BBC Scotland's Business Editor Douglas Fraser's take on the SNP Programme for Government:
Sturgeon's mid-term reboot
Quote:
Things haven't gone as anyone expected for the past few years. For Nicola Sturgeon, a rogue Westminster election knocked the momentum out of her party's dominance and the independence movement.
So 16 months out from her re-election to lead a minority administration, the Programme for Government has the look of a reboot. She's switched off the administration, and switched it back on again, and come up with something that reads like an election manifesto.
It's pleased an impressively wide range of pressure groups: those who campaign for the planet, disabled people, against poverty, on race and gender, the business lobby, public sector unions and public transport.
And this is a manifesto that is willing to make some enemies and risk criticism; taking on the lock-em-up brigade on prisons: petrolheads and their diesel cousins: the obese, or at least those who sell fatty foods to them: and local councillors, who stand to lose powers to headteachers and local communities.
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Also, Ruth Davidson has this to say about the Brexit process:
Scottish Tory leader says she is worried Brexit could damage economy permanently
Quote:
What is her biggest concern about the impact of Brexit? She pauses. “Interesting question… My real fear is that if there’s a short-term economic hit, we don’t bounce back from it.”
Would she like a prolonged transition period during which Britain maintains access to the single market? “I’m for free trade and want to make sure that people from Scotland and the UK have access to – and the greatest ability to operate within – the single market, which I believe are the exact words the Prime Minister used in her Lancaster House speech back in January. The mechanism for how we get to that I’m less aerated about, as long as that’s where we get to.”
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Almost forgot this - the GMB is calling foul over the decision to open up the contract for the new Type 31 frigates to yards across the UK rather than using the Clyde only:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...itics-41174619
Viewed UK wide, it's a good decision and one I approve of, but from a specifically Scottish view point this is a potential hornets nest. If Glasgow gets the hump, the rest of Scotland normally suffers.
Mike.