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Votes at 16 – a clever Lib Dem plot?
David Cameron will meet Alex Salmond in Edinburgh on Monday morning to put the seal on a deal to transfer the power to the Scottish government to hold a referendum on independence. As part of that...
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SNP can’t guarantee universal benefits
Alex Salmond believes last month’s speech by Johann Lamont was a game-changer. In it, the Labour leader in Scotland argued that many of the universal benefits currently enjoyed by Scots are not...
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Newspapers could be regulated differently in England and Scotland
Alex Salmond. Getty Images As journalists scramble to find out what different members of the coalition and Labour party think about press regulation in the run-up to tomorrow’s publication of the...
View ArticleNewspapers could be regulated differently in England and Scotland (Part II)
Two days ago, I wrote about the possibility that the regulatory systems governing the press could differ in England and Scotland in the wake of the Leveson report. Unlike broadcast media, print...
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An independent Scotland could cost UK taxpayers billions
Amid all the debate about the economic viability of an independent Scotland, one element of the debate has been left behind, namely what Scottish independence would mean for the rest of the UK. Martin...
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Currency battle with Scotland looms
George Osborne and Danny Alexander will front two important pieces of analysis next month into why being in the UK benefits Scotland both in terms of its currency and its financial services sector. The...
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The English want benefit cuts, the Scottish less so
I was interested to read the piece by Alex Massie in this morning’s Scotsman, in which he argued: Scots may take an even tougher line on welfare than voters elsewhere in the UK… Visit any...
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Has the Treasury given Alex Salmond the upper hand?
We revealed in this morning’s FT that the Treasury is making it clear to investors in UK debt that if Scotland goes independent, the rest of the UK will still be liable for the debt that it has issued....
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Sir Nick Macpherson: very bold, perm sec
We’ve known for two days that George Osborne, Danny Alexander and Ed Balls were about to rule out sharing the pound with an independent Scotland. What we didn’t know until this morning is that they...
View ArticleScotland comments boomerang on Australian PM
He has been criticised in the past for offending women, gays and the Irish. Now Tony Abbott, Australia’s prime minister, stands accused of insulting the people of Scotland and interfering in the...
View ArticleJim Wallace: Salmond holding his own referendum would be undemocratic
Last week, we were told that the UK government believes the Scottish parliament does not have the legal right to hold its own referendum on independence. Since then, debate has focused on what the...
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Will a Scottish referendum happen in 2014?
It has been assumed in Westminster for several months now that the Scots will get an independence referendum, and it will happen in 2014. But mutterings are beginning to emerge that this may not happen...
View ArticleScottish referendum takes a step closer
I’ve written on this blog before about the dispute between Westminster and Holyrood on whether there should be a third option – dubbed devo-max – on the eventual referendum on Scottish independence....
View ArticleThe economic case for independence is weakening
Given the Scottish National party’s imperious poll ratings it easy to conclude that, despite the Yes side’s defeat in last year’s referendum, independence is inevitable. But the release on Wednesday of...
View ArticleWhat is the SNP’s strategy? (And does it have one?)
If the SNP achieves anything like the victory polls suggest, we will discover quite how committed unionists really are towards the union. There will be a great temptation to respond violently to the...
View ArticleToday in the election
A summary of today’s events April 14 On Tuesday David Cameron launched the Conservative manifesto for a “good life” in Britain, with plans for free childcare, extended right to buy powers and a...
View ArticleScotland’s fiscal cliff
Beyond the immediate political battles being fought by the Labour party against the Scottish National party, and the Conservatives against both of them, there is a more fundamental tension north of the...
View ArticleThe SNP has let down Scotland’s poorest students
At the 2007 Holyrood elections, the Scottish National party campaigned to “dump the debt” accrued by students at Scottish universities. It promised to service the existing loan debt for Scottish...
View ArticleThe Scottish National Party and the Joe Biden test
Okay, the US vice-president hasn’t directly commented on the Scottish National party. But in any analysis of public policy it is important to keep his words in mind: ‘Don’t tell me what you value, show...
View ArticleWhat now for the future of the union?
Where now for this weary union? After the general election triumphs of the Scottish National party and the Conservatives, voices in both parties are calling for the UK government to find a new...
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