Political News Archive

  • Cameron feels the heat from Tory 'pessimists' on Europe
    Friday 10 May 2013

    David Cameron has lashed out at Tory Eurosceptics in a sign of the increasing pressure on his authority ahead of a potential Commons showdown next week.

  • Councillor reported for calling SNP 'facists'
    Friday 10 May 2013

    A councillor has been reported to standards watchdogs over claims that she described the SNP as fascists during a stormy council meeting this week.

  • Baroness Williams says Lord Rennard 'selfless'
    Friday 10 May 2013

    BARONESS Shirley Williams said fellow Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard, who is currently being investigated for allegations of sexual harassment, is "absolutely selfless" and at worst guilty of "misbehaving".

  • Scots MPs told to repay profits from homes
    Friday 10 May 2013

    TWO Scottish MPs are among those politicians asked to pay back a total of almost £500,000 of profits from their taxpayer-funded homes as it emerges that Westminster's expenses watchdog has launched a legal action to recover £54,000 from just one backbencher.

  • Scots divided on Trident, says poll
    Friday 10 May 2013

    A new poll commissioned by the Tory grandee Lord Ashcroft challenges the SNP's claim that Scots are opposed to Trident, suggesting public opinion is divided.

  • Clegg: Another coalition a certainty
    Friday 10 May 2013

    DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the volatility of British politics means it is "a question of when, not if" another coalition government is formed.

  • Another £74m lost on carrier plan, MPs told
    Friday 10 May 2013

    THE Ministry of Defence has been urged by Westminster's spending watchdog to get a grip on the "ongoing fiasco" of the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier programme after it emerged that another £74million of taxpayers' money has been lost on the project.

  • MP censured by statistics watchdog
    Friday 10 May 2013

    Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has been censured by the UK's statistics watchdog over claims he made that the Government's cap on benefits has been successful in driving people to seek work.

  • Hope for lower Scots income tax costs
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    The cost of setting up the new Scottish rate of income tax may be lower than expected, according to a UK Government official.

  • All change at the top as Black Rod makes them wait
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    IT was a day of transition.

  • Factfile Key points and omissions
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    Immigration Bill

  • Tory Europe obsession is 'damaging UK'
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    The Tories' "absolute, unbelievable obsession" with Europe has taken the country nowhere in two decades and is damaging the national interest, a former Liberal Democrat leader told the Commons yesterday.

  • Thatcher supported an exit from EU, claims biographer
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    Margaret Thatcher believed the UK should leave the European Union, her biographer has claimed.

  • Ukip ready to field by-election candidate
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    THE date for the Aberdeen Donside by-election has been set for June 20, with Ukip pledging to field a candidate to test the waters of what will be primarily an SNP-Labour contest.

  • Coalition's immigration clampdown under fire over details
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    DAVID Cameron's crackdown on immigration has come under intense fire, with critics questioning whether it can be implemented.

  • Cameron sets out agenda to back aspiration
    Thursday 9 May 2013

    THE Coalition's new legislative programme for the next 12 months will back aspiration, hard work and responsibility and help boost Britain's economic growth, David Cameron told MPs.

  • Neil calls for more openness on drugs
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    SCOTLAND must ensure it gets the best value for money from companies providing prescription drugs, the Health Secretary warned.

  • Frenchman Allard poised to break new ground as Holyrood's first Gallic MSP
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    A FRENCHMAN may become the first Gallic member of the Scottish Parliament.

  • Support lack leaves more kids in care
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    Up to 60% of parents in Scotland with learning difficulties may have had their children taken into care.

  • Cameron keen on travelling to China
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    DAVID Cameron wants to travel to China this year, Downing Street has revealed, in an apparent attempt to thaw icy relations between London and Beijing.

  • Cameron confident over EU despite Lawson
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    DAVID Cameron is confident that his pledge to renegotiate a deal with Brussels will "deliver results", No 10 has insisted, after Lord Lawson, the former Conservative Chancellor, increased the pressure on him by calling for Britain to quit the European Union altogether.

  • A Tory wound that never heals
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    IT is, for the Tories, the wound that never heals – Britain's fraught relationship with the EU.

  • Warning of lost decade for economy
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    The Coalition Government is facing warnings of a lost decade of economic growth.

  • Fifty shades of May
    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    HOME Secretary Theresa May was briefly caught off her guard by a gust of wind as she left a major conference in London on Somalia yesterday.

  • Quango could spend £2.5m on promoting Scotland abroad
    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    AN agency funded by the Scottish Government is to spend up to £2.5 million on a team of international public relations experts to help promote Scotland abroad.

  • No shared vision on global role
    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    The UK's global role is hampered by the lack of a shared vision between government departments, according to Scots research.

  • Council leader in row over £25,000 contract
    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    A COUNCIL leader has been reported to the standards watchdog after he helped approve up to £25,000 of funding for a subsidiary company of his employer.

  • Factfile New measures include ...
    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    l Consumer Bill: Measures which currently cover products like cars and white goods to be extended to online apps and music downloads.

  • SNP councillor in LibDem defection
    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    AN SNP councillor in Alex Salmond's constituency has defected to the Liberal Democrats after losing confidence with his group.

  • 'Nothing to gain' with new benefit scheme
    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    MOST families will gain nothing from the UK Government's new Universal Credit with ministers overstating the generosity of the benefit, a new report claimed today.