Latest news with #Reform
Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Glasgow to introduce new tourist tax that's almost £5 a night – but locals won't be happy
Read on to see who has to pay the tax CASHING IN Glasgow to introduce new tourist tax that's almost £5 a night – but locals won't be happy GLASGOW City Council is set to introduce a new tourist tax at around £5 per night - but locals won't be happy. The visitor levy will be brought in from January 25, 2027 and will see people pay five per cent of the cost of a hotel room, B&B, AirBnB or hostels per night. Advertisement 3 Visitors staying in Glasgow will be hit with a five per cent tax on their accommodation per night Credit: Getty 3 It is expected to raise around £16million each year for the city Credit: Alamy It is expected to bring in around £16million each year for the city as visitors are set to be charged £4.83 on average. The money raised will be spent on public services, like street sweeping, investing in city landmarks, and improvements to parks, to improve the city for residents and visitors alike. Councillors approved the levy at the city administration committee yesterday morning. The tax will be in place for anyone staying at a hotel in the city - and this includes locals with a Glasgow postcode. Advertisement Speaking out against the tax following the decision was Reform councillor Thomas Kerr. The party also hit out on social media saying: "Glasgow City Council approves tourist tax - even for locals!" Mr Kerr added on X: "I've never believed a tourist tax was the right policy for Glasgow. "This tax risks pricing out families, hurting local B&Bs and deterring much‑needed tourism just as our city recovers. Advertisement "The council is skint, but penalising guests isn't the answer." Hitting back at Reform's comments, Scottish Labour's MSP fro Glasgow Paul Sweeney said: "I have only ever stayed overnight in a hotel in Glasgow once - it was for an assessment centre for the BAE graduate scheme. I didn't pay for it. Moment hardcore anti tourist mob surround Brit tourists in Majorca chanting 'go home' & telling Brit ex-pats to 'go to hell' "How many Glaswegians are staying over at a hotel in the city they live in? A completely ridiculous argument." Scottish Greens MSP for Glasgow, Patrick Harvie said: "Glasgow is a global city, drawing visitors from all over the world. Advertisement "But we have seen how over-tourism can damage communities, like in Venice and Barcelona, where the residents end up paying the price. "The tourist tax is vital to delivering sustainable tourism where local residents feel the benefit of our tourism and events sectors. "I'm delighted that Glasgow is continuing to benefit from Green policy in action." Advertisement In January, Edinburgh was the first council in Scotland to bring in a tourist tax, boosting city coffers by up to £50million. Labour leader of the capital's council, Jane Meagher, labelled the cash the 'single biggest injection of new funding this side of the millennium'.
Scotsman
8 hours ago
- Business
- Scotsman
The ultimate disruption: What if Reform promised a referendum on Scottish independence?
PA Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It was billed as a new forum to pose 'the big questions' about Scotland's future, and in fairness Tuesday's Scotland 2050 conference offered a decent line-up, with an intriguing pairing of economy secretary Kate Forbes and Cherie Blair and keynote speeches from First Minister John Swinney and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. They are, of course, always 'keynote' speeches, shorthand for a solo spot without interruptions in which little of any note, key or otherwise, is said, and judging by transcripts and subsequent coverage, the presentations at Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms lived down to expectations. 'We were expecting great visions of the future and what we got were stump speeches,' said one attendee who knows about these things. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But it received extensive coverage, so those who bankrolled the free event, presumably the property companies who put up panellists, will have been satisfied with their investment. However, it was who was not there that was most revealing. The faces and names might have been different, but the line-up was drawn from the same sort of bien pensants who have dominated the Scottish Parliament since its inception, and before that the Scottish Constitutional Convention and other 'Civic Scotland' talking shops. 'Scotland 2050 will be Scotland's most inclusive one day conference,' said the blurb, 'We believe that new thinking is required to reimagine what can be achieved to deliver a new enlightenment'. Perhaps, but whether by accident, absence or design, Scotland's most inclusive one day conference did not include anyone from the Scottish Conservatives, and there was no-one from Reform, the party which won 26 per cent of the vote at the Hamilton by-election. I was, however, at an event that evening which was attended by four of the emerging party's leading figures, some of whom I doubt are even household names in their own households, but all the same they are people who are making the political weather; disruptors, bogeymen, crypto-fascists, denigrate them however you like, but poll after poll indicates there will be around 15 Reform MSPs in the Scottish Parliament. While plenty of their more prominent candidates are former Conservatives, as a party Reform is unburdened by a past political record, and while a clean slate, blue-sky thinking or whatever might produce quite bonkers ideas like Nigel Farage's suggestion that a Reform government would re-open South Wales coal mines, it does reveal a party prepared to think the unthinkable in the quest for votes. The other side of the Hamilton coin was the trouncing of the SNP, finishing second in a seat it had held, with vote share down nearly 17 per cent, compared to the Conservative loss of 11 per cent. Speaking separately to two prominent Nationalists this week produced the same analysis; that the SNP is a hollowed-out party in which critical thinking has been crushed, controlled by a failed hierarchy unable to produce workable ideas to take Scotland forward economically and advance the independence cause. Both saw opportunities arising around the time of the next general election, in the next ten years certainly, but with the party as it stands incapable of taking advantage, a spent force in a state of financial and intellectual collapse. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I am not close enough to vouch for its accuracy, and of course the SNP leadership would claim it's fighting fit, but when the number of people who say they currently favour independence is about 20 per cent higher than those who say they will vote SNP, then something is badly wrong. The failures of the UK Labour government so soon after a general election victory based on hope is making no difference to SNP support, but even if independence is less of a priority for most voters than the cost of living, NHS, immigration, schools and crime, Unionists can have no cause for complacency. In the run-up to a general election in 2028-29, what if an ostensibly Unionist, but ultimately opportunist UK party like Reform were to make a manifesto commitment to offer the chance of a referendum with few strings attached? Maybe if independence support polling at 55 per cent for a year. No other Unionist party would match it, and neither could the SNP because it can never be in power in London. There is an obvious risk some Conservative defectors would return to the fold ─ and one, but not all, of the Reform folk on Tuesday night was quick to say it won't happen ─ but Nigel Farage could easily promise Reform would campaign for the Union while agreeing a referendum, as did David Cameron when signing the Edinburgh Agreement in 2012. He could argue that the principle of sovereignty and self-determination is consistent with the position taken by UKIP and the Brexit Party, and there would be no shortage of ordinary English voters who would be quite happy for Scotland to depart and for the Barnett Formula billions to stay south of the border.
Irish Independent
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Varadkar says election of Farage as UK prime minister could influence a united Ireland vote
Mr Varadkar, who stood down as taoiseach in April last year, said it is possible Mr Farage will be prime minister in four years or nine years' time. He described British politics as 'very volatile'. Reform made big gains in local elections in England and Wales last month. Mr Varadkar told BBC Northern Ireland's The View programme that he hoped Mr Farage will not be the next British prime minister. The former Fine Gael leader said if Mr Farage became prime minister, it would 'change the pictures in terms of attitudes towards independence in Scotland'. 'I think it would change the views of some people in the middle ground in Northern Ireland [towards Irish unity],' he said. 'It isn't just because a right-wing nationalist government in London would want to bring the UK and Northern Ireland away from Europe. It is other things as well.' Mr Varadkar also claimed that councils run by Reform in England were preventing people from flying Pride or progress flags. 'I don't think most people in Northern Ireland would like that,' he said. 'If that's the kind of government they had in London versus a government in Dublin that was very different, it might make them more likely to vote yes to unification. 'I do want to be very clear about this, it's not something I hope happens.' Mr Varadkar said he believes planning for a united Ireland should be taking place, but that a date should not be fixed, as the numbers to win are not in place. 'I don't think a united Ireland is inevitable, I think it's something that we have to work towards,' he said. 'But I think there are a lot of factors that would suggest that we're on that trajectory. 'Demographic factors, polling, even the most recent numbers showing that a very clear majority of younger people in Northern Ireland want there to be a new united Ireland. 'I think that will carry true, and that's why I think it's something that we should plan for.' He said Irish unity will not happen 'by osmosis or by accident'. 'I think it has to be worked towards. I think those of us who believe in it have a duty to make the case for it,' he said.
North Wales Chronicle
18 hours ago
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Nigel Farage as British PM would put Irish unity ‘centre stage'
Mr Varadkar, who stood down as taoiseach in April last year, said it is possible Mr Farage will be prime minister in four years or nine years time. He described British politics as 'very volatile'. Reform made big gains in local elections in England and Wales in May. Mr Varadkar told BBC Northern Ireland's The View programme, which will be aired on Thursday night, that he hoped Mr Farage is not the next British prime minister. The former Fine Gael leader said if the Reform leader became prime minister, it would 'change the pictures in terms of attitudes towards independence in Scotland'. 'I think it would change the views of some people in the middle ground in Northern Ireland (towards Irish unity),' he said. 'It isn't just because a right-wing nationalist government in London would want to bring the UK and Northern Ireland away from Europe. It is other things as well.' He also claimed that councils run by Reform in England were preventing people from flying Pride or progress flags. Mr Varadkar added: 'I don't think most people in Northern Ireland would like that. 'If that's the kind of government they had in London versus a government in Dublin that was very different, it might make them more likely to vote yes to unification,' he added. 'I do want to be very clear about this, it's not something I hope happens. 'I hope it doesn't happen.' Mr Varadkar said he believes planning for a united Ireland should be happening, but that a date should not be fixed as the numbers to win are not in place. He added: 'I don't think a united Ireland is inevitable, I think it's something that we have to work towards. 'But I think there are a lot of factors that would suggest that we're on that trajectory. 'Demographic factors, polling, even the most recent numbers showing that a very clear majority of younger people in Northern Ireland want there to be a new united Ireland.' 'I think that will carry true, and that's why I think it's something that we should plan for.' He said Irish unity will not happen 'by osmosis or by accident'. 'I think (it) has to be worked towards. I think those of us who believe in it have a duty to make the case for it,' he added. 'Look at the trajectory, and that is clear. We see it in elections. We see it in opinion polls. We see it in demographics.'
The Herald Scotland
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
March through Glasgow city centre to mark World Refugee Day
There, a free family-friendly music carnival will take place with speeches from campaigners and music acts from bands and musical artists including former Scots Singer of the Year Iona Fyfe. The demonstration calls for an end to the scapegoating of refugees and migrants, safe routes for those seeking asylum, an end to the deportations the Labour government is ramping up and to lift the ban that prevents asylum seekers from working. Read More: Supporters include former First Minister Humza Yousaf, comedian Frankie Boyle, the STUC and various trades unions, the Scottish Refugee Council and other leading refugee rights organisations, Stand Up to Racism and Love Music Hate Racism. Mohammad Asif, Afghan Human Rights Foundation director, said: 'Refugees are the direct result of injustice and illegal wars and illegal invasions. We are the victims of profound injustices. We are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, with the same hopes and ambitions. 'The far right are attempting to seize the 'grooming gangs' issue to stir up Islamophobia, racism and division and we need to come together to fight this cancer in our society.' Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, said: 'The Prime Ministers' recent anti-immigration rhetoric echoes the far right—blaming refugees and migrants for the consequences of political failure. 'Migrants are not the problem. They are our family members, our friends, neighbours, co-workers, carers, and part of the communities that keep this country going. 'This government could fix the housing crisis, fund public services, and support working people—but instead, it scapegoats the vulnerable and fans the flames of racism. We will stand united to resist this politics of fear and division.' Aamer Anwar, human rights lawyer, said: 'With the rise of the far-right and Reform in the UK, fascist ideas once relegated to the gutter are treated as mainstream ideas, feted by the media. "We have no alternative but to fight back, to counter every hate-filled racist lie and to defend our communities. We have won before and will do so again, but I feel the stakes have never been higher.'
