Stuart

@RosRos542671463 @Dennynews Mediocre is a stretch.

@Dennynews By stability- he means mediocre leadership.

John Swinney speaking in Edinburgh today. He says the Holyrood election is about the cost of living but also the “question of leadership”. He claims his party offers “stability” while Westminster offers “chaos”.

@IslingtonChap @EmilyThornberry certainly cares.

Peter Mandelson is an online right obsession. Nobody in the real world cares about this, they want a government that delivers. Labour ‘sources’ need to grow up.

@ScotNational You shared a poll claiming the SNP could retain 40 MPs at the 2024 General Election - they ended up with 9. share.google/VB9DRdK4Zfz2jm…

The SNP could win 62 seats in the Holyrood election with Reform UK narrowly in second place, a new poll has suggested

@ScotNational Some polls predicted that the SNP would retain 29 MPs one week before the last GE. You ended up with 9.

The Holyrood campaign has kicked off in earnest this week and a new poll has predicted an enormous pro-independence majority What everything this week's polls tell us 👇 #Echobox=1774635654-2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">thenational.scot/news/25976193.…

@freddie124 @alexmassie reuters.com/world/uk/scotl…

@alexmassie Can you post the link to that.

Always very entertaining to see John Swinney boast about the verdict given to his government by the credit rating agencies. A verdict that, as he declines to point out, is *conditional on Scotland being a part of the United Kingdom*.

@freddie124 @alexmassie S&P stressed the rating was likely to be cut if the country "took material steps toward independence from the UK" although it did not say by how much.

@MrFlashHQ @afneil Classic Andrew Neil, "You don't know, do you? You just don't know". Top class journalist skewers mediocre politician.

@afneil There were warnings before the election that this lot would be beyond useless, but the great British public went ahead and voted for them anyway. 👇

A case study of contemporary British government at its worst. You cripple the nightlife economy with higher taxes, costs plus more rules, regulations and compliance demands. Then you propose a Minister for Nightlife to revive the nightlife economy.

@staylorish The Scottish Government will have to incentivise investors probably through higher interest payments. The ratings agencies have warned that credit ratings could be downgraded in the event of Scottish independence. Investors will expect to be compensated to accept that risk.

🚨 This is scandalous. £7 million of public money to pay bankers and lawyers for a bond sale which is simply a nationalist publicity stunt. The Scottish Government could borrow at a lower interest rate from the UK Government, and avoid these fees altogether.

@GeorgeFoulkes It seems to be swinging away from Labour at pace.

Polls are pretty suspect at present They always represent a snapshot of current views not a prediction, have a +/-3% error and the sampling methods are less rigorous than if old, No need to panic as the pendulum is swinging

@boswelltoday It starts "Hello folks. Hell of a snow here in Insch" pretty sure it's about 30 miles northwest of Aberdeen

I’m Scottish, so I know this is an accent from *somewhere* north, but for anyone who isn’t, you might think this is some Scandinavian dialect.

@docrussjackson BBC News - Watchdog hits out at potential local election delays bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

🚨 I'm sick of populist politicians like Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Priti Patel, Boris Johnson, and Robert Jenrick misleadingly accusing Labour of 'cancelling elections'. It's pathetic. If they're among the best we've got, Britain is in big trouble for the foreseeable future. There are so many shameless liars in politics nowadays - across the political spectrum. It's worse than embarrassing. Labour haven’t cancelled any elections; they’ve proposed optional delays for local government reorganisation, just as the Tories did in May 2021 - under Boris Johnson. There is no evidence that politicians accused the Tories of being "dictators", or "cancelling elections" back then – or using similar strong rhetoric like "anti-democratic" or "subverting democracy". But the calibre of politicians today is generally piss-poor (trust in UK politicians hovers at around just 10-12%), and has been spiralling since 2000. I can’t be the only one absolutely sick of this. x.com/i/status/20019…

@MaryLefteris @SkyNews @BethRigby She's holding the government to account, it's her job.

@SkyNews @BethRigby Rigby comes across as so disrespectful, she doesn’t use that tone with Farage or Badenoch.

BREAKING: Sir Keir Starmer insists to @BethRigby that Labour kept to their manifesto promises and 'won't apologise for lifting children out of poverty' trib.al/kdXA2Dr 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube

@johnmcdonnellMP There should be a retirement age for MPs. I believe you are 74.

Yvette Cooper, Foreign Secretary, has spoken of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. This week Shabana Mahmoud, Home Secretary, supported safe & legal routes for refugees. So I’ve tabled an Early Day Motion calling on the government to establish a safe & legal route for Sudan crisis

@GillianMacMSP If only the SNP could govern well.

Scotland needs the powers of a normal independent country! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💚

@Gasseous_Clay He did but it was a long time ago. Apparently the problem was that there were available seats but not two seats together so he couldn't sit next to his partner theguardian.com/politics/2016/…

Didn’t Corbyn do something similar a while ago?

@theSNP The SNP promised a national care service in 2021 - they cancelled it 4 years later. The party has form of undelivered promises again and again and again. BBC News - Why was Scotland's National Care Service scrapped? bbc.com/news/articles/…

We’re opening new GP walk-in centres across Scotland, staffed by doctors and nurses, and you won't need an appointment. Open from 12 to 8, 7 days a week, so you can get the care you need at a time that works for you.

@gordymeister @staylorish Exactly, it's SNP smoke and mirrors. Governing by soundbite, rather than facts and relying on the feckless to believe their spin.

@staylorish The lower tax rate set up is smoke and mirrors. Someone on less than median wage can only save around £20 per year, where when you go moderately above the median you start paying a lot more than that. The number was deliberately selected to be able to say ‘more than half’

1/ Update. The data cited below strongly suggested that John Swinney misled parliament yesterday, but it wasn’t quite definitive. Because all taxpayers in Scotland benefit from the 19% starter rate, the tipping point at which taxpayers paid more in 2023-24 was about £2k above…

@AgentP22 The charisma of a wilting lettuce.

A raving lunatic.

@rosscolquhoun The 2024 general election result saw the SNP's seat count drop to just nine, which was a far worse performance than almost all major polls had predicted. I'm looking forward to you eating your words in 2026.

There is still a long way to go, but momentum is with the SNP.

@scotgov BBC News - Record high number of homeless people in temporary housing in Scotland - BBC News bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

On Scottish Housing Day, we reaffirm our commitment to ensure everyone in Scotland has a warm, safe and affordable home. We are investing up to £4.9 billion over the next four years to deliver around 36,000 more homes, providing a home for up to 24,000 children.