Margaret Taylor

United Kingdom

Staff Writer at Holyrood

Staff Writer at International Bar Association

Freelance journalist Contact me: [email protected]

Articles

Licence to Drill: Why the Scottish Government needs to be clearer on fossil fuels

2 months ago | holyrood.com | Margaret Taylor

The first time Donald Trump entered the White House he immediately set to work dismantling the Obama administration’s climate-friendly energy initiatives. He swiftly erased environmental concerns from US energy policies and put in place an America First Energy Plan focused on using fossil fuel production to create jobs and cut energy costs.
UK government heeds calls on implementing recommendations of review into child sexual abuse

2 months ago | ibanet.org | Margaret Taylor

Speaking to the UK’s House of Commons on 6 January, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pledged action on tackling child sexual abuse. She highlighted that none of the 20 recommendations from the country’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) had yet been implemented since its final report was published in autumn 2022.
Trade: UK faces challenging ‘balancing exercise’ as second Trump presidency begins

2 months ago | ibanet.org | Margaret Taylor

When the UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, returned from an early January trip to Beijing, she was keen to underscore the benefits to her country in both economic and diplomatic terms. The UK will, she said, see trade in-flows worth £600m in the next five years.
UK’s assisted dying bill passes first hurdle amid intense scrutiny

Jan 14, 2025 | ibanet.org | Margaret Taylor

Amid significant public and legislative debate, in November members of the UK’s Parliament (MPs) voted to move the country’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill forward. The assisted dying bill, introduced by Kim Leadbeater MP, has reached the committee stage, where a group of 23 legislators will review the legislation before it’s sent to the House of Lords and then back to the Commons for determination.
Concerns for public sector law as pay gap with private practice widens

Jan 8, 2025 | ibanet.org | Margaret Taylor

City of London law firms are paying trainees record amounts. First-year trainees can now expect base salaries of £60,000–£65,000 per annum in some firms, with pay for year two trainees rising to £70,000 at the top end. However, with salaries in the Government Legal Service averaging between £60,000–£70,000 per annum, the rise in trainee renumeration at law firms has further highlighted the discrepancy between private practice and public sector earnings.
Healthcare: booming medical tourism industry presents challenges for patient safety and redress

Dec 8, 2024 | ibanet.org | Margaret Taylor

The medical tourism market is booming. Around 14 million people travel abroad each year to receive medical treatment, according to the Medical Tourism Association, with patients from developed nations such as the UK and US typically travelling to less-developed countries to access health services at a significantly lower cost than they could at home.
'Edinburgh is just one of the best cities in the world'

Dec 5, 2024 | holyrood.com | Margaret Taylor

Almond councillor Kevin Lang, who leads the Lib Dem group on City of Edinburgh Council, tells Margaret Taylor about the problems city expansion have brought and how everyone in his area is on first-name terms with the Burryman Describe the area you represent in one sentence A wonderful collection of eight distinct communities across north west Edinburgh from Queensferry in the west to Muirhouse in the east. How long have you lived there?
'Sometimes party politics is not the best route'

Nov 22, 2024 | holyrood.com | Margaret Taylor

Independent Falkirk councillor Laura Murtagh, who represents the Carse, Kinnaird and Tryst ward, tells Margaret Taylor why she quit the SNP despite working for an SNP MSP and how her favourite building is a pineapple. Describe the area you represent in one sentence My ward is a wonderful mix of urban communities, historic villages and rural areas with some stunning countryside, the best community football club in Scotland – Stenhousemuir – and a very special building: The Pineapple.
Rule of law: Chagos Archipelago deal heralds new era in UK

Nov 19, 2024 | ibanet.org | Margaret Taylor

Wednesday 20 November 2024 When the UK’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer KC announced in October that the UK would hand sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, he said it would ‘address [the] wrongs of the past’. The Archipelago, which includes the strategically important UK-US military base on the island of Diego Garcia, has been controlled by the UK since the mid-1960s.
Why swift action needs to be taken to get Scotland's workforce planning right

Sep 27, 2024 | holyrood.com | Margaret Taylor |Sofia Villegas

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross could hardly contain his glee when, in one of his final appearances at First Minister’s Questions before he stood down, he took John Swinney to task over his government’s record on skills. Brandishing an OECD report titled ‘Future Proofing the Skills System in the Glasgow City Region’, Ross drew particular attention to the part where it says the link between skills policies and economic development has been “weak”.