Category Archives: Scottish politics

SNP says campaign for next referendum on independence ‘has already begun’

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John Swinney tells party conference SNP will use ‘six-figure war chest’ to renew argument for leaving UK

John Swinney has said that the second referendum campaign for Scottish independence “has already begun”, revealing a nationwide effort to renew the argument for leaving the UK in his keynote address to the SNP party conference.

On Saturday, the Scottish first minister said that the SNP would launch its “most sophisticated campaign in history” to convince Scottish of the benefits of independence, backed by “a six-figure war chest”. Called Choose Scotland, the campaign aims to build the consensus for leaving the union.

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Andy Burnham hosts Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street – UK politics live

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Burnham welcomes Ukraine’s president to No 10 for the first time since he became PM

PMQs is about to start.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

After @genevieve_holl reported this last night, various sources in the Trump administration who are supportive of Farage said Badenoch was needlessly trying to cause a political row (per @katyballs @MrHarryCole) and accused her of undermining the Anglo-American relationship.

It is possible that these people are particularly sensitive about this topic because they are still considering buying the islands, as @connorstringer and I reported earlier in the year. Domestic opposition to the idea of the US running Chagos in the UK would be a problem for the White House.

Calamity Kemi Strikes Again.

Kemi Badenoch has risked causing a diplomatic row with Britain’s allies, all because she cannot control the Tory spin doctors around her that oversaw the disastrous premierships of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, and even David Cameron.

Kemi and the Conservatives cannot be trusted by the Chagos people.

If they really have interest in the Chagos, why would you have started negotiating about things you already own?

We are confused at why @KemiBadenoch is attacking @Nigel_Farage …

We understood Nigel Farage’s comments to mean that we would get perpetual use of the base, which, frankly, we’ve always had.

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Andy Burnham will take Britain back into European Union, Neil Kinnock claims – UK politics live

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Former Labour leader says he believes the prime minister has an ‘authentic commitment’ to taking the UK back into the EU

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, has said he does not agree with his colleague Suella Braverman’s assertion that black people cannot be English.

Asked about her views in an interview on Sky News, Yusuf said:

In my view Ashley Cole is the best English fullback in history, and I won’t take any other position. So in my view, Ashley Cole is English. I think the argument that he’s not English doesn’t hold water with me.

Nasser Hussain, who I grew up watching when I went to the cricket, the idea that those people aren’t English is an alien concept to me.

I would respectfully disagree with people, who make the opposite argument.

To say I’m English is to take a ‘laissez-faire, anything-goes’ attitude to ethnicity, citizenship and identity. It also denies me my Asian heritage. The liberals (many of them in today’s Conservative party) take this cosmopolitan approach to Englishness. They’re terrified of being called racist so they say that anyone, as long as they’re born here, can be English.

I take the conservative approach. Englishness is an ethnicity. There have been English people for centuries and we need to recognise this more if we are to start taking a more muscular approach to citizenship and nationality. And no, it’s not racist to say this.

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UK politics live: Pat McFadden tells Labour activists they should not defend benefits system ‘status quo’ because it ‘writes off’ claimants

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Work and pensions secretary says the current system is flawed because it consigns too many people to a life on benefits when they would be better off working

‘I can deliver’: Burnham pledges radical change on eve of Labour conference

Kuenssberg puts it to Burnham that, according to the Health Foundation, a system offering adult social care free at the point of delivery (like healthcare delivered by the NHS) would cost £18bn.

Burnham says the cost is “not that high” (ie, not as high as £18bn).

Not that high.

But can I directly deal with this issue of the costs?

Louise Casey is still doing an official review for us, so I will set out the vision, if you like, on Tuesday [in his speech to the conference].

Louise will then help us with the how. How do we make this happen? When can we make it happen?

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Scottish Labour’s new leader backs Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields

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Michael Marra supports development of the North Sea sites, calling for a ‘more rational’ approach to energy policy

Scottish Labour’s new leader Michael Marra has backed the development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields in the North Sea in one of his first acts after being elected, calling for a “more rational” approach to energy policy.

On Saturday, the MSP for North East Scotland won a near two-thirds majority to lead the party in Holyrood, becoming Scottish Labour’s 11th leader. He replaces Anas Sarwar after his shock decision to resign in July to join Andy Burnham’s new government as a trade minister.

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Planning permission for new Scottish AI datacentres suspended for up to a year

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MSPs vote for strict environmental impact assessments and will delay decisions until national strategy is developed

Holyrood has voted to pause planning applications for all new AI datacentres for up to a year until the Scottish government has developed a national strategy.

On Wednesday, MSPs backed a Scottish Labour motion to halt new schemes for up to 12 months while rules on hyperscale datacentres are developed in what could be a blow to the British government’s AI strategy.

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Farage hints that Reform’s £72m donations may not be legal under new elections bill – UK politics live

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In an interview about the donations, he said they are compliant with the law ‘today’

Andy Burnham has cancelled engagements today and tomorrow following the death of his father Roy, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, the Press Association reports.

Burnham has spoken about his father’s illness which meant that he did not know his son had become prime minister.

[We] will continue bringing forward further reforms to strengthen confidence in our democracy.

Following on from the previous minister for democracy’s letter to you of 10 July 2026, we wanted to reiterate the government’s concerns, shared by many members of the public and parliamentarians, about the rise in the volume and concentration of money in UK politics. We have to limit the way financial power can end up dominating political power, to get to a politics that works for all people in all places.

We believe spending limits on parties and candidates are too high, and ought to be reduced.

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Immigration minister says poorer areas have taken ‘fair share’ of asylum seekers – UK politics live

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Anna Turley backs up Andy Burnham’s suggestion that affluent areas should house more asylum seekers in future

Just 20 staff are working on climate adaptation within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the part of government tasked with protecting the environment and maintaining food security, a freedom of information request has revealed. Sandra Laville has the story.

On his visit to Stevenage, Andy Burnham also said he would visit the town on Remembrance Day to mark its 80th birthday.

I’m going to come back to Stevenage on 11 November. We will pay our respects for Remembrance Day around that time, but I’ll be here because if I’m right, that will be 80 years to the day that the post-war Labour government created the first new town right here in Stevenage.

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Nicola Sturgeon ‘has not spoken to’ estranged husband, Peter Murrell, since he was jailed

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Scotland’s former first minister says she will not visit Murrell in prison, where he is serving five-year sentence for embezzling SNP funds

Nicola Surgeon has said she will not visit her estranged husband, Peter Murrell, in prison, has stopped speaking to him and views herself as a “mug” for worrying about his wellbeing and mental health earlier this year.

During a podcast recording at the Edinburgh festival fringe, Scotland’s former first minister said Murrell had lied to her until the day he pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the Scottish National party.

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UK politics: Tories’ Philp rejects French claim that shots fired from naval boat near him were training exercise – as it happened

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Shadow minister says there was no warning and ‘it looked and sounded like deliberate intimidation’

It is not just the Russians firing on Brits in the English Channel; Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has accused a French warship of firing “warning shots” near him while he was on a boat in the Channel monitoring small boat crossings.

In a post on social media, he says:

On the channel today monitoring illegal migrant crossings … as I was being interviewed by the BBC just now a French warship approached close and fired 17 live rounds behind us. There was no notice or training exercise in place. Felt like warning shots or attempted intimidation

On the crisis in prison places, this has been a long time coming. We did some things, as I said [see 10.11am], it wasn’t enough, and I’m sorry about that.

But I can’t fix the past, but what I can do is come up with solutions for now, and for tomorrow.

This was something which we were doing in government. We had plans to rent prison places, just like Sweden has done with Estonia, so that we didn’t have to just release these sorts of violent criminals early. We could have put them in other countries.

If everybody says ‘no prison near me’, we won’t get these [prison places] built, so this is something the public can help with … We cannot say ‘no’ to every potential site for a prison.

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Evacuated villagers in Cairngorms allowed home after wildfire threat lifts

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Scottish first minister thanks Nethy Bridge residents and aid workers after earlier requesting UK military aid to fight 10-day fire

Residents of Nethy Bridge have been told they can return to their homes after a large fire broke out in the Cairngorms national park.

Supt Judy Hill of Police Scotland said: “Thanks to the efforts of fire crews, gamekeepers, contractors, partners and many others over the past 24 hours, there is no longer the immediate threat which prompted the evacuation of properties in Nethy Bridge.

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Scottish Labour’s rivals decry ‘chancer’ Anas Sarwar for resigning to join Andy Burnham’s government

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New prime minister has made Sarwar – the first senior Labour figure to call for Keir Starmer’s resignation – a peer

Scottish Labour’s rivals in Holyrood have slammed Anas Sarwar’s shock decision to resign as leader to sit in Andy Burnham’s new government, calling him a “chancer” and accusing him of lying to voters.

The prime minister has made Sarwar – who was the first senior Labour figure to call for Keir Starmer to resign – a peer and given him a ministerial post at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, No 10 announced on Wednesday.

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Badenoch urges Burnham to condemn defence investment plan as Starmer says black hole will be addressed – UK politics live

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Minister and MPs have raised concerns that his ‘poisoned chalice’ plan will take cash from much-needed road projects

Dan Sabbagh is the Guardian’s defence and security editor.

Andy Burnham is a “true patriot” who will provide the money needed to maintain Britain’s security when he becomes prime minister, the new defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, said on a visit to a factory in Cambridge today.

I’ve known Andy Burnham for more than 15 years, he is a true patriot, and I absolutely believe that he will make sure that we have the resources that we need to field the kind of capabilities that are required given the nature of the world that we’re operating in.

I know what we need to do to keep Britain safe, and I’m absolutely confident that Andy Burnham, as the next prime minister, knows that as well, and we’ll make sure in the context of the next spending review that we’ve got the resources we need to keep the country safe.

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‘This changes everything’: how Brexit altered Scotland’s political landscape

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Former party leaders reflect on the turbulence that followed the referendum in which most Scottish voters backed the losing side

The decision to quit the EU bolstered support for Scottish independence, which a decade after the Brexit referendum is at near record levels, according to Scottish Labour’s former leader Kezia Dugdale.

Dugdale said the Brexit vote “creates a frame around fairness” for many in Scotland because, unlike England, Scottish voters comprehensively backed remain in 2016, by 62% to 38%, yet found their country taken out of Europe.

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Reform UK gloomy about prospects in Makerfield, as one party source says Labour ahead by 2,500 votes – UK politics live

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Result expected around 3am as Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor hopes a win over Reform UK will help force the prime minister to step aside

David Blunkett, the former Labour cabinet minister, has suggested that Keir Starmer should stand down after the Makerfield byelection.

In an interview on the BBC’s Newsnight, Blunkett suggested that Starmer standing aside would be the best option for the party regardless of whether Andy Burnham wins tonight or loses.

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Scottish Conservatives win Aberdeen South, ousting SNP

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Tories’ Douglas Lumsden says city has spoken ‘loud and clear’ in support of the North Sea oil and gas industry

The Scottish National party (SNP) has lost the formerly safe seat of Aberdeen South in a shock loss to the Scottish Conservatives.

The Scottish Conservatives’ Douglas Lumsden beat the SNP’s Richard Thomson by 6,050 votes, with a 14.69% swing away from the SNP. The Tories vote share was 49.51%. Lumsden’s vote tally was 14,308, with Thomson on 8,258.

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UK defence spending plan ‘well short of what’s required’ and harder choices needed, says John Healey – as it happened

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Ex-defence secretary John Healey and ex-defence minister Al Carns have given resignation statements to MPs

Speaking to reporters at the G7, Keir Starmer also defended the defence investment plan (DIP) draft that led to John Healey’s resignation as defence secretary last week. Starmer confirmed that Dan Jarvis, the new defence secretary, is getting some input before the publication of the DIP in its final version.

Starmer said:

The position on investment in defence is firstly that we increased last year defence spending from 2.3% to 2.6%, that’s the biggest increase since the 1980s, and that means £270bn will be spent this parliament on defence.

On top of that [the] defence investment plan which obviously gives us capability for the future. We will put even more money in relation to that. I’ve been really clear that’s required difficult decisions, I have taken the decision to reallocate money from other departments.

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Police officer received death threats over Nowak murder case as Mahmood condemns ‘dangerous’ commentary – UK politics live

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Home secretary says officer wrongly linked to case had to relocate after footage emerged of victim being handcuffed while dying

BBC Scotland has more details of the Peter Murrell hearing this morning on its live blog. And, on its live blog, Sky News has pictures of some of the items purchased by Murrell with stolen SNP funds.

Andy Burnham will not call an early election if he becomes prime minister after the Makerfield byelection, a spokesperson for the Greater Manchester mayor has said.

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Labour says Reform UK ‘in chaos’ as Zia Yusuf publicly tells Jenrick he’s got party’s deportation policy wrong – UK politics live

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‘Robert’s answer is not Reform policy’, Yusuf said about an answer that Jenrick gave to journalists days earlier

Keir Starmer has said that SNP leaders need to explain why they did not realise that Peter Murrell was stealing more than £400,000 from the party.

Asked about yesterday’s court proceedings in Edinburgh, where Murrell admitting embezzling money from the party to spend on luxury goods, Starmer said:

I think anybody looking at what’s happening up in Scotland will be baffled that those at the top of the SNP say they didn’t know anything about what was going on, so clearly there are questions that need to be answered.

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John Swinney urges Starmer to show Scotland ‘greater respect’ after SNP victory

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Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, concedes his party was comprehensively beaten in election as count puts his party on 17 seats, a tie with Reform

John Swinney, the Scottish National party leader, has challenged Keir Starmer to show “greater respect” to the Scottish government after winning the Holyrood elections by a comfortable margin.

The Scottish National party secured a record fifth term in office on Friday after securing 58 of Holyrood’s 129 seats.

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