Rebecca Mason, associate, looks at the top stories for the week ahead.
As the UK celebrated Mother’s Day, two MSPs marked the occasion in print. Deputy first minister Kate Forbes described in The Sunday Times how she juggles raising a toddler with her duties at work. Meanwhile, in The Herald, Gillian Mackay urged the UK government to extend statutory maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave to 52 weeks of full pay.
Notwithstanding Mackay’s representations, we can expect the UK government’s focus today to be on two types of trade; the “vile trade” – as prime minister Keir Starmer described it – of people smuggling, and the looming deadline of US tariffs.
Starmer and home secretary Yvette Cooper will host representatives of more than 40 countries in London over a two-day summit aimed at tackling international immigration crime. Small boat channel crossings, international gangs, and illegal employment will be the focus of discussion, with Cooper emphasising the need for cooperation between nations to wage “a global war on the criminal smuggler and trafficking gangs.”
Across the Atlantic, US president Donald Trump has declared Wednesday “Liberation Day” as he imposes 25% tariffs on aluminium, steel, and car imports.While Starmer has ruled out a trade war with the US, Downing Street insiders say the UK won’t hesitate to retaliate if necessary. Officials remain in daily talks with their American counterparts, pushing for an exemption –though negotiations are expected to stretch beyond this week’s deadline.
With relations strained, it’s an interesting time for first minister John Swinney to seek to strengthen “trade and investment ties” between Scotland and the US on his visit to New York this week for the city’s Tartan Week, an annual celebration of Scottish heritage and culture.
In brief - Scotland's economy and business
A Freedom of Information request from the Scottish Conservatives has found that ScotRail has paid out almost £2.5million in compensation to passengers (£) since the SNP government nationalised it three years ago, with taxpayers therefore ultimately picking up the bill. The government says Scotrail has fewer compensation claims per passenger than Britain as a whole and that performance is consistently higher than the British average.
My Name'5 Doddie Foundation has made its biggest-ever single investment, committing £4 million to an "open science framework" (£) to accelerate research into motor neurone disease.
Business confidence in Scotland rose by two points during March to 55%, according to the latest Business Barometer from Bank of Scotland. Although optimism in the economy fell, confidence in firms' own trading prospects rose by 15 points to 65%.
The North Sea Transition Taskforce has urged the UK government to scrap the energy profit levy (£) ahead of its 2030 deadline, warning that it is eroding investor confidence. The taskforce cautions that companies are abandoning projects, jeopardising jobs, and undermining the country’s energy transition.
Finally, The Herald launches a new week-long series on Scotland’s prisons todaywith a front-page splash about the cost of keeping prisoners in jail almost doubling in a decade, from £332m in 2015/16 to £648m in the coming financial year.
OpinioNation - columns of interest
The Financial Times delves into the “doom, gloom and not much headroom” of Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement, in its latest Political Fix podcast, analysing the winners and losers of Wednesday’s spending cuts and the key economic takeaways.
A ghostly tale of modern renters. Charlotte Ivers in The Sunday Times (£) explores how housing instability is leaving a generation feeling anxious, rootless, and disconnected from society. Drawing on Róisín Lanigan’s novel I Want to Go Home, she highlights how a lack of stable housing is impacting relationships, mental well-being and major life decisions, with a lot of young people’s uncertainty and detachment derived from their inability to secure a home of their own.
Is shifting the dial good for us? Professor of psychology Ruth Ogden explores the negative effects of daylight saving time changes on wellbeing in The Guardian. Explaining that women are found to experience more stress and disrupted routines, while men reported increased productivity and satisfaction when the clocks went back, Ogden argues that to improve wellbeing, society must rethink not just daylight saving time but also societal expectations about time, working practices and the right to switch off.
The week ahead - fill your diary with key events
Monday
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Westminster:
- Oral questions: Home Office (including Topical Questions)
- UK: Day one of immigration crime summit
- Scotland: Tartan Week begins in New York City
Tuesday
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In the Holyrood chamber:
- Ministerial Statement: Tackling Fuel Poverty in Scotland: Periodic Report 2021 – 2024
- Members Business: Daniel Johnson: Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill
- In the Holyrood committee rooms:
- Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee will take evidence on Scottish Water (Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24); consider Petition PE2123: Update air quality standards in Scotland to align with 2021 World Health Organisation guidelines; consider its work programme
- Finance and Public Administration Committee will take evidence on the Scottish budget process in practice; take evidence from the Scottish Fiscal Commission; consider its work programme
- Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee will take evidence on the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s report on progress in moving people from institutions to independent living; consider its approach to the British Sign Language Inquiry; consider its approach to scrutiny of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland’s report submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; consider correspondence from the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee on the EU law tracker
- Scottish Welfare Fund: monthly management information, and Discretionary Housing Payments: monthly official statistics, updated to February 2025
- Scottish Pregnancy, Births and Neonatal Dashboard, Release 20250401
- Oral questions: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
- Ten Minute Rule Motion: Transport (Duty to Cooperate)
- Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee – Oral Evidence: Grenfell and Building Safety
- Treasury Committee – Oral Evidence: Spring Statement 2025
- Scottish Government data:
- Westminster:
- UK: Day two of immigration crime summit
- UK: Energy price cap, council tax and household bill changes take effect, with both Minimum Wage and National Living Wage to rise
- Russia: Russian and Chinese foreign ministers meet in Moscow
Wednesday
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In the Holyrood chamber:
- Ministerial Statement: Heating in Buildings Bill
- Ministerial Statement: The Impact of the UK Government’s Spring Statement on Scotland
- Scottish Government Debate: The Impact of the UK Government’s Spring Statement on Scotland
- In the Holyrood Committee rooms:
- Economic and Fair Work Committee will take evidence on skills delivery; consider a draft report of city and regional growth deals
- Rural Affairs and Islands Committee will hear Mark Ruskell declare any relevant interests; take evidence on the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill at Stage 1
- Oral Questions: Northern Ireland
- Prime Minister’s Question Time
- Motion to approve the Draft Infrastructure Planning (Onshore Wind and Solar Generation) Order 2025 – Ed Miliband
- Scottish Affairs Committee – oral evidence: GB Energy and the net zero transition
- Health and Social Care Committee – Oral evidence: Gambling – related harms
- Treasury Committee – Oral evidence: Spring Statement 2025
- Energy Security and Net Zero Committee – Oral evidence: Unlocking community energy at scale
- Westminster:
- US: Trump tariffs on steel, aluminium and car imports due to commence
- EU: Meeting of EU defence ministers
Thursday
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In the Holyrood chamber:
- General Questions
- First Minister’s Questions
- Ministerial Statement: Project Willow – Unlocking Grangemouth’s Potential
- Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Debate: The Aarhus Convention and Access to Environmental Justice
- Scottish Government data:
- Scottish Farm Business Income Estimates, 2023-24
- Births registered weekly in Scotland, April 2025 (1)
- Deaths registered weekly in Scotland, April 2025 (1)
- Crime and Policing Bill – debate
- Westminster:
- UK: Launch of Labour’s local election campaign
Friday
- UK: Five years since Keir Starmer became Labour leader