Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey addressing Scottish LibDems conference in Edinburgh
Credit: Jason Fong / Strathclyde Telegraph

There are 65 days until the election, and this week, Scottish Labour have been repositioning their campaign, the Greens have been announcing major policies that address voters’ concerns, and the SNP has been shrouded in scandal.

• On Thursday, the Green Party won the by-election in Greater Manchester, sending signals to Labour ahead of the election. The Greens have shown themselves to be a major contender and the opposition to the right-wing rise of Reforms. Scottish Labour should take inspiration from the Greens strong progressive stances if it wishes to maintain its left wing voters.

• On Friday, Anas Sarwar made an appeal to the public to vote, saying, “whether you do it with enthusiasm, whether you do it with anger, or if you do it by holding your nose, let’s come together and back the only party that can get rid of this incompetent SNP government that deserves to lose”. When the Scottish Labour Party is asking people to hold their nose to vote for them, what does this say about the position of their campaign?

• New polling by the BBC has revealed the top 3 issues for Scottish voters are the cost of living, health, social care and the NHS, immigration, housing, and the economy. In response to the question, ‘Are migrants good or bad for the country?’, 44% of Scottish voters said that they are good for the country, whilst 30% believe that they are bad. 

• At FMQs on Thursday, John Swinney faced more criticism regarding safety concerns at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Swinney had claimed the hospital was safe; however, new reports are coming out about the presence of mould and dirty water within the wards.

• At their conference in Glasgow, the Scottish Greens announced that they will extend the current funded childcare hours and introduce free bus travel. Ross Greer stated that they intend to use taxation on the wealthy and corporations to fund the free bus travel.

• MSPs are going to vote on whether constituents could essentially sack them. In Westminster, voters can remove MPs; however, the Scottish election doesn’t have a recall system. The bill was tabled by Reform MSP Graham Simpson.

In the next week, we can expect to see politicians reacting to the war on Iran as the UK’s involvement increases. 

Maddie Watson

She/Her