end of the interview Q said : 'I would begin with bette infrastructural changes and audits for disability as well as mobility. There's been a lot of concerns raised around roads as well as on the Canal Path and other parts of Fountainbridge /Craiglockhrt not being accessible, whether it's for the elderly or it's for pram pushers. I think, is a significant concern that leads to other safety issues, and that would be right on top of my to do list to begin with.' Q Manivannan Kevin Joseph McKay, Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats announced Mr McKay as their candidate in May like this: 'An environmental campaigner, Kevin spent a career tackling pollution issues in the water industry. If elected, he would join a City Chambers Lib Dem team fighting for road safety, investment in schools, and fixing our pavements and roads!' Catriona Munro, Scottish Labour Party Catriona Munro Labour candidate Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Catriona Munro has been a lawyer for the last 30 years, most recently a competition lawyer. Now that retirement is fast approaching she is looking to be an elected member of the council. Ms Munro explained that her parents were lifelong activists for the Labour Party, and she was born on an election day when her father was a Westminster candidate. He didn't ever get elected but she said: 'I feel as though I'm an election baby. I've always loved elections and I relish campaigning. It's great fun.' Brought up in Brussels, Ms Munro said she doesn't have a strong Scottish accent, but she lives in the city. Asked what she is campaigning on she replied: 'People are concerned about the very basic things, that the potholes are very annoying, that there are lots of issues around parking. People raise questions over access to new developments. I had someone who who is concerned about their their road becoming busy because it was going to be used to access a new development. 'Now, of course, we need new housing, but we also need to respect people's views and then other people concerned about the introduction of controlled parking zones. So it's welcome to some people, but not to others, and it's a question of making sure that those voices are all heard and that the most appropriate way of introducing those controlled parking zones is used.' She cited the positive contribution and local impact of two Labour councillors elected in 2022 – Cllr Scott Arthur and Cllr Val Walker. The usual topics of ootholes, parking issues and underfunding all came up during our interview when she explained the difference Cllr Walker made in securing funding for DanceBase. Ms Munro agreed that Cllr Walker will be a hard act to follow, but she thinks she could fill her shoes. She said that many local people had met Cllr Walker during her short time as a councillor – and some people in the area had met Val several times – often in their homes – about their issues. Catriona said: 'It is good to know that work on the ground really makes a difference, that people notice it. You're right these are big shoes to fill but I think it means the groundwork of having a well-liked councillor has been done.' Gary Neill, Reform UK Gary Neill Reform UK candidate Gary Neill is the Reform UK candidate standing in this by-election. The grandfather from Northern Ireland said he is standing for the sake of his grandchildren. He explained: 'I've been a member of Reform for about three years. I've been a Tory voter all my life, but the last lot of years, it's got very disenchanting. 'The biggest thing we need to take control of is the amount of money that we spend and the amount of tax that we raise. This country has been borrowing month on month, year on year. And we are rolling up the most enormous debt for our grandchildren to deal with. So that's what drives me.' Asked what he would seek to influence in the council he said it was simple: 'We need to start looking at the way The City of Edinburgh Council is run. Even in my short term, and exposure to the statistics and there is in your face waste.' He suggests selling off any council-owned buildings and land which are not required or used, and is vocal in his campaign leaflet about the 'state of Edinburgh roads'. He said: 'I'm in and out of Edinburgh Airport quite a bit and honest to goodness taking people back into the centre of town your back is put out with the state of the roads.' He said that he has had a career in sales, has travelled the world and is now retired. He feels that his experience can now be put to use. He said: 'My entire time has been in the commercial sector, in the private sector, where it is very competitive, very tough. But, I think I can use that in the public sector. And I'm fortunate that I have the time to pursue this – and I feel quite driven to do so.' Finally he is incensed that the council should only be concerned about local matters. He said that in a previous set of council papers from March there were motions about Palestine and Gaza – 'not one of them anything to do with Edinburgh'. He said: 'I think our elected representatives, of which I hope to be one, should actually concentrate and focus on running the city without getting involved in stuff they have no knowledge of. It might even be said that it's virtue signalling to look good in front of their people. I don't know, I don't care. It's nothing to do with running Edinburgh.' He is new to politics and says he has quickly learned that the electorate is very fickle. He said: 'They'll tell you one thing and they'll do something else. We learned that just last month at Hamilton where a lot of volunteers for Reform were helping the excellent candidate that we have, Ross Lambie. The media didn't say it, but they knew it was a two horse race, the SNP and Reform. We knew it was a two horse race. Yeah. Yeah. And then bang out of nowhere comes Labour and it flummoxed all of us.' Mr Neill has been out twice daily in the ward with his supporters visiting as many people as possible in the ward. He said: 'As much as Reform is enjoying a fairly high profile nationally, we've got to try and make that a local message, I feel pretty good about it. It;s a good challenge and I'm enjoying it.' Gary Neill is the @ candidate for the council by-election in Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart. Here he outlines just one way he thinks the council could do better — The Edinburgh Reporter (@ 2025-06-22T12:52:45.692Z Mark Rowbotham, Independent Mr Rowbotham is standing as an independent candidate in collaboration with Marc Wilkinson and Derrick Emms. HIs stance is the same as the other two candidates : Don't elect politicians Elect People Elect a Team #1 Marc Wilkinson #2 Mark Rowbotham #3 Derrick Emms… Edinburgh Council By-election, Thursday 26th June 2025, 7am-10pm Everyone in the Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart ward has a reason to vote now Let's set aside party-political differences and come together.' Murray Visentin, Scottish National Party (SNP) Murray Visentin SNP candidate Murray Visentin is manager in Asda Chesser and although a relative newcomer to politics he knows the price of shopping – and said that it is the basics which matter. He explained that the price of milk depends on some variables – whether or not it is branded and according to size. The Visentin household buys the four litre size as it includes Murray, his wife, their four children and two cats. He said his candidacy has been 'a long time coming' but when this possibility came up he jumped at the chance. His support of independence is key and he has been an activist since he was a teenager. He joined the SNP in 2014. He feels he could make a difference in the council and said: 'I'm confident to take people's views on board and talk about them, regardless whether they fall in line with SNP values or anybody else's values. 'Local politics is different from national politics. It's about the people more than the actual polici. Of course, I'm going to vote with the group. I'm going to be an SNP councillor and would huave to do that, but it doesn't mean I can't have a voice for my neighbors and the family members and my friends in the ward as well.' He said that politics for local residents is about more than just the price of shopping. It is also about educaiton and local travel as well as green space. He lives in Hutchison and holds the Hutchison Community Garden up as a model project which along with organised litter picking 'makes a difference in local communities in a big way'. He said: 'I think that it's a svery family orientated ward. You've got a mixed batch of different sort of political affiliations. You've got different sorts of demographics as well that we need to be appealing to and helping. So if you go up to Craiglockhart way you've got more affluent people. It's the day to day things. It's the cost of living for some people. It's education for their kids. It's having a voice for somebody that knows the neighborhood, knows the ward, to be able to go to the council and be in the chambers and say, Look, these are my people. These are the people that need help.' Steve Christopher West, Independent Steve West is a trade union activist in the PCS civil service workers' union. He describes himself as an independent socialist and told The Socialist Worker that he is campaigning against the £2.2 million cuts proposed by the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board. He said: 'There has to be someone in this election who is against cuts and racism.' He believes that this cut in funding would result in '200 compulsory redundancies and cuts to valuable services'. He said he will stand 'against austerity', against attacks on benefits and against attacks on trans+ rights. He is using TikTok as a way of getting his election message out to voters. His latest video has a simple message – 'No to cuts, end austerity, tax the rich, fund public services migrants are not to blame,, no to racism welfare not warfare, end the genocide, Free Palestine – for a real left alternative vote for me, Steve West.' Marc Wilkinson, Independent Marc is also someone who has stood in the last two council by-elections as well as three others. He has created his own 'party' called Edinburgh and East Lothian People although he is standing as an Independent candidate. He wants everyone in the ward to have a reason to vote, and believes that he can fix party politics by stopping the party whip and allowing elected politicians to have a free vote. He explains that he grew his vote share in the January 2025 by-election when 494 people supported him. He said this was a +79% increase in vote share compared to the November by-election. He is leader of Edinburgh and East Lothian People as well as seven other new parties in other areas of Scotland. and claims that this could mean that the party would return one MSP in each region if the party attracts just 6% of the vote. He would work alongside Derrick Emms and Mark Rowbotham to represent the constituency. Like this: Like Related

Reuters

an hour ago

• Reuters

El Al says to start rescue flights out of Israel starting on Monday, after getting 25,000 applications

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22 (Reuters) - Israeli airline El Al said it would resume flights out of Tel Aviv airport on Monday, as the government began to allow limited "rescue" flights in the midst of the Middle East conflict and U.S. bombing of Iran. El Al said it had received 25,000 applications for flights out of Israel since it opened a web site for requests on Saturday, although government rules will limit flights to 50 passengers each, it added in a Sunday statement.