As Glastonbury wellies make way for Wimbledon whites, we enter the home stretch of the UK general election campaign with Rishi Sunak preparing to make way for Keir Starmer in Downing Street. If the prime minister has taken inspiration from England’s unlikely footballing comeback last night, he also knows that it would take a far more dramatic turnaround to prevent a Labour win on Thursday.
The Scottish Parliament commenced its summer recess on Saturday 29 June, so no parliamentary business will take place until 1 September. However, in the final weekend of campaigning, Scotland’s first minister John Swinney appeared on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show talking election priorities, affordable housing, finances, and collaboration with a Labour government on an immigration plan for Scotland.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar met stallholders in West Dunbartonshire, promising that in Keir Starmer we would have a “prime minister for the first time in 14 years that understands Scotland and cares about Scotland”.
Saturday saw former prime minister Theresa May telling voters in Perth that Reform UK is “not a Conservative party”, before adding – to precisely nobody’s surprise – that she has “never” placed a bet on the election.
Elsewhere, voting took place yesterday in the first round of French parliamentary elections with turnout at its highest in decades. The results show that the far-right National Rally achieved more than 33% of the vote, followed by the leftwing New Popular Front at 28% and president Macron’s Together coalition in third place, with 20%. We await the second round of voting this Sunday, with centrist and leftwing parties currently deciding how they might work together in certain districts to stymie the National Rally.
Tomorrow, Andy Murray is due to face Tomas Machac at what is expected to be his final singles entry at Wimbledon, if his physical condition permits. Perhaps Mrs May will have a flutter on that.
Finally, in case you missed it, in last week’s View from the Street client manager Phoebe O’Carrol-Moran looked at Labour’s ambitious planning reform agenda and questioned whether Scotland could be left behind.
We hope you have a great week. Remember, polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday and you will need to take photo ID with you. Dogs are optional.
In brief - Scotland's economy and business
- The Financial Times (£) reported that asset management firm BlackRock has shown its support for “getting politics out of pensions”, arguing for the primacy of investor choice after facing backlash for environmental, social and governance practices.
- Campaigners claim wealthy individuals like BrewDog co-founder James Watt are “planting the wrong trees in the wrong places” and driving up land prices, as reported in The Sunday Times (£).
- The Herald (£) revealed a majority of Scots believe companies producing the plastic littering streets should be the ones cleaning it up, according to an independent survey for Keep Scotland Beautiful.
- Daily Business reports that commercial property investment fell 15% in the second quarter as “sentiment cooled ahead of the general election and amid uncertainty over the timing of interest rate cuts”.
OpinioNation - columns of interest
- With polls showing a Labour lead in the Scottish general election stakes, John Boothman, Kieran Andrews and Alex Massie explore what the relationship between Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar may look like in The Sunday Times(£).
- Europe is moving to the right and Martin Sandbu wrote in The Financial Times(£) that painting these parties as “not just political adversaries but threats to democracy itself” can do more harm than good, ruling out parliamentary collaboration or the possibility of a coalition. This approach, he argues, has only reinforced some “voters’ sense that traditional elites treat them with contempt and neglect”.
- Graeme Dey, the Scottish Government’s further and higher education minister, outlined plans to overhaul the way £3bn is spent on universities, colleges and apprenticeships in The Scotsman (£).
- “We need a bit of boring earnestness, that will eventually, like everything in politics, collapse into comedy gold” Martin Rowson explains in The Guardian. After cartooning the last 14 years of Tory rule, Rowson suggests politicians leave the jokes to the professionals.
Shifting the dial - recent research
YouGov’s latest Scottish voting intention poll shows Labour six points ahead of the SNP, with Keir Starmer’s party on 35% to the nationalists’ 29%. Nearly a quarter (24%) of those who voted SNP in 2019 are now intending to support Labour, and the party is attracting similar numbers of former Lib Dem and Tory voters (25-26%).
A public opinion survey regarding devolution by Survation for The Herald indicated further devolution was “in the curious position of being almost nobody’s preferred outcome, but a tolerable middle ground for most.” When asked to choose between further devolution and leaving the settlement as it is, 40% wanted more power while 35% were content with the current agreement. On the other hand, given the choice of further devolution or independence, 45% wanted more power while 36% were for leaving the UK, with 19% unsure.
The week ahead - fill your diary with key events
Monday
- UK: energy price cap change comes into effect, Wimbledon Tennis Championships start in London
- UN: Russia assumes presidency of the UN Security Council
- EU: Hungary takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months
- US: potential Supreme Court decision about whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution over his response to the 2020 presidential election
Tuesday
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Scottish Government data
- Scottish Welfare Fund: monthly management information, and Discretionary Housing Payments: monthly official statistics
- UK: court hearing in Nigel Farage milkshake case, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition starts in London
Wednesday
- UK: final voting intention polls for the general election, RUSI to host a breakfast briefing with Taiwan’s representative to the UK about security in the region
- Deadline for Sidara to decide whether to bid for Wood Group
Thursday
- UK: polls open for the general election, 7am to 10pm
- US: Independence Day
- EU: tariffs on Chinese battery electric vehicle imports come into force
- France: 90th anniversary of Marie Curie’s death
Friday
- UK: general election results declared, Halifax releases house price study
- Venezuela: Independence Day
- 30 years since Amazon was founded
- 100th anniversary of the 1924 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony
Saturday
- UK: world Snail Racing Championships
- First year-long stay ends for NASA’s Mars habitat
Sunday
- France: second round of the French legislative elections
- UK: F1 British Grand Prix