ICTChris

I was going to post something about them demanding Nicola Sturgeon be expelled from the SNP as a joke but I honestly think that might be fairly realistic.

I remember during Covid Cosgrove wrote a column for the National about how much he loved watching the daily press conferences at the time because Sturgeon would "put the journalists in their place". he might have said Unionist journalists but I can't recall that level of detail. This was at a time that hundreds were dying every day in Scotland but the main thing for Stuart was that he could sit and watch people he hated being "put in their place". Complete self absorption.

Some quotes from Lorna Slater on Good Morning Scotland and on working with the Scottish Government again

Technically speaking, Yousaf doesn't have to resign if he loses the vote. He can just say "f**k it" and go on. Anas Sarwar has now lodged a motion of no confidence in the Scottish Government. Douglas Ross' motion is in Yousaf himself so if Yousaf resigns then the motion will be dropped.

Murdo Fraser tweeting that Yousaf will resign tomorrow, Neil Gray to take over. Whether Murdo Fraser tweeting something makes it more or less likely to be true, that's not for me to say.

Police Scotland need to get charges in against Nicola Sturgeon in the next few hours, just round it off.

I was thinking that - everyone assumes that all SNP MSPs will vote one way but will they? Matheson's punishement is due to be decided next week - I have no idea if he could be suspended from Parliament for a period of time. That could tip the balance. I think you might be right, Yousaf might resign.

Surely there is no way Regan would've got that motion passed. I was just typing out that there's no way Yousaf would've ended the Bute House Agreement over that but everyone seems to have gone tonto so maybe that was it. Anyway, Ash Regan's list of demands should be a hoot.

The BBC summary on their website has mentioned a couple of times that the Cass Review, on gender related healthcare for children and young people in NHS England, is a factor in the break but I haven't heard anyone actually say that in any of the statements, which I admittedly haven't listened to start to finish. Is there any indication that the Cass Review, and more specifically the NHS Scotland response to it, is a factor in what's happened today? I can't see any but it's there on the BBC site, or it certainly was there.

They seem to have gone full "AND NOW WE MOVE ON TO LIARS".

Did one of the Tory MSPs not join Reform? Surely they could bribe her to vote with them, GB News to be exempted from license fee in independent Scotland, make Neil Oliver head of some quango about tinfoil hats. The sole Reform UK MSP lost her seat in 2021. Rest well, sweet princess.

The Greens confirm that they will vote for the motion of No Confidence in the Scottish Government. It's all down to Ash Regan. I'm sure that the Alba party will approach this massive responsbility with characteristic nuance, maturity and non-insanity.

Is he not a member of Alba, he'll probably be a good source for stories about them. Who knows though, all up in the air. I'd be very surprised if Alba voted against the motion but what do I know.

Wings Over Scotland tweeting that Ash Regan is going to back the SNP.

It seems more like 1D chess. Going by his letter to Slater and Harvie, Yousaf thought that this would all be very business-like, that the Greens would understand that he was acting prior to their membership ending the Bute House Agreement anyway and that they could move back to relying on them helping an SNP minority government. Instead, the Greens have blown up, Lorna Slater accusing the SNP of a culture war and backing down to the most reactionary people in the country (SNP backbenchers?), Patrick Harvie retweeting statements saying that the SNP have sold out to big donor money (don't think the SNP have many big donors, maybe Harvie means Mr Soutar). I posted earlier in this thread, in true Nostradamus style, that the Bute House Agreement was popular with SNP activists. The only polling I ever saw about it was positive but in the last couple of days the whole thing has crumbled, it all seems to have been built on sand. I doubt there will be any alliance between the SNP and the Greens again unless there's a big push back. What was the trigger for all of this? The climate targets?

With a knife edge vote of no confidence coming up, will the Scottish Government win or lose this vote? I think if it's a draw the Presiding Officer votes with the Government so that counts as a Scottish Government win. I will take a call and say that they will WIN the vote.

The US sent ATACMS to Ukraine several weeks ago and it’s already been used in at least two strikes, reports Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/24/us-long-range-missiles-ukraine-00154110

Here’s a video of the Green press statement.

Humza Yousaf’s letter to Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie. Bit of a contrast there with the statements by the Greens.

Anonymous sources klaxon. This is just what the country needs.

Apparently Humza just binned them off, no vote.