Latest news with #devolution
Times
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
SNP is using devolution for its lazy politics of divide and rule
F or neither the first nor, I fear, the last time, today's text comes courtesy of Wilkins Micawber. The relationship between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom in the devolved era is one in which, as far as the Scots are concerned, our friends in the south provide the standard by which satisfaction or contentment in north Britain may be measured. As dear old Micawber sagely observed in David Copperfield, 'Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.' Translate this into our politics and we may come up with a useful rule of thumb decreeing that if a policy or outcome is sixpence or half an ounce more agreeable in Scotland than in England then joy may be unconfined across the land. Should it be so very marginally worse than the way in which affairs are organised south of the border then misery and woe sweeps the land.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
FERGUS EWING: The SNP has lost its way...I can no longer defend the indefensible
For 26 years I have had the privilege to be the MSP for Inverness and Nairn. I am enormously grateful for having had the opportunity to serve. Over that time, I have seen the Scottish parliament at its best and its worst. I fear in recent years it has been at its worst. That is why I am announcing my decision to stand as an independent for the honour of representing the people of Inverness and Nairn for the seventh time. I want to help get the Scottish parliament back to its best. I have taken this decision because I love the people of Inverness and Nairn and the people of Scotland more than my party, which I have been in for more than half a century. The SNP has been part of the fabric of my life during that time. Indeed, there has been a distinctive thread of Ewing running through its plaid for even longer. But fabrics can become worn. I hope the SNP can repair itself and return to the honour and traditions of those who first wove it in a manner that meets Scotland's needs. The failures of the SNP to deliver on its long-standing pledges to dual the A9 and A96 are a major part of that. I cannot stand again for the SNP and defend the indefensible. I believe the SNP has lost its way and that devolution itself – presently – is letting Scotland's people down. Holyrood is more fractious and tribal than ever before. Too much power rests unchecked in the hands of party leaders, free to choose candidates who will slavishly support them, rather than stand up for the people who sent them to Holyrood. Choosing the pliant over the talented. I did not join the SNP in order that the SNP run Scotland. I joined to see Scotland run her own affairs. And deliver a better, fairer country. Over the 14 years as a government minister I tried every day to help ordinary people, and to improve their lives. But over the past decade, the party seems to have deserted many of the people whose causes we used to champion. In oil and gas, farming, fishing, rural Scotland, tourism, small business and many other areas of life. Betraying generations who fought for women's rights. It's time for Holyrood to live up to the high expectations people rightly held for it, when my mother, Winnie, reconvened our own parliament in 1999. It came of age some years ago – surely now it's time for it to grow up. Over the past four years on the backbenches, I sought to offer advice as a critical friend, warning Nicola Sturgeon that to enter a pact with the Green Party was a strategic blunder which would only damage us. Then we saw the Bute House Agreement, negotiated by the present First Minister, gradually disintegrate as inherent flaws in its policies were exposed as manifestly impracticable and wholly unaffordable. These failures – plus a strange preoccupation with issues largely irrelevant to most people's lives – have all cost the SNP the loss of electoral support but also something else which is priceless. Public trust. Scotland is indeed in a state of 'managed decline', as Sir Tom Hunter recently said. To arrest that decline the main parties must work more closely together and replace brittle bickering with reasoned debate and the cross party co-designing of, for example, reform of public services and maximising economic growth and opportunity over the next ten to 20 years. Scotland and the UK now face the most serious economic challenges in an unstable world, with absurdly high energy prices threatening industry alongside staggering levels of national debt. To deal with these looming crises the main parties need to work together, whether in a grand coalition or a less formal arrangement. In each party there are people of talent and experience and a Cabinet of all of the best people could best serve Scotland. At present we can and do work together on committees in Holyrood; in cross party campaigns and in the constituency. I have myself sought to do so on every possible occasion both in Scotland and with many UK ministers and politicians. Ordinary people accept that they must work together in their own workplace –with everyone – whether they choose them as friends and allies or not. They don't have a pointless slanging match every Thursday as the supposed 'high point' of their week. It's time for politicians to work together for the interests of the nation. In short: It's time for Holyrood to grow up. We all can and must rise to this challenge. I do not need to stand again. I want to do so to serve the people of Inverness and Nairn and the people of Scotland. I want to use what experience I have to help bring about the kind of Scotland that our people deserve and strive for. That's achievable if we can set aside differences and work for the common weal. For those who say this is but a naive dream, let me ask this: How with just more of the same can we hope to turn around our parliament and help create the economic success over the next decades that in turn will enable quality public services? The same lack of delivery, the same blame game of 'it wasnae me' and lack of humility? It is better to heal division and work together in a national endeavour. Such an approach will be liable to attract far more people to stand for parliament. The most successful session of our parliament in the view of many people was from 2007 to 2011. It's no coincidence that was a minority government, and when cooperation between parties was at its greatest.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'Making Manchester Britain's second city should be a national priority'
Manchester should be Britain's second city, a leading economist has said. Lord Jim O'Neil has called for more powers to be shifted to regions like it has in Greater Manchester. The ex-Treasury Minister, who was born in Manchester and grew up in Gatley, made the comments on a podcast recorded with Lord Speaker Lord McFall of Alcluith. On the podcast, the ex-Goldman Sachs chief economist backs calls by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham for more devolved welfare-related spending, and recommends building a 'Northern Elizabeth Line' to unlock connectivity between cities across the UK. READ MORE: 'I'm a homeless single mum, an NHS nurse and want to work full-time - but a DWP rule means I can't' READ MORE: They thought they'd never be caught, until it all went wrong During the discussion, the former Conservative government minister also advocates for powers for regions to raise local taxes. He said: "When I mention that to policymakers here, they think I'm bonkers. "And the only reason they think I'm bonkers is because it's never happened. "But because it's never happened, why does that mean it shouldn't happen?" He added: 'How can people, as well-intentioned as they may be sitting here in Whitehall, have the slightest idea about what's really needed in these local areas? It's virtually impossible. "People here (in Westminster) need to have excitement about giving responsibility to local people in these places to make a national difference. "If you could have, say, three or four other places, West Midlands, North-East, probably West Yorkshire and two or three others … if they all could be doing the same as Greater Manchester has done, and Manchester carries on doing, the national growth performance of the UK, the trend rate of growth, would rise. "Glasgow would be a place that could make a difference to the national growth performance. So I'd definitely include Glasgow." At another point in the wide-ranging discussion, Lord O'Neill said: "Thomas Heatherwick, the great young architect, said to me, 'I have this crazy idea about making Manchester the second city of the country and it being a national priority.' I said, 'You're right'." The episode is the latest in a series of Lord Speaker's Corner podcasts which has previously included Lord Heseltine, Lord Kinnock, Baroness Kidron and Lord Patten among others. The podcast is available to watch on YouTube.
BBC News
13-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Ex-Welsh trade union leader George Wright dies aged 89
Former senior Welsh trade unionist George Wright has died at the age of was a key figure in setting up the Wales TUC, the umbrella body for Welsh unions, in the 1970s, later saying it was "the first act of Welsh devolution".He led calls that resulted in the creation of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), to encourage business development and investment in Wales at a time when traditional heavy industries were leader of the Unite union Andy Richards said Wright was "an icon" for trade unionists while ex-Labour cabinet minister Lord Peter Hain called him a "giant of the Welsh trade union movement". Originally from Birmingham, George Wright became a trade union official at the British Leyland Longbridge car plant before moving ranks through the Transport and General Workers Union (now Unite) and being promoted to be the union's regional secretary for Wales in at Transport House, just off Cardiff city centre, he set about bringing together several trade union committees to establish a unifying trade union body in faced opposition from within the union movement outside Wales but successfully set up the Wales TUC in 1974, becoming its first general was an early advocate of devolution, campaigning in the 1979 poll, when Wales said "no", and in 1997, when the result was "yes".Wright said later: "I'm a firm believer that the creation of the Wales TUC was the first act of devolution in Wales. We put Wales on the map." Andy Richards, former leader of the Unite union in Wales, said Wright was "an icon of the trade union movement and one of the key figures in creating a Welsh identity for movement in Wales"."As a young trade unionist myself in the 1970s, I was so in awe of this man who would come to our meetings and always speak to us in Welsh a bit - and remember he was from Birmingham – and create an incredible buzz by saying that we should have our own union structures made and designed in Wales."You would think he was a Welshman – he was pushing Welsh identity all the time."George was the prime mover in setting up the Wales TUC and was supported by thousands of members working in engineering, the steel industry, the coal mines and car manufacturing across the country." 'Passion' Richards explained that Wright was also a strong supporter of inward investment and worked with the former Labour prime minister, Jim Callaghan, and the WDA to bring the Ford car plant to Bridgend."George Wright had a passion for the Welsh Development Agency and you cannot under-estimate the benefit that the WDA brought to Wales and the Welsh economy in the 1970s and 80s – and George played a major role in that."Created in 1976, the WDA was scrapped 30 years later with its functions absorbed into the Welsh government. Former Labour UK government cabinet minister Lord Hain also paid tribute."He was a giant of the Welsh trade union movement in its heyday. "I'll always be grateful for his support when I sought to be the Neath Labour Parliamentary candidate in 1990, even though he was on the right of the labour movement and I was on the left."George Wright is survived by his wife Margaret, daughter Jackie, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.
BBC News
05-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Suffolk given £300k for devolution plans
A county is being allocated £290,000 to help develop plans for council restructuring. As one of the areas to be fast-tracked for devolution, Suffolk's current county and local councils will be scrapped and replaced by single-tier authorities. Local government minister Jim McMahon said the funding should be split between councils and hoped areas would collectively submit a final far, differing structures for the future have been suggested, with the five district and borough councils rejecting the county council's proposal for a single unitary authority. Suffolk County Council's cabinet member for local government reform Richard Rout said: "Modernising Suffolk's 50-year-old council structure is a significant piece of work that will require a large investment of time and money."We're very clear that a new single local council is the smartest, simplest and best option for the whole of Suffolk, which will deliver the biggest savings and most sustainable service improvements." But district and borough leaders said they were "united" against the proposal because one council would be "too large to work effectively and too remote for local residents to be heard".In a joint statement they said: "We are absolutely certain that a multiple-unitary model, with each new council delivering all services to different, recognisable parts of Suffolk, is vital to meet the differing needs of our diverse communities."That could involve the county being split in two or three, with potentially a greater Ipswich area created to cover the county's largest town. The government said it was providing £7.6 million to councils across the country and wanted them to agree on up to three authorities to receive an equal share of the funding in each area. McMahon said the funding would: "Contribute towards facilitating the development of a shared evidence base that will underpin the final proposals as well as contributing to the development of these."Despite the government asking for one proposal per county, this is understood not to be a fixed rule and multiple could be looked at. Councils were told they should aim for new authorities to cover a population of 500,000 or more but the government said it was "a guiding principle, not a strict target".Suffolk has a population of about 750,000. A combined authority would also be formed across Norfolk and Suffolk, which would be led by a directly elected mayor and manage services like transport and employment plans are due to be submitted to the government in September. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
