Just in time for the weekend, here’s a look at the top 10 political must-reads from the last seven days:
1. Green co-leaders join Scottish Government as part of partnership deal
The co-leaders of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater will serve with the First Minister in the SNP-led government as part of a powersharing agreement. As Andy Philip reports, the deal was negotiated over the summer but still needs approval from party members. Read more here.
- ANALYSIS: What does the SNP get out of the Green party deal?
- SNP-Green deal: Everything you need to know about Nicola Sturgeon’s new Holyrood ‘coalition’
2. Scottish covid inquiry gets the go-ahead
The Scottish Government committed this week to launching a judge-led public inquiry into its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The First Minister made the announcement shortly after after families met her deputy, John Swinney, to push the case for answers. Read the full story here.
3. Dundee West and Glenrothes among worst hit by Universal Credit cut
Nearly half of families with children in Dundee West and Glenrothes will be hit by planned cuts to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit. As Adele Merson reports, analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reveals 4,320 families in the Dundee West constituency (49%) would be impacted by the reduction in benefits. Read Adele’s full story here.
4. Tayside hit hardest as hundreds of officers leave Scotland’s local police teams
Tayside was the hardest hit local police division in Scotland last year as hundreds of officers from across the country were diverted to national teams. As Calum Ross and Joely Santa Cruz report, new figures show the force in Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross lost 68 officers in a year, or 6.8% of the total – the largest proportional decrease in the country. Read more here.
5. SNP releases its annual accounts
The SNP released their annual accounts on Thursday against the backdrop of an ongoing police investigation into alleged “fraud.” The Courier’s Political Editor Paul Malik looks at five important new pieces of information we learned from the SNP’s finances. Read more here.
6. ‘Worrying gaps’: Doctors and nurses raise concern over £1bn Scottish NHS recovery plan
The Scottish Government unveiled it’s post-covid plans to get the NHS back in rude health again. However both the British Medical Association and Royal College of Nursing sounded the alarm over the plans, warning Nicola Sturgeon will have to go further as the claim the NHS is “close to failing” in places. Read the full story here.
7. Oil workers ‘effectively banned from Norway’ due to Scotland Covid-app delay
The Scottish Government’s digital vaccine passport delay is jeopardising the livelihoods of oil and gas workers, according to MSP Liam Kerr. The north-east politician has been contacted by sector workers who have to quarantine in hotels at a cost of £1,000 before they can enter Norway because Scotland still does not have an app-based system for proving vaccination status. Read more here.
8. Clara Ponsati: Extradition case dismissed after former St Andrews academic refuses to return to Scotland for hearing
A former St Andrews University academic who “refuses” to return to Scotland to face extradition proceedings over the 2017 Catalan independence referendum has had the case dismissed in a Scottish court. A judge ruled this week that the Scottish justice system has “no jurisdiction” over the extradition of MEP Clara Ponsati to face a charge in Spain over her involvement in the unsanctioned vote because she has already left the country. Read the full story here.
9. Scottish Government in new drive to move civil service jobs out of Central Belt
The Scottish Government is drawing up plans to resurrect a policy of moving civil service jobs from the central belt – and has been urged to start with CalMac and the new National Care Service. Officials have been “considering dispersing government workforce more widely across Scotland”, with the Highlands and Islands to be “prioritised as a location”. Read more here.
10. Home Office helpline blunder sees Dundee-based Afghan man concerned for family diverted to washing machine repair shop in Coventry
An Afghan man living in Dundee trying to arrange re-settlement for his family stuck in the country had his call diverted to a washing-machine repair shop in Coventry after using an official Home Office number which did not work. Read the full story here.
