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3 weeks ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Gianni Marini
On the eve of Tartan Day, it just got a whole lot harder to sell Scotland in the US. (If President Trump is reading this, don’t get carried away Scotland is not actually for sale). First Minister John Swinney will lead the Tartan Day parade through the streets of New York on Saturday, but today he acknowledged that 10% tariffs on all UK exports to the USA is “deeply damaging”. And he is warning the UK against rushing into any retaliatory actions which could spiral.
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4 weeks ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Victoria Pease
The Scottish Parliament is in mourning following the death of Christina McKelvie this morning. MSPs will gather at 11.40am to pay tribute rather than question ministers. First Minister’s Questions will also be a more sombre affair. Christina was one of the most liked and loved MSPs in this place. She was first elected in 2007 and her sense of fun and mischief was infectious. And she really was fun to be around.
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4 weeks ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Victoria Pease
The inevitable question from any big statement by the chancellor is what does it mean for me and my family? In Holyrood, the question that naturally flows from the Spring Statement is, what does it mean for Scotland? I have spoken to spin doctors from the Scottish and UK Governments to try to reach a balanced perspective.
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1 month ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Gianni Marini
The long-awaited Grangemouth rescue plan, Project Willow, which examines the future of Scotland’s largest industrial site, has been published. In almost two years of covering the closure of the oil refinery, this is the first time I have seen any glimmer of hope. Project Willow has been welcomed by all sides, even workers who face losing their jobs over the next few months.
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1 month ago | 
news.stv.tv | Alex Salmond |Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Gianni Marini
Whatever you think of her, Nicola Sturgeon has put in a shift. She’s been an MSP since 1999, in Government from 2007 to 2023, the longest-serving First Minister of Scotland and the only woman to hold the job. Sturgeon started young, joining the SNP as a teenager. She was still in her twenties when she was first elected to the Scottish Parliament. By the time the SNP won a shock election victory in 2007 – propelling her to Deputy First Minister – she was only in her thirties.
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1 month ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Gianni Marini
So far, 22 MSPs have indicated that they will not stand in next year’s election. It seems like a lot, especially when it includes some big names and some of the most experienced politicians in the country. The list includes former first minister Humza Yousaf, and yesterday Cabinet secretaries Shona Robison and Fiona Hyslop announced their retirement plans.
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1 month ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Gianni Marini
This was the toughest political attack on Nigel Farage from a political opponent. The First Minister chucked more than a milkshake at the Reform leader. He said Scottish “values were under threat from the politics of Nigel Farage”; he said he was “repulsed by Farage and the far right”; he called him an apologist for Putin; and said his argument against migrants is “fundamentally racist”.
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1 month ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Gianni Marini
The Budget has passed. We have known it would for quite some time since Labour said they would abstain – even before the final deals were done with the Greens, Lib Dems and Alba – and we knew all along that the Conservatives would vote against it. The SNP is trumpeting record NHS investment, a new winter fuel payment for the elderly next winter, plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap next year, extra support for Grangemouth and £15m for Dundee University.
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2 months ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Victoria Pease
Project Willow is something you often hear Government ministers and politicians talking about as the future of Grangemouth. The UK and Scottish Governments have spent £1.5m on this feasibility study for low carbon projects to replace the closing refinery. Quite often when I’ve asked them about the future of the site or jobs they say “oh wait and see what Project Willow recommends”.
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2 months ago | 
news.stv.tv | Colin Mackay |Insight Colin Mackay |Victoria Pease
Fresh from protecting the country’s cats to roam the streets hunting rodents and birds, today the First Minister would say he is saving Scotland’s services with a Budget deal which looks set to sail through the stage one parliamentary vote. When John Swinney became First Minister less than a year ago, the prospect of a Budget deal seemed beyond slim. The Greens were in a huge huff after being kicked out of Government by Humza Yousaf, which also led to him kicking himself out of Government.
