Scottish government to challenge Westminster block on GRR

[Janie143]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65249431 Good let's get this settled once and for all. Useful side effect to stop Welsh Assembly attempting the same.

One could wonder if the SNP are determined to lose the next election.

The next thing one could wonder is why….

Almost unbelievable. They really are a bunch of numpties.

The lawyers will be the main winners. Whatever you think of the proposed law, it does have an impact on the rest of the UK. I cannot see the SNP winning.

Labour would have waved it through wouldn’t they?

No one is talking about it etc

Where would we be and therefore where could we be if they get in

The questions is, why would the new first minister want to push ahead with this when it is SO clearly unpopular? Sturgeon forced this through, and now it is coming to light that she was corrupt. Its very likely that she had a financial incentive for getting the bill passed.

It will be interesting to see how Scottish Labour's responses play out - and how that will interact with the U.K Labour Party. They still seem to be behind it.

@BlessedKali "The questions is, why would the new first minister want to push ahead with this"

Well it's one way to get the headlines to move on from worrying exactly who ended up with a cut of the 600,000

They won't win and they know it. So it's 600000 reasons to carry on with this charade.

It must get embarrassing being the Lord Advocate for Scotland. Of all the cases where they've challenged the UK Government on the power to legislate and the scope it's been a flat lose.

Unexpectedly serious analysis by Shauny Boy on Twitter twitter.com/shiny02/status/1646191700803567620?s=46&t=r5kx3z5-8Bi2hSNZTB-1lA

@bellinisurge 100% spot on.

And an excellent follow up tweet by Shauny -

twitter.com/shiny02/status/1646226497659650048?s=20

SNP seem to be all about pissing away money and at the same time pissing away support and chance of reelection. I have never ever heard my dad mention trans anything before tonight I caught him shouting at the tv 'but it's not the will of the people, none of us!' when Hamza was saying it was the will of the parliament.

Well yes 16-25 seems to be some kind of magic age when you can do (almost) whatever you like (get married, vote, change gender) but aren't responsible for rape or dangerous driving because your brain isn't fully formed.

Currently being debated on STV

I’m wondering if it is only 600,000.

I’m suspicious like that…

It's just staggeringly suspicious! The phrase that was used by the SNP's Colin Beattie about the IndyRef2 money being 'woven through the accounts' is infamous for a reason. Anyone who has ever been responsible for a set of accounts knows that that simply doesn't wash. In fact the SNP used to ringfence until a few years ago, then seemingly shifted its accounting culture.

If a sum is raised for a specific purpose, and it is then used for general day-to-day running costs that would have been incurred anyway, or on expenditure that benefitted identifiable individuals without justification, that is inappropriate practice. Whether or not it is criminal practice (e.g. fraud) is presumably what the police are currently preparing a report on?

It may even be the case that there are some very glaring instances of malpractice, which would explain why the SNP changed its own practice from ringfencing to 'weaving'. Even the mainstream press appears to be hinting at such. It would go hand in hand with the SNP's general air these days of swagger, arrogance, venal stupidity and hubris.

I've included a link to a very interesting Herald article from Feb.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23315586.snp-urged-explain-extraordinary-coincidence-finance-row/

It’s bizarre. We had the Today show on radio 4 leading their 6am briefing and every news briefing throughout the day for much of 2021 and 2022 on Boris’s curtains and wall paper and eating cake on his birthday at a meeting in Downing Street to make us think Westminster was full of shysters and yet we get crickets about seemingly actual fraud in the SNP.
If you just listened to radio 4 you’d be none the wiser about any of this.

@ArcaneWireless there are things we know about offending patterns that would suggest people always start small and then escalate if they get away with the small thefts and minor stuff that could almost be explained away.

So I think you're right but the headlines were about that particular 600,000 and the police being at Nicola's house. I think its desperation to change the narrative from you're a bunch of lying grifters more interested in raising money for a Scottish Independence referendum than actually having one - to we're all such lovely progressive types here aren't we? I for one hope it doesn't work

The difference is that the SNP story is now a criminal investigation so there are strict rules in place forbidding speculation. Whereas with Boris and his curtains, you could speculate and pontificate all you like. The bare bones of the story (the police raid on Murrell's and Sturgeon's house, and the arrest of Murrell) did lead the news headlines on the day it happened.

I hope this case puts pressure on the Tories to update the Equality Act in line with the Sex Matters proposal to clarify difference between biological sex and gender identity in law.
AND that it raises pressure to review the GRA which is after all an obviously-not-actually-possible ‘change of legal sex’ and then hopefully decide not to keep it.

All this is needed to be well underway quickly not after the 2024 General Election, and not keeping it as a bargaining chip for votes with no clear deadline for implementation even after an election…

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4758082-petition-to-update-the-equality-act-thread-3 more info

I assume it will be heard really quickly at the Supreme Court given the importance so that neither the UK or Scottish Government delays sorting it out, allowing this mess to carry on.

As we expected, this is the Greens doing who said they would walk away if the challenge was not instigated Greens pushed for challenge

Utterly stupid. Even the dogs in the street know this legal challenge is doomed to fail so this is just grandstanding on an olympic level.

A further story on the BBC News website. Scottish ministers have published their legal arguments against thf UK Government"s use of a section 35 order
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65334299

Can't find a link to the petition itself at the mo.

One thing that strikes me... Doesn't this put pressure on the UK Government to clarify the EA in order to strengthen its case regarding the effect of Scottish GRR legislation outside Scotland?