James Mitchell @ProfJMitchell
Professor of Public Policy, Edinburgh University sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/politics… Joined March 2014-
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Close, very close.
@ProfJMitchell Where those "what the actual Fiscal Commission"?
For goodness sake (not the actual words I said out loud hearing her response).
Ideally, the new Cabinet Secretary for Finance would at least have heard of the Scottish Government’s Tax Advisory Group. Alas…
Essentially an import of the 'usual channels' from the Commons. Holyrood is a poorer imitation of that very British institution. Let's stop kidding ourselves about it being superior.
MSPs from the respective partied cannot really then vote against the motion as it has already been agreed by their own Burea rep (usually known as Business Managers). The Bureau is a place for deals to be done and its affairs are conducted in private. 5/5
Useful thread
Worth a quick note on how SP Bureau works. The Bureau decides on various parliamentry business matters most notably the timetable, what debates happen when, membership of committees etc. It then tables motions in Parliament (bureau motions) 1/5 x.com/andywightman/s…
@conor_matchett There is no requirement to use D’Hondt in the standing orders. Parliament should vote against the Bureau motion this afternoon and agree a more balanced apportionment of places with no party having both convenor and deputy convenor from same party
These committee proposals are unacceptable. The Scottish Government needs greater scrutiny if our country is going to get better legislation. Here are two ideas to do this👇
🧵You couldn't make it up. Amid the Peter Murrell and Indyref2 funding scandals, the SNP is proposing to take control of the Holyrood committees dealing with finance, criminal justice and public service reform by having its MSPs as both the convener and deputy convener..
The committee system in Holyrood is already one that needs a major shake up but today’s publication of the proposed convenorships make it a complete and utter farce - the parliament is being brought into disrepute
Lack of proper scrutiny has damaging consequences for policy.
Lots of concern in recent years about the lack of proper scrutiny in Holyrood. This surely will not help that.
If the Green Party vote for this then they should just pack up and dissolve as an independent party
The two tweet response from here makes an excellent point and I am grateful for it. Good legislation is a balance between primary and secondary legislation. Often good implementation/ delivery requires delegated legislation to work our detail of implementation.
@Scott_Wortley @stellacreasy I disagree with this part of your analysis, which is an opinion, not a fact as such. Good government and good legislation are a balance between primary and secondary legislation.
On my break! A stand out part of the Judgement is attached. As Lady Poole points out, the SG help make the laws of this country, but in flouting the law of FOISA this was "reprehensible" . The SG have also failed to apologise to myself or the SIC, and have not set out how to stop
Breaking: Scottish Government found in contempt over FOI practice. Read more at: foi.scot/court-rules-fa…
Fair point. Not him for sure.
@ProfJMitchell The appointment of non Scots KC is folly. Does the name James Hamilton KC ring any bells ?
Absolutely. We've been very fortunate having the talented impressive @mbmpolicy - not to mention ton mention their courage.
@LucyHunterB @ProfJMitchell Not to forget @mbmpolicy who produce much more signicant policy analysis than the 'Centres' swimming in Scottish Government grants ...
A bloke on a double shift. A radical campaigner. A blogger in Bath and some in Scotland. A journalism student who spotted the FM in Asda. The media. The people missing in action are Scotland's salaried middle classes, paid to be clever in various ways about how things work.
I am at work, on a double shift until 11pm so can't really analyse this. But big news, and another disgraceful day in the Scottish Government's handling of my FOI Requests in relation to the Hamilton Investigation. Someone has to take responsibility for this.
What a tangled web..,
Non-SNP members donated to the ring-fenced fund. They did not give that money thinking it would become “part of the resources available” to the SNP. They gave that money expressly for a future referendum campaign. And it’s gone.
.@scotgov found to be in contempt of court over their FOI delay. 👇🏻
Breaking: Scottish Government found in contempt over FOI practice. Read more at: foi.scot/court-rules-fa…
This is a sensible proposal.
EXC: One of Nicola Sturgeon's top allies in government has backed an inquiry into the Peter Murrell corruption scandal. Noel Dolan said the SNP should appoint a KC from outside Scotland to lead the probe. dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…
Scotland deserves a Parliament worthy of its people. While the Presiding Officer’s reforms are a step forward, much more remains to be done. My latest for @enlighten_scot enlighten.scot/kenneth-gibson…
This is hopelessly naive. Scottish students have substantial debts. They don't get much if anything in the way of maintenance grant and still have to pay to live, rent, food, utilities &c. Additionally the effective cap on scottish places means many have to leave scotland
Would be interesting to hear the views of Scottish university students on the subject of degrees being worthwhile since they don't rack up debt.
Given what we now know about Peter Murrell's past, and known to SNP senior figures, this looks like a case of a sad person who needed help being given relatively free financial rein. Peter Murrell was perpetrator of crimes but also a victim of SNP incompetence.
This gives the lie to the idea he was incredibly clever. It was a set of governance failures that led to the opportunity. He could authorise his own expenses. He could make payments up to 30k with no oversight.
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