Welcome to our weekly weekend recap. Our team here at ScotlandVotes share their best stories from the weekend. It’s not just all Scottish politics. But please dip in and have a read…
Polling over the weekend suggests that the SNP are in a strong position ahead of May’s General Election but that their poll lead over Labour is narrowing. CM
John Swinney’s reported forthcoming u-turn on the rates for his new Land and Building Transaction Tax received a lot of coverage this weekend. Given that this is the first tax to be introduced by the Scottish Parliament in 300 years, a rethink seemed inevitable to avoid the charge that this is a “tax on aspiration” that harms the middle classes as The Scotsman reports. While I think that Brian Monteith’s criticism of Finance Secretary John Swinney in The Scotsman is a bit harsh, he raises an interesting question about Labour’s position on this issue. NB
Andrew Rawnsley uses his Observer column to argue about the importance of young people voting if they are to see political decisions taken that will be in their favour. DM
It looks like there’s positive signs for economic growth this year, as reported by The Sunday Times. CM
I liked Euan McColm’s piece in the SoS highlighting how the political parties are struggling to draw the lines around freedom of speech and the right to offend and suggesting that that Al Murray would actually make a very good MP as it shows he is a ‘free-thinker, unfettered by tribal loyalties’. AN
David Torrance’s column in The Herald once again challenges a prevailing notion that Scottish social attitudes are markedly different to those in the rUK and examines how politicians will seek to exploit even small differences in the run up to May’s election. NB
Former MSP John Park writes in The Sunday Post about reforms he would like to see in an enhanced Scottish Parliament. Park argues that “if devolution truly is a process rather than an event, then the institution that takes us on that journey must also evolve”. The former member for Mid Scotland and Fife also says that the committee system requires reform as does the voting system to elect members to the Parliament. Park calls for more collaboration between list members as well as a mechanism to allow non-MSPs ‘experts’ to sit on the Parliament’s committees. DM