In the Scottish political scene this week we have seen the First Minister get a little irritated by the other party leaders giving her a run for her money – there are no more easy rides for her at FMQs, that’s for sure.
Refugees and Human rights continue to be a hot topic, with Ms Sturgeon shedding a tear at a previous FMQ saying she would welcome a migrant to the First Minister’s Official Residence – a position she is now backtracking from – claiming that actually there were no plans for her to take in anyone.
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In other news, we have the first SNP MP down – yes I repeat – an SNP MP down – and First Minister Sturgeon said she had only recently found out there were mortgage fraud ‘allegations’ against SNP MP Michelle Thomson in a Sunday newspaper – and now Ms Thomson has had the whip removed – this story is the number one topic of conversation around Holyrood and Labour are enjoying this immensely.
It seems the honeymoon period is coming to an end in Westminster for the new SNP MPs. In Holyrood there still seems to be some internal bad blood floating about the other parties, most notably amongst Conservative ranks where a senior Tory last week mentioned that two current MSPs were ‘ousted’ out of office by the hierarchy of the party ahead of next year’s elections. It matches the large churn in SNP candidates we saw recently.
And Labour MSPs have been energetically jockeying for places on the lists, ahead of the anticipated SNP landslide next year where the SNP are likely to take the majority of constituency seats, leaving the regional seats the most desirable among non-SNP Members. The reality behind the scenes is that Labour expects to do very badly and is managing expectations already to that effect.
In Parliament this week, Ms Sturgeon said that Scotland has a higher number of people on the Living Wage compared with the rest of the UK. Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm questioned the Scottish Government on economic powers. Veteran SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson asked the Government about the new lobbying bill, and asked if they had looked at the wider aspect of the bill outside of elected members, and asked if civil servants were to be included. The Government responded saying the civil service code is so robust that civil servants should not be included in the bill.
The First Minister also announced the new legislative programme which will see eight new bills introduced. They are:
- Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Bill
- Bankruptcy Consolidation Bill
- Budget Bill
- Burial and Cremation Bill
- Lobbying Bill
- Private Tenancies Bill
- Scottish Elections (dates) Bill
- Scottish Fiscal Commission Bill
Thursday and Friday saw the new labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn visiting Scotland, trying to woo disgruntled ex-labour voters back to the fold, promising hope and change. He said he's 'working fine' with Kezia Dugdale the new Scottish labour leader who he praised fulsomely earlier in the week in Brighton at Labour’s Conference.
In Company news we welcomed two new clients recently, Combat Stress Scotland, the leading mental health charity for veterans, with a treatment centre in Ayr and Kerry Kennedy the daughter of Bobby Kennedy and niece of JFK popped into the office at PLMR and gave an inspirational talk on human rights and justice. PLMR is proudly providing support to the work of the Robert F Kennedy human rights organisation.