Snp

Of course it was a “stunt” – the Westminster village’s preferred term for any piece of nonsense that disrupts the serenity of the mother of parliaments – and of course it was planned in advance. Pete Wishart, the SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire, tweeted that prime minister’s questions would be unusually interesting this week.  For a given definition of interesting, that is. The SNP’s walk-out was engineered to win the party some attention and a place at the top of this evening’s Scottish news. Job done. Mission accomplished. Well done lads. It was all very reminiscent of the 1980s when Alex Salmond, among others, was forever making an

The stramash between Theresa May’s government in London and Nicola Sturgeon’s ministry in Edinburgh over the need for the devolved parliaments to consent to the UK government’s EU withdrawal bill is, as the wags say, the world’s most boring constitutional crisis. So much so, indeed, that many voters in Scotland – to say nothing of elsewhere in the realm – remain splendidly indifferent to it.  The Scottish parliament yesterday refused to give its consent to the withdrawal bill. Legally, this changes little. Politically, it has the potential to change many things. Nicola Sturgeon, with the support of Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens, says she is “protecting devolution” and

What’s Nicola Sturgeon playing at on Brexit? Quick answer: politics. Longer answer: politics.  The SNP leader has rejected a deal to resolve the impasse between Westminster and Holyrood over the repatriation of powers from Brussels. She accuses the Tories of a ‘power grab’ because some areas of responsibility will initially go to the UK rather than Scottish parliament and threatens to deny consent to the government’s Brexit Bill. If she does so – and her SNP holds a majority of seats at Holyrood with unofficial junior coalition partners, the Greens – it will fix a procedural wheel clamp on Brexit. At which point, the only way the Bill could go

Sometimes it is the little details that tell you everything you need to know. So when, as Politics Home revealed yesterday, the chief whip meets Tory backbenchers to assuage their concerns over the transitional arrangements for the fishing industry as the UK edges its way out of the EU and tells them not to worry because, look, “It’s not like the fishermen are going to vote Labour” you know there is something deeply wrong at the heart of the government.  This, remember, is what passes for the government’s intelligence unit. And with leaders like this, who needs enemies? It is not evident whether the ignorance is more startling than the

Oh dear. How best to stop a row over the terms for fishermen in the Brexit transition period escalating into a rebellion? Well, don’t send in Julian Smith for one. After the Scottish Conservatives saw red over the decision to keep the United Kingdom in the Commons Fisheries Policy during the Brexit implementation period, the Chief Whip summoned Tory MPs to see him. However, rather than soothe concerns, it appears he made a bad situation worse. PoliticsHome reports that Smith told them to accept Theresa May’s Brexit transition deal because ‘it’s not like the fishermen are going to vote Labour’. Someone had best introduce Smith to the SNP…

The SNP are a quieter force in Westminster since the snap election. Along with a reduction in size, they now have to face down the equally rowdy Scottish Conservatives each week at PMQs. Alas, it seems the new challenge is proving too great for the party’s digital operation. At PMQs, the SNP’s Mhairi Black criticised the government for singing the virtues of universal credit when her Tory colleagues in Stirling council have called for half a million pounds in extra funding to mitigate its effects. The SNP’s digital operation was quick to go on the offensive – criticising the Tories over their ‘hypocrisy’ on Universal Credit after ‘Tory-run Stirling council

The SNP, you’ll be distressed to learn, are having a time of it. The party is embroiled in a deputy leadership contest that could have been designed by their worst enemies. Angus Robertson, who lost his Moray seat last June, has resigned, depriving the party of one of its most formidable and respectable advocates. His departure couldn’t have come at a worse moment. The SNP has tried Scots’ forbearance for constitutional agitation and now has a reputation for banging on about independence that more justly belongs to Ruth Davidson’s Tories. After more than a decade in power, the SNP government shows signs of wear and tear and perhaps some structural

Say what you like about Nicola Sturgeon but she’s consistent. Every autumn, when she sets out her programme for government, the First Minister makes the same pledge: ‘We will make it a priority to improve the educational outcomes of pupils in the most disadvantaged areas of Scotland… a targeted approach to attainment that will help children across Scotland—especially those in our disadvantaged areas.’ — November 2014 ‘Improving school attainment is arguably the single most important objective in this programme for government. Improving it overall and closing the gap between children in our most and least deprived areas is fundamental to our aim of making Scotland fairer and more prosperous.’ —

I don’t know where people get the idea the SNP is intolerant of criticism. Scotland’s most open-minded party has released a new video that appears to be an attack on one of its critics dressed up as a party political broadcast. The video depicts a group of thirtysomethings gathered for a house party. They are Scottish but improbably so, smiling excessively and expressing enthusiasm for life. A couple of latecomers are warned that ‘Davey’ is in the kitchen ‘bangin’ on about politics again’ and soon we are introduced to a cartoonish party bore. Stuffy, bespectacled Davey is the wrong side of 40 but sports a hipster-trad three-piece and Brooklyn-worthy beard in the

Since arriving in Parliament in 2015, Mhairi Black has caused a stir in Westminster. The 23-year-old SNP MP rarely misses the chance to criticise the place – whether it’s the ‘old and defunct’ systems and procedures or the ‘sociopaths’ that inhabit it. Now it seems that not even her own party is beyond criticism. In an interview with Holyrood magazine, Black recalls an incident involving Alex Salmond, then an SNP MP. The party veteran took Black to lunch in a Commons restaurant, where he offered her some fashion advice: ‘I was just sitting chatting away to him and the whole time I’m thinking, what’s the point of this meant to be

It’s remarkable how quickly tribalism can capture people. Three years ago, only a small number of politicians and commentators advocated leaving the European Union. Reform it, yes; complain about it, always. But actually quit? That was a Ukip cause. But now a lot of people, having drunk the Brexit brew, are quite heady. It’s not just that they have been converted to the Brexit cause, it’s that they can’t see how anyone sensible could disagree with it – or them. They belong to a new tribe: the Brexiteers. And any problems in their project are immediately blamed on the others. Listen to the arguments now. The Brexiteers are not to

It’s quiet up in Scotland at the minute. We’ve not tried to secede in a few months, some MSPs are away pursuing reality TV careers, and Nicola Sturgeon is still deciding the best punishment for parents that smack their recalcitrant offspring. The downside is that when things are quiet, some geyser of nationalist lunacy inevitably explodes. Step forward, Eddi Reader — folk musician, celebrity separatist, and the first of what are bound to be countless victims of the burgeoning police state. She announced to her Twitter followers: ‘When I was stopped in Glasgow two days ago (MOT ran out) the sight of the policeman and the Union Jack on his jacket

Although it’s widely accepted that Theresa May’s decision to call a snap election was disastrous, one of the few upshots for the Tories was that it managed to stave off calls from the SNP for a second independence referendum. Alas, whoever is running the Prime Minister’s Twitter account doesn’t appear to be on the same page when it comes to preserving the ‘precious union’. Following May’s meeting with Nicola Sturgeon, the Prime Minister tweeted that ‘the UK and Scotland must continue to work together to ensure businesses and consumers have the certainty they need as we leave the EU’. Only there’s a problem. Unless Nicola Sturgeon gets her wish for independence,

Oh dear. Although John Bercow has a penchant for winding up Conservative MPs in the Chamber, he also has a habit of taking the SNP to task for failing to grasp Westminster etiquette. However, today he adopted a rather different approach. During questions after Theresa May’s statement on the EU Council summit, the Speaker appeared to have an odd turn. Calling the SNP’s Alan Brown to speak, Bercow attempted a Scottish accent: Mr S recommends he leaves it to the Scots next time…