Scotsman Bulletin on Boxing Day
A year in Politics
A year in Politics
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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for your Boxing Day.
00:10My name is Dale Miller.
00:11I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by Political Correspondent Rachel Amory.
00:16Rachel, thanks for joining us and thanks to everyone else for tuning in.
00:20We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and spending more time with family and friends
00:25on Boxing Day, maybe even getting to the shocks, although we know that's not as big a thing
00:30in terms of the physical Boxing Day sales as it maybe once was.
00:35Just the front page of today's paper, firstly, and we led on a review that our Political
00:42Editor Alistair Grant did with the Church of Scotland Moderator and he asked about a
00:48range of questions, but specifically on assisted dying, there were some interesting comments
00:53about why the Kirk is reflecting on its position, the fact that it has for a long period of
00:59time been strictly against assisted dying, so the Moderator talks about revisiting that
01:04position, but also the fact that in his eyes, the position of religious people on issues
01:10such as this shouldn't just be discarded, that it should be taken into account in terms
01:15of the conversation.
01:16We know that that has been a criticism directed at certain MPs down in Westminster, but because
01:22they're religious, they're automatically against assisted dying, whether that carries
01:26the same weight as other views.
01:28It's a really interesting read, you can read it at Scotsman.com in full, and obviously
01:34a picture of the Princess of Wales there on the front at the Christmas Day service yesterday.
01:40Rachel, I've got you on, not because there's a whole heap of live politics, but it's been
01:45a big year, there is a big year ahead, and I just wanted to reflect on everything that's
01:49happened in politics.
01:51We are doing on the Scotsman site, and in the paper as well, our News Reviews of the
01:56Year, we're breaking that up into four parts.
01:58Today, you can read it at Scotsman.com, we're walking you through January to March.
02:03But Rachel, I was reading this piece, and I don't know whether it seems 12 months ago
02:09seems a long time ago, or no time at all, but there were things like Nicholas Sturgeon
02:14being up at the COVID pandemic inquiry, and being virtually in tears at one point.
02:21Just talk me through your memories of 2024 on a political front, what stands out for
02:25you?
02:26Yeah, when you look at the very sort of start of the year, it does feel kind of strange,
02:29because it sometimes feels like John Swinney has been First Minister forever sometimes.
02:34Of course, it's not.
02:35So if you go back to the very start of the year, Pumsley Youssef was in charge, we had
02:39this COVID pandemic inquiry as well.
02:42I think the biggest thing to get at the COVID inquiry was WhatsApp messages, there was lots
02:47of controversy over WhatsApp being deleted, and the former clinical director Jason Leach
02:51saying it was a bedtime ritual to delete WhatsApp messages, for example.
02:55Some ministers having auto delete on their phone as well.
02:58And that caused a huge controversy at the start of the year.
03:02And actually, only in the past couple of weeks, the government's now brought in this new policy
03:06where WhatsApp is going to be deleted from all ministers' phones.
03:09So there's going to be no more government business done on WhatsApp.
03:12So it's quite interesting to see how quickly it's gone from this coming out at the start
03:16of the year to now this policy being brought in at the end of the year.
03:20So that is quite an interesting thing to look at.
03:22So today's paper has gone back into those sorts of issues.
03:27Also another thing at the start of the year was Health Secretary Michael Matheson.
03:30He was forced to resign, and he was replaced by Neil Gray over the iPad scandal.
03:35Again, a very long running scandal.
03:37I think because so much had happened in 2023, it feels like it was a long time ago now.
03:42But it actually was the start of this year.
03:44So it's quite interesting to look back at the views that we've been doing in the Scotsman
03:48and see just what has actually happened this year, because it feels like a lot of things
03:53have happened later on with the general election, for example, the change of first minister.
03:57But there was still a lot happening at the start of the year with the COVID inquiry.
04:02And Rachel, from my point of view, if you look at the Scottish perspective,
04:04I know 2024 may be remembered as the year Labor got back into power at Westminster
04:10and maybe got off to a bit of a, well, ongoing rocky start.
04:14But for me, seeing the surprise of what happened to the SNP at the general election,
04:20but also seeing in recent polls that they seem to be improving slightly.
04:25So it probably segues into 2025.
04:29It'll be the final full year before the next Scottish election.
04:34I talked about those polls and it's looking better for the SNP over the past three to four weeks
04:40and worse for Labor.
04:41They really seem to be struggling to distance themselves from some of the policy decisions
04:45happening down in Westminster.
04:47How do you see the next 12 months playing out?
04:49How important is it going to be to who wins in 2026?
04:53Yeah, there is no Scottish Parliament election scheduled for next year.
04:57That's not to say there won't be one, but nothing's scheduled.
05:00We're not expecting to see one.
05:01But that doesn't mean that people aren't going to be starting to their campaigns.
05:04As you were saying, the campaigning will ramp up quite a lot over the course of the next year.
05:10The polls up until the summer, Labor and the SNP in Holyrood were very much neck and neck.
05:16As you said, Labor are starting to fall away as people are starting to get a bit annoyed
05:20at what's coming out of Westminster.
05:22So it would leave the SNP still quite a way out in the front, albeit on reduced numbers.
05:27They are expected to drop a few numbers of what they are on just now.
05:31It's kind of the same for all the big parties.
05:33The only parties I think are doing well in the polls right now are the Lib Dems.
05:38They're expected to do quite a bit better.
05:40The Greens, I think, are expected to stay the same, maybe do a bit better.
05:44And Reformers are expected to perhaps go from zero to maybe a dozen MSPs.
05:49So the polls are looking really good for Reform at the moment.
05:52So it's these smaller parties that seem to be doing better in the polling for the Scottish election just now.
05:59But it looks like the SNP still have a chance of maintaining a good lead over the other parties.
06:04It all depends on how this next year goes for them.
06:09It all depends how the next year goes for them and how well they're able to distance themselves from Westminster,
06:14how able they are to turn voters against the Scottish Labour,
06:19because a lot of voters haven't moved to them from the Nationalists in the past year.
06:22So it's going to be really interesting to see what happens there.
06:25You mentioned Reform. They are going to be fascinating because we've seen pictures of Nigel Farage alongside Elon Musk over the past couple of weeks.
06:35We know that they are gaining traction here in Scotland as well.
06:39The polls are indicating. So just how prominent and strong a voice they've become in Scotland, I think, will be interesting.
06:46We know they've got a foothold, I think, already south of the border.
06:49But I think that'll be fascinating.
06:50And will we see Nigel Farage up here at some point making some public appearances?
06:55Certainly. I know you wrote Rachel about that.
06:57He still is going to be the campaign face for Reform up here in Scotland.
07:01So that could be one to watch.
07:04You'll be able to read all your latest news, including just how well the Boxing Day sales go or don't go today at scottsman.com.
07:13Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X and Blue Sky and go out and buy a copy of the paper tomorrow.
07:21At a time where you might have a bit more time, hopefully, to sit down and flick through the pages and take into account what's happening.
07:28And if you find yourself at the loose end, 100 questions in our ultimate Boxing Day quiz.
07:34You can get that either in today's paper or online.
07:37Test yourself out and see how many you can get.
07:39Rachel, thanks to you.
07:41Thanks, everyone else, for joining us.