Insights & news.

It was a very sore night for the SNP. As seat after seat was swept away by an incoming Labour tide, party insiders had to face the possibility that they might be left with fewer seats on Friday than predicted by even the most pessimistic opinion poll. In the end, the SNP went from 48 seats to just nine (with one still to declare as of writing). Labour, by contrast, have been toasting an historic victory in Scotland that surpassed its own expectations. In the cold light of day, the SNP needs to take stock and acknowledge a few home truths.

On Thursday, health secretary Michael Matheson resigned and Humza Yousaf undertook a ‘mini-reshuffle’ of his cabinet. The scandal of the £11,000 iPad bill was only ever going to end this way. That it was allowed to rumble on eroding public trust for months is symptomatic of the SNP’s wider fortunes, which began to rapidly deteriorate almost a year ago to this day. Fifty-one weeks ago a press conference was hastily arranged in the Drawing Room at Bute House. Nicola Sturgeon stood before Alexander Nasmyth’s pastoral portrait of Robert Burns, announced her resignation as first minister and set in motion a remarkable chain of events...

The latest Scottish Government budget was the most significant of the devolution era. In her first public event since she announced her tax and spend plans yesterday, speaking at a True North business breakfast in Edinburgh Finance Secretary Shona Robison defended her decision to significantly raise personal taxation, saying she had to make “wicked decisions and choices” to protect spending on key public services such as the NHS. Among the headline budget announcements was the creation of a new 45 percent tax band on incomes between £75,000 and £125,140, while the top rate of tax was also raised to 48 percent. Meanwhile, the higher..

True North Advisors was delighted to be joined by Professor Sir John Curtice to discuss thefindings of the strategic consultancy’s latest poll. Managing Partner Fergus Mutch chaired a discussion between Professor Curtice and TrueNorth’s Senior Advisors, Dr Eilidh Whiteford and Andrew Liddle, on Survation’s findings.The poll indicates a significant shift in the Scottish political landscape, […]