Donald, Colin
Image:Nicola Sturgeon said Derek Mackay's behaviour 'has failed to meet the standards required' The MSP's resignation came hours before he was due to deliver the Scottish government's budget for the next financial year. Mr Mackay, a 42-year-old father-of-two, had been tipped as a po...
The Scottish Budget has frozen the Basic Property Rate, which is charged to properties with a rateable value up to and including £51,000, at 49.8p. Robison also announced that the Government will be maintaining the Small Business Bonus Scheme. “We have been compelled to take painful a...
“These figures highlight the scale of investment in planning services that is required at a time when the Scottish Government has announced a 43% reduction in the Planning budget from £11.7m to £6.6m. “They also show the critical need for immediate short-term solutions. We have alread...
The path to the CGF’s current predicament started almost ten years ago when 1978 Games hostEdmonton, Canada bowed outof the 2022 race due to the global drop in oil prices that severely impacted the Alberta’s provincial government budget. That left only...
a seat previously held by theConservative Party. As an MP, he was ordered out of the House of Commons for a week in 1988 when he interrupted the chancellor of the Exchequer’s annual budget speech to protest theConservativegovernment’s decision to introduce apoll taxin Scotland while reducing...
Housing minister Paul McLennan has urged the UK Government to commit to linking Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to rents in future years to protect private renters on low incomes. Speaking ahead of the forthcoming UK Budget, the minister also said th
A budget of £6000 was sourced through a Scottish Government Nature Restoration Grant. This was a huge boost and meant there was no additional funding required from the service’s budget, other than staff time to deal with deliveries and spending time in schools. Having quickly realised that ...
A similarly dubious situation faces Shona Robison in preparing a budget for the Scottish government on December 4th. To date, economic performance has been sluggish, with councils forced into austerity while spending on notorious shibboleths like still-incomplete ferries at Ferguson’s, or dualling th...
Ominously, Cabinet Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville confirmed the target to build 110,000 homes by 2032, but said this was ‘at risk’. By way of explanation, the Scottish government said the cuts were necessary because the UK government did not “inflation-proof” its capital budget, resulting...