Tag Archives: scottish economy

13-14 September 2025 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 14th September 2025 - 10:30 pm

Government proposals for carer’s allowance compensation would be “victory” for carers and campaigners
Mandelson appointment: Lib Dems call for independent investigation with access to documents and messages
Farage must come clean on who’s bankrolling his US trips to “badmouth Britain”
Greene: Scotland is lagging behind in research and development investment
Greene urges all parties to support key victims’ proposals ahead of final vote

Government proposals for carer’s allowance compensation would be “victory” for carers and campaigners

Responding to reports that the Government is considering compensation payments to those caught up in the carer’s allowance scandal, Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat Leader, said:

I really hope the government will give the victims of this appalling scandal the compensation they deserve. It would be a milestone for carers across the country, and a victory for all those who have campaigned tirelessly for justice.

The government has a chance here not just to compensate the victims, but to overhaul carer’s allowance so it properly supports carers and doesn’t punish them for working. We will keep pushing ministers to seize that chance.

Mandelson appointment: Lib Dems call for independent investigation with access to documents and messages

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an independent inquiry into what was known about ex-US Ambassador Peter Mandelson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein at the time of his appointment, saying that victims must be “put first.”

The party’s Cabinet Office Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said an independent investigation is needed to uncover what was known, when and by whom regarding Mandelson’s connections to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The Liberal Democrats are also calling for relevant text messages, WhatsApps and emails to be handed to the inquiry for proper independent scrutiny of how the appointment was made.

It comes as Peter Kyle, the Business Secretary, claimed in an interview with Laura Kuennsberg this morning that “if we had known the information we know now, it is highly unlikely that would have been appointed”, calling the new information “materially different” from the content reviewed during vetting.

Sarah Olney, Cabinet Office Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said:

The Government has serious questions to answer about what they knew when. The current explanations just don’t add up.

Number Ten must put the victims of Jeffrey Epstein first, not their own reputation. We need an urgent, independent inquiry into how details of Mandelson’s ties with a convicted paedophile slipped through the cracks of Government vetting.

This inquiry must be given access to all the relevant messages, texts and documents so it can get to the bottom of this appalling mess.

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged carers allowance, daisy cooper, ed davey, jamie greene, Lord Mandleson, nigel farage, research and development, sarah olney and victims of crime | Leave a comment

25 June 2025 – today’s Scottish and Welsh press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 25th June 2025 - 11:30 pm

Rennie secures major overhaul of qualifications quality assurance after history exam row
Greene: Nationalists failing to deliver as Scottish economy shrinks
Dozens of pro-independence accounts go dark after Israeli strikes on Iran
National Insurance rise leaves Welsh universities with a £18 million a year bill
SNP financial strategy is late, incompetent and unsustainable

Rennie secures major overhaul of qualifications quality assurance after history exam row

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie has secured a series of significant reforms to the Scottish Government’s Education Bill to strengthen the oversight and quality of national qualifications, following widespread concern over this year’s Higher History exam and the lack of external scrutiny within the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The changes, agreed with the Cabinet Secretary and passed at Stage 3 of the Bill, will ensure greater transparency, external accountability, and a clear pathway to further reform of accreditation functions across Scotland’s education system.

The package of amendments includes:

Immediate improvements to how Qualifications Scotland assures quality, including an independent review, an annual compliance report, and a new independent expert group to advise on standards.
A statutory review of the scope and location of the SQA’s current accreditation function, which covers mainly post-school vocational qualifications.
Timetables and mechanisms to ensure that if ministers conclude that further legislation is needed, they must bring forward changes within a year or explain to Parliament why they are not acting.

Willie Rennie said:

The scandal over this year’s Higher History exam showed how unsatisfactory it is that the SQA inspects itself with its quality assurance arrangements. I’ve worked constructively with the Cabinet Secretary to build a stronger system that fixes this and lays the groundwork for lasting reform.

There was no consensus on quality assurance and accreditation changes but I am clear that the current set-up just isn’t good enough. My amendments deliver immediate improvements and a structured, evidence-based route to deeper reform.

The SQA and its replacement, Qualifications Scotland, are under new leadership and will have an big opportunity to change. These amendments give them that chance, but make clear that if further reform is needed, it will be delivered.

Greene: Nationalists failing to deliver as Scottish economy shrinks

Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Jamie Greene MSP has today said that the SNP are out of time to turn the Scottish economy around as new figures showed that Scotland’s GDP contracted in April and revised figures showed that it contracted by more than previously expected in March.