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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Harvie's last hurrah? Even Frank Sinatra's farewell didn't drag on this long
Thursday was Patrick Harvie's final First Minister's Questions as Scottish Green co-leader. He's standing down to spend more time with anyone but Ross Greer. A sneer in search of a personality, Harvie has never contributed much in the way of wit but he makes up for it with pique. I'm an aficionado of parliamentary spite and Harvie has always had it in plentiful supply. Perhaps he kept some in reserve for his final showstopper, for he used his allotted two questions to spit venom at John Swinney. Harvie reckoned Swinney's anti far-Right summit was little more than a talking shop and only confirmed 'a real sense of drift from the first minister'. Moreover, Swinney lacked 'ambition and leadership', and Harvie 'genuinely struggled to think of a single signature policy that he has delivered in his year in the job'. There speaks a man who clearly missed the Short Life Working Group on Economic and Social Opportunities for Gaelic. He began rhyming off Swinney's sins, such as watering down rental controls, U-turning on a new national park, and failing to make progress on human rights. By now the little cabbage was getting so steamed he was at risk of wilting. He was banging on so much that Presiding Officer Alison Johnson finally stepped in and told him to clamp it. Even Sinatra's farewell tour didn't last this long. Aware that he no longer needed to humour the prickliest cactus this side of the Mississippi, Swinney let him have it: 'I appreciate that this is his last First Minister's question time as co-convener of the Green Party, so saying all that to me might have been his last hurrah.' The First Minister didn't fare as well up against Russell Findlay. The Scottish Tory leader gets a gold star for a splendid piece of work on thuggery in schools and the SNP's 49-page guidelines on excluding violent pupils, which he branded 'tedious, hand-wringing nonsense'. Swinney protested that he was 'listening to the teaching profession', just as he had 'throughout my time as education secretary'. We can only hope for his sake that he wasn't listening too closely. As I recall, the consensus among teachers at the time was made up mostly of words you couldn't repeat in a classroom. This allowed Findlay to have some fun, by reading aloud some highlights. When pupils become violent, the document said, teachers should give them 'a laminated paper with a set of bullet points that tell them to think about their behaviour'. When a wee toerag is engaging in 'unsafe behaviour', educators are advised to start 'a conversation to jointly problem solve with the child'. Disruptive pupils, meanwhile, 'should be allowed to leave class two minutes early'. Personally, I think classroom chairs should be replaced with ejector seats and teachers handed a remote control. The First Minister accused Findlay of 'a failure to address the mechanisms and interventions that are required to solve a difficult issue'. Another reason to consider my idea. We'd hire engineers to make sure the ejector seats had really good mechanisms. The fresh guidance, Swinney said, was intended to 'de-escalate situations' and 'address the underlying causes'. And he was against too many exclusions because those pupils would be 'out on the streets and, potentially, able to become involved in criminal activity'. That's how Ronnie Biggs got started, you know. Teacher put him out of class for talking once and next thing you know he was robbing trains. Later in the afternoon, minister Ivan McKee was sent out to announce plans to save £1billion a year in waste, in what is being nicknamed 'McDoge' after Elon Musk's venture during the early months of the second Trump administration. Given that the task of reining in government misspending proved too much for a man who puts rockets in space, I'm not holding out hope that Ivan McKee will do much better.
Daily Mail
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
STEPHEN DAISLEY: Our political class had better start learning to pass themselves off as human or Reform will deliver a nasty surprise
It's not the done thing to say, 'I told you so.' Thankfully, I've never been one for the done thing. So, to the political class: I told you so. For some time now, this column has been warning the mainstream parties against complacency towards Reform. But that complacency carried well into the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, and now it's rude awakenings all round. After the initial shock of Labour 's victory, politicians and pundits noticed something else about the result: Reform got 26 per cent of the poll. One in every four votes cast went to Nigel Farage 's candidate, Ross Lambie. He came just three points shy of the SNP. If that was replicated across Scotland in next year's devolved elections, we would be looking at a very different Scottish parliament. All of a sudden, the political establishment is very concerned about Reform and wants us to know they're Listening and Learning. Yesterday on television, viewers saw a more meditative John Swinney than usual. The Nationalists had to 'win people back' by 'delivering on the issues that people are concerned about'. The First Minister said he 'heard loud and clear' the message from the voters and recognised their priorities were the cost of living, public services, GP access and waiting lists. The SNP had to 'give people hope' on energy costs, too. He wanted Scotland to 'use our enormous energy wealth for the benefit of our people who are paying extraordinary high fuel prices'. Who knew that nuking the oil and gas industry in exchange for a few headlines could have such a damaging impact? The time for delivering on what voters care about was the past 18 years, in which the SNP has commanded the Scottish Government and its vast array of powers. The electors were loud and clear about the cost of living. The SNP raised their taxes. They were loud and clear about waiting times. The SNP continues to miss their own targets for emergency and cancer treatment. Swinney said voters needed hope. Fine. One question: why after almost two decades of SNP government are people still in need of hope? The First Minister, like his two predecessors, is a managerial technocrat. He gets the line, he says the line, he holds the line, and it doesn't matter what the line is, just as long as it's the yellow team's line and not their red or blue rivals. Whatever youthful ideals and certainties might have brought him into the SNP, the Swinney of today is in politics to be in politics. His chief contribution to the Hamilton by-election, beyond talking up Reform's chances, was the anti-'far right' summit to which he invited every party except Reform. We will probably never know what impact this spiteful display had on the voters of Hamilton, but it might have convinced some that the mainstream parties were all in it together and Reform the only challenge to their power. Just as the sight of Labour joining forces with the Tories during the independence referendum drove some Labour voters to switch to the SNP, there is a chance this gathering had the same effect. The anti-'far right' summit might well have been Swinney's Better Together. Post-election ruminations were not limited to the Nats. In a blogpost, Ross Greer advises against echoing Swinney's anti-Reform strategy, which he believes will only squeeze out his party come election time. The Greens versus the SNP. As Henry Kissinger said of the Iran-Iraq war: 'It's a pity they both can't lose.' Yet Greer says 'people are right to be angry' because 'the system is rigged' — not in favour of immigrants, but billionaires and second-home owners. He wants the Greens to take 'a greater focus on economic justice' but stresses that this shouldn't 'come at the expense of social justice'. You don't have to strain hard to see the subtext: the Greens have been stalwart on rights issues (migrants, refugees, trans people) but have let their eye off the ball on economics. Another hint that Greer will stand for election to succeed Patrick Harvie. But few Scottish politicians have been as focused on social justice as Greer. If it's not pronouns with him it's Palestine, and while these press the right buttons for the Greens' graduate, urban, professional voter base, they do nothing to confront inequalities in resources and opportunities. Greer believes the answer is 'economic justice', which is what you call socialism when you don't want to remind people of all that unfortunate business about dictators and death tolls. His prescriptions are wrong but not his analysis of the importance of economics. He frets about 'creeping fascism' but if authoritarianism takes root in economic despair, there is no fertiliser like a decadent, inward-looking ruling class. As Scottish people struggle financially, they see the Greens champion their top priorities: gender self-identification and free bus travel for asylum seekers. Economics is reasserting itself as the primary language of politics. If the Greens don't become conversant in it, they could find themselves talking to fewer and fewer voters. Popular discontent is also troubling Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay, who wrote in the Mail: 'I am listening, I get it and I understand how you feel. My party let you down in government and we accept responsibility for our mistakes.' Coming within one percentage point of losing your deposit can inspire contrition that way. Introspection would have been better deployed during the 14 years when the Conservatives delivered a toxic cocktail of high taxes and low growth, more borrowing and worse services, spiking inflation and flatlining productivity. They lost the confidence of the markets and paid a heavy political toll but nothing like the financial toll that befell ordinary families. This in itself would be enough to merit a term or two on the opposition benches, but the Tories compounded their economic recklessness by losing all semblance of control over the UK's borders. Unprecedented levels of legal and illegal migration have transformed communities, disrupted ways of life, strained services, drained budgets and provoked resentment within the native population. Nigel Farage will forever be in the Tories' debt for services rendered. Findlay didn't cause his party's woes and is making a valiant attempt to set things right. The spirit of the times is anti-establishment and a political outsider ought to be well-placed to capitalise on this, but he is shackled by the Conservatives' record in government. Findlay is gutsy. He needs more people with guts behind him. Reform's growing popularity is no great secret. A sizeable chunk of voters are drawn to Reform because it speaks about the issues that matter to them. Honestly, they're just relieved to encounter a political party that speaks to them without visible disdain. You needn't be Reform to do this. Look at the winner in Hamilton. Labour's Davy Russell is not a political smoothie. I doubt if he can recite entire West Wing scenes from memory. I don't know his pronouns and I wouldn't care to ask him. He is an ordinary bloke with an electoral mandate. His opponents derided him, the pundits dismissed him, the press disregarded him. Everyone was against him except the voters. People aren't turning to Reform for its carefully costed policy platform. They are frustrated with a political class in which everyone looks the same, thinks the same, and talks like the same dead-eyed HR manager posting on LinkedIn. I doubt my advice will be any more welcome this time, but to the political class: It's not complicated. Talk to people, listen to them, make their priorities yours, and try very hard to pass yourselves off as human.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How voter dissatisfaction could give Reform a Holyrood byelection boost
'It's going to be interesting to see how many people vote for them,' says Karen, a nurse from Larkhall, South Lanarkshire. 'Labour and the SNP are expected to be the main contenders in this byelection, but more and more people are talking about Reform.' There are murmurs of agreement from other voters at this focus group, organised by public opinion researchers More in Common ahead of the 5 June byelection for the Holyrood seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, in Scotland's central belt. 'Do you think it will surprise people?' asks the convener, Luke Tryl. There's some laughter, and further agreement. 'I think so,' agrees Liam, an accountant from Stonehouse. 'It's going to be surprising to people in Scotland'. After the death of the popular Scottish National party MSP Christina McKelvie in March, this contest was anticipated as a typical two-horse race between the nationalists, whose ship has been steadied by current leader and first minister, John Swinney,after successive scandals, and Scottish Labour, which has lost momentum since last July's general election because of unpopular Westminster policies. But over the past six weeks canvassers of all stripes report a significant shift, with Reform UK gaining ground, particularly since their success in the English council elections, and speculation that the party, which has previously polled at half of the support enjoyed south of the border and whose leader, Nigel Farage, remains, according to that same polling, deeply unpopular in Scotland, may push Labour into third place. As Liam tells the group: 'I've always been a SNP and a Labour voter, but I'm running out of options now. Is Reform the change that's needed?' It's 'time to give someone else a chance,' says Jamie, a service engineer from Hamilton even though he thinks Farage is an 'arsehole'. The language is 'shockingly familiar', says Tryl, to what he's heard from disillusioned voters in England and Wales. While Farage has historically struggled to gain a foothold in Scotland, Tryl suggests this 'could be starting to change'. This dissatisfaction – the 'scunner' factor – is reflected across a constituency made up of post-industrial towns, faded town centres and outlying housing estates and villages isolated by poor public transport. It is also an area of deeply embedded sectarian division, with enclaves of strident support for Rangers football club, the Protestant fraternity the Orange Order and the union. In Larkhall, the sandwich chain Subway once had to remove the colour green from their livery because of its association with Catholic-founded Celtic football club. While that century-old fissure has healed considerably in recent years, Fiona Dryburgh, CEO of Larkhall's Machan Trust, a community group, is 'scared' of how years of anti-sectarian work is being undone. She would like to see more action to counter Reform's misinformation, 'but it's difficult for other parties because no one believes them'. Earlier this week, Swinney called on Meta to act on a particularly egregious example of misinformation – a Reform advert that claims the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, said he would 'prioritise the Pakistani community' with no evidence to support it. Speaking at an event in Westminster on Tuesday, Farage defended the video, saying Sarwar 'introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics' and claimed his party only shared words used by the Scottish Labour leader. The words ascribed to Sarwar by Reform do not appear in the clips they shared. Dryburgh says: 'I'm quite scared because we've done so much anti-sectarian work here very successfully but now I'm hearing so much about immigration.' She sees the impact at the breakfast and after-school clubs she runs. 'Parents are having fights about it on Facebook, then their kids bring it into groups. We had to put one child out of a group for doing a Nazi salute and using the N-word. They were 10 years old.' Some Scottish Labour figures have expressed private dismay at the strength of support for Reform and voter dissatisfaction with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. 'Winter fuel payment comes up on every door,' says one – and even last week's U-turn is dismissed as opportunism. Senior Westminster figures are expected to lend their support in person over the final week. On a rainy bank holiday Monday, the SNP candidate Katy Loudon was flanked by Scottish government ministers, former MPs and Swinney himself, who described the contest as 'too close to call'. SNP canvassers confirm they too have encountered voters 'more comfortable saying they are voting Reform' as well as a general sense of 'apathy and promises not delivered'. Meanwhile Reform anticipate a 'tartan bounce' following their council election wins. 'Nigel has proved his credibility with voters,' says a party source, agreeing that success in Hamilton 'sets the tone for Holyrood 2026'. During a campaign visit on Tuesday, Sarwar admitted some voters were treating this byelection as an opportunity to show their 'frustrations' with both the UK and Scottish governments. 'I think, undoubtedly, that people are scunnered with politics … Many people are looking at the most reactive option.'
Daily Mail
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
JIM SILLARS: SNP settled for mediocrity and paid the price with this result
The by-election: two winners, one major casualty and a lot of questions answered. Against a background of anger in a 'Broken Britain' alongside 18 years of a SNP government (the last ten seeing ferry fiascos, a failing NHS, declarations of a housing emergency without emergency action, falling school standards and more time spent politically on trans identity and dodging the definition of a woman than on child poverty) the electorate in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse gave their verdict. There is a sea change taking place in UK and Scottish life. People have had enough of the virtue signallers; they are fed up with lectures about what they can and cannot say; they have come to despise spin as a substitute for action; they are no longer afraid of being labelled bigots and racists for strongly opposing illegal immigration. Reform has caught that tide, and their Hamilton by-election and local equivalents is the result. Reform, which came within 869 votes of the SNP, accomplished its two objectives: find out if it could pass the acid test of significant support via the ballot box in Scotland, and if so, become a serious participant in the Scottish political scene. It enters the fray for the 2026 Scottish general election in the happy position of having a base, no government record to be attacked on, and opposition parties not understanding that it has risen because of their failures allied to their woke agenda and still clueless on how to combat it. If the parties Reform now threatens do not grasp their contribution to its advance, and stay with their by-election tactic of denouncing it as 'racist' and 'poisonous,' they will make the same mistake as the Democrats in the USA who, in demonising Trump, failed to realise that they had substituted lecturing to the people instead of listening to them. Perhaps even the Greens will look at their derisory 695 votes at Hamilton and reflect on the role they have played in the lecturing game at Holyrood. The big winner was, of course, Labour, who took the seat. The announcement of the result must have been sweet music to the ears of Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie, given all the pundits fell for the John Swinney claim that they were being outclassed and heading for a poor third place. Being umbilically attached to the unpopular UK Labour government was thought to be their fatal weak point. That proved not so. Even with a candidate who, as his reading of his victory speech showed, is not exactly inspirational, they took a safe SNP seat. What makes Labour's win important is that Hamilton is smack in the middle of the central belt, where lies the seat of Scottish political power, and where the SNP-Labour contest will be settled. A repeat of Hamilton in 2026 and Labour will be, at least, a minority government or the majority in a coalition. But for the SNP this was a very bad result. John Swinney, whose manifest failure to read the street shows a man with a tin ear and poor judgement, unfit for the leadership role the misguided SNP membership put him in. Their 7,957 votes at 29.4 per cent share of the vote was down by 16.8 per cent and much lower than the 33 per cent they have been getting in opinion polls. The old adage you reap what you sow remains true. The Sturgeon legacy of elevating mediocrity above talent turned the SNP government into a calamity for Scotland. On every issue that matters to the people, tax, jobs, education, housing, health, roads not built, and chid poverty they are failures. They got the defeat they deserved. Under the dead hand of Swinney there is more of that to come.
Daily Mail
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Findlay issues apology for Tory failures after Hamilton by-election vote blow
Russell Findlay has apologised directly to voters for Conservative failures in office after his party came a distant fourth in the Hamilton by-election. The Scottish Tory leader refused to 'peddle the usual excuses' after the 'disappointing result' in the three-way marginal. 'I will be straight - this by-election delivered a harsh verdict on my party's previous period in government,' he said. 'Voters still feel badly let down by the previous UK Conservative government.' The Conservatives came third in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse at the 2021 Holyrood election with a 17.5 per cent share of the vote. But on Thursday it plunged to six per cent, just above the threshold needed to save its deposit. At the same time, Reform went from a standing start to 26.1 per cent, coming just 869 votes behind the SNP and 1,471 behind Labour. Tory insiders claimed some of their support backed Labour in a 'tactical Unionist vote' to help defeat the SNP. But with polls showing up to a quarter of Tory voters at the general election now backing Reform, many local Tories undoubtedly backed Reform's Ross Lambie. Writing in today's Mail, Mr Findlay said Tory candidate Richard Nelson was 'respected and hard-working' but many local people 'didn't feel we deserved their vote because over 14 years in power, we lost our way'. The West Scotland MSP said: 'I want to say directly to everyone who feels that way that I am listening, I get it and I understand how you feel. 'My party let you down in government and we accept responsibility for our mistakes.' On a more positive note, Mr Findlay said the by-election had also exposed how 'vulnerable and beatable' the SNP was under John Swinney. 'The era of damaging and divisive Nationalist rule can be brought to an end in 2026 and our party will play a pivotal part in doing so,' he promised. 'There are vast areas of Scotland where only we can beat the SNP. 'If we work hard, demonstrate to people that we've changed and show that we're ready to represent their interests, we can send John Swinney packing. What a prize that would be.' Kemi Badenoch insisted the Conservatives were still the main opposition to Labour despite her party sinking to fourth place in Hamilton. Reform also gained 677 seats in last month's English local elections as the Tories lost 674. Keir Starmer has said he now regard Nigel Farage's party as his main rivals at Westminster, despite it having only five MPs, because of its strong position in the polls. But Ms Badenoch dismissed Reform as a 'protest party' and called the claim that it was the real opposition 'nonsense'. Describing Reform as 'another left-wing party', she said: 'What they're trying to do is talk this situation into existence. Labour is going to be facing the Conservative Party at the next election and we're going to get them out.' Recent polls have put Reform well ahead of Labour on Westminster voting intention, with the Conservatives third and the Lib Dems close behind them. However the next general election is still four years away and Reform has yet to prove its credentials in power since it won control of a dozen English councils in May. The party has also been blighted by infighting, including the dramatic resignation of chair Zia Yusuf on Thursday after a public spat with Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin about burkas. Polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice said support for the Tories had never 'fallen so heavily' in a Holyrood by-election. He told the Telegraph: 'The Conservatives are at risk of recording their worst-ever performance in a Scottish Parliament election next year and could find themselves occupying a much diminished space in the Holyrood chamber as only the fourth-largest party.'
