Kieran Andrews

Dec 6, 2024 | thetimes.com | Kieran Andrews

Police are conducting inquiries into allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the leader of Edinburgh city council. Officers have held interviews with a series of senior officials and politicians as part of inquiries into complaints against Labour’s Cammy Day. Andrew Kerr, the local authority’s former chief executive, who retired in the summer, is among those to have been interviewed by Police Scotland alongside other senior councillors serving in the local authority.

Dec 6, 2024 | thetimes.com | Kieran Andrews

It has been a tough few months for Scottish Labour and you don’t have to travel far to find people who are blaming the UK government for the hardships. The party’s popularity dropped after the decision to end the universality of winter fuel payments and there was no post-budget bounce after Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, unveiled her tax and spending plans.

Dec 6, 2024 | thetimes.com | Kieran Andrews

Sir Keir Starmer has accused the SNP of “frittering away” £5 billion of additional money from the Treasury in its spending plans. The prime minister said the extra money, which will go to Holyrood over two years, “does put the SNP on the spot” and heaps pressure on Scottish ministers to improve public services. In an interview with The Times, he said: “For years, they’ve been trying to get away with poor performance by trying to point to somebody else and blame somebody else.

Dec 5, 2024 | thetimes.com | Kieran Andrews |Greig Cameron

Kate Forbes has urged opposition parties to push the SNP to make its budget more business-friendly as hospitality firms warned of job losses. In a stark and unusual admission, the deputy first minister told an audience of some of Scotland’s largest industries that she was “relieved” that the tax and spending plans included tax breaks for hospitality venues.

Dec 4, 2024 | thetimes.com | Robert Fergus |Aysun Bora |Greig Cameron |Kieran Andrews

Scotland’s finance secretary has set out her budget, which she said “offers hope for Scotland’s future”. After announcing the Scottish government’s tax and spending plans for the next financial year to Holyrood, her speech was accompanied by a budget bill, putting the plan into a legal document. MSPs will not vote on the bill until February, when the SNP government hopes the law will be passed.