PENTLANDS MSP Gordon Macdonald has announced that he is to step down at the next Holyrood elections.
The SNP MSP told constituents:
‘It has been an honour and a privilege to represent the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency over the last fourteen years. The Boundary Commission has decided to retire the name of the constituency in May 2026; this will coincide with reaching my own retirement age which I believe is the right time for me to step down from the Scottish Parliament at the forthcoming election.
I have during my time in office tried to serve you diligently and I am deeply thankful for the trust and support you have extended to me over the years.
Since my election in 2011, I have strived to be a voice for our community, working on issues ranging from the need for local affordable housing to national policy that affects our daily lives.
Whether it was advocating for local retail businesses, pushing for better health services, or ensuring our education system serves every child, I have sought to represent the spirit and needs of Edinburgh Pentlands with integrity and passion.
I want to express my thanks to my office team and party activists, past and present, who have been tireless in their support, and to all the residents, community groups, and stakeholders I have had the pleasure of working with. Your engagement has been the cornerstone of my work here.
As I prepare to leave this role, I commit to using my remaining time to ensure a smooth transition and to continue addressing the issues that matter to us all.
I have worked tirelessly for 50 years to achieve independence and will continue to campaign for Scotland to join the family of nations. The members of my local branch have been informed of my decision.
Thank you, once again, for the privilege of serving as your MSP.
TODAY (Friday 28 February), more than 300 elected Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) aged 11-18 will represent the views of their peers and hold debates on a range of topics.
Young people from across the UK, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will return to the House of Commons Chamber today for the annual sitting of UK Youth Parliament.
The debated motions will include:
16- and 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote in all elections and referendums, accompanied with more political education throughout school.
That the National Minimum Wage for every worker under 22 be raised, to match the National Living Wage for those over 22.
All public transport should be free for young people.
All young people in the UK must have access to a standardised level of political literacy and democratic education to improve engagement in politics on a local, national and international level to develop critical thinking skills.
To establish period dignity, there should be free, accessible, good quality period products available in public spaces for everyone.
The debate areas are part of the UK Youth Parliament Manifesto for 2024-2026 ‘Shaping Our Future, Today Not Tomorrow’ which was created by the MYP’s at their Annual Conference in October 2024, drawing on the views and issues raised by young people from across the UK.
For the first time in the House of Commons, an MYP will use British Sign Language to deliver his speech. A BSL interpreter will communicate this via a microphone in the Commons Chamber.
Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said that he is “very proud that this sitting of the UK Youth Parliament will be the most inclusive and exciting yet.
“I cannot wait to hear the thoughts and views of young people from across the UK, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown Dependencies, on the issues that matter to them.”
Leigh Middleton, OBE, CEO, National Youth Agency: “Youth voice is a central tenet of youth work and the UK Youth Parliament provides young people with a valuable opportunity to debate the issues which they have identified as being important whilst gaining first-hand experience of the political process.
“The Annual Sitting really is the highlight of the UK Youth Parliament calendar when we get to see the young Members of Youth Parliament shine in the prestigious setting as they deliver their impassioned speeches and arguments for reform.”
The debates will be streamed live (with an approximately 20-minute delay) on parliamentlive.tv and YouTube.
A new initiative to unite Scotland together against extremism
First Minister John Swinney will convene a pivotal gathering of Scottish society to work together and unite Scotland against the “increasingly extreme far right”.
Representatives from key organisations across Scotland including churches, trades unions and charities will be invited to attend a gathering in April, alongside the leaders of Scotland’s parliamentary parties.
Speaking at a press conference at Bute House, following the passage of the 2025-26 Budget, the First Minister said the new gathering will be an opportunity renew public trust in politics and unite Scotland in a common cause – “for democracy and respect.”
The First Minister said: “At the start of the year, I warned that failure to pass the budget would send a signal that Parliament and politics could not deliver. That failure would only serve the interests of an increasingly extreme far right and leave devolution dangerously exposed.
“But the budget has passed, and a different story can be told. Yesterday’s vote demonstrated that partnership and collaboration are possible. And that is something precious, something vitally important itself.
“But we must do more. It is time to come together to draw a line in the sand. To set out who we are and what we believe in.
“The threat from the far right is real. But that leaves me all the more convinced that working together is not only the right choice, but the only choice.
“That is why I want to share a new initiative to bring Scotland together in common cause. I want us to work together to agree a common approach to asserting the values of our country, to bringing people together and creating a cohesive society where everyone feels at home.
“It was a mobilisation of mainstream Scotland that delivered our parliament a quarter of a century ago. And I have no doubt, it is only by mobilising mainstream Scotland that we can protect those things we care most about, those things that are most important to us today.”
The First Minister will write to all party leaders and the leaders of civic organisations with the details of the upcoming gathering in due course.
New guidance that aims to improve equal participation and representation of women in parliaments around the world has today been published by the Scottish Parliament.
The development of Gender Sensitising Parliaments: A Practical Guide was led by academics from the University of Edinburgh, Professor Sarah Childs, Personal Chair of Politics and Gender, and Professor Meryl Kenny, Professor of Gender and Politics.
The Scottish Parliament’s Presiding Officer, Rt Hon Alison Johnstone MSP, commissioned an audit, with participation from a cross-party group of MSPs and external experts, to assess its own progress towards being gender sensitive.
The audit reported that, while the Parliament had made good progress, the equal representation of women was not yet embedded.
The Scottish Parliament Audit, A Parliament for All, recommended a package of changes that were designed to strengthen equal representation and participation of women and the mainstreaming of gender equality across the Parliament’s work, which the Scottish Parliament is working towards implementing.
The development of a Practical Guide was one of the recommendations in the Audit.
The new Guide outlines core principles and practices of a gender sensitive parliament and sets out a six-step process to evaluate and enhance gender sensitivity in parliaments.
It also highlights the importance of a broad understanding of gender sensitivity, enthusiastic leadership, collaborative ethos, robust research, and institutional support in working towards equal participation and representation in parliaments.
Reflecting on the publication of the Guide, Presiding Officer Rt Hon Alison Johnstone MSP, said: “I am delighted to see The Guide published and would like to express my gratitude to Professor Childs and Professor Kenny for their work.”
“Research shows that the strength of democracy is improved by having greater diversity in our parliaments. When a parliament better reflects the communities it serves, better decisions are made.
“This guidance includes lessons from our Gender Sensitive Audit, which itself was informed by ground-breaking work from organisations across the globe. I hope it is useful and look forward to hearing of other legislatures’ experiences as they work towards equal participation and representation.”
Professor Sarah Childs said: “More and more parliaments are undertaking gender sensitive audits. This can only be a good thing.
“This Guide provides lessons learned from the Scottish Parliament audit, which can help showcase why it matters, and how to undertake, a gender sensitive audit. We hope that it will encourage even more parliaments to embrace the principle and practices of gender sensitising parliaments.”
Professor Meryl Kenny said: ““Scotland is one of an increasing number of countries around the world committed to reforms that will gender sensitise its parliament.
“This Guide takes this ongoing work forward by sharing the Scottish Parliament’s experiences, and offering a practical route map to gender sensitising a parliament on the ground. A parliament that is inclusive of and responsive to women, in all their diversity, is a more representative and effective parliament.”
COSLA is clear that the proposed funding from Scottish Government won’t cover additional Employers National Insurance costs, and councils still face an extremely challenging financial position as they set their budgets.
COSLA Resources Spokesperson, Councillor Katie Hagmann, commented: “We note that the Scottish Government has announced it will fund £144m of the additional direct staffing costs that will result from the UK Government’s policy decision rise to Employers National Insurance. However, this leaves a gap of £96 million Councils will still need to fill within their budgets.
“While we acknowledge that the UK government is still to announce additional resources, it is important to note that there has been no additional funding for commissioned services, the biggest of these being adult social care, which are also vital services and will see significant impacts.
“Given the mounting challenges for local government, this additional funding will not solve the crises councils and communities are facing, which are exacerbated by the Employers National Insurance increase.
“Difficult decisions will still need to be made as councils look to protect essential frontline services.”
For many people, the 2025 Council Elections in England will be the first opportunity in four years to have their say on their local councillor and on who’s been running their Council.
But 16 of the 21 county councils have applied to ‘delay’ their elections due to the UK Labour Government’s devolution plans.
When the Westminster Government first suggested they might allow a delay to elections, it was clear that it would only be for a year. However it’s become increasingly clear that any reorganisation involving these councils will take much longer than 1 year.
The Government now says it expects the new local authorities to be up and running in 2027 and 2028.
That would mean current administrations and councillors on these councils will end up with a 6 or 7 year term!
In effect, elections will be cancelled and voters will have no say on who runs their council or who their councillor is for 2 or 3 more years, when the new local authorities are ready to take over.
Democracy shouldn’t be put on hold in this way – people deserve their vote and their voice!
That’s why Unlock Democracy has started a campaign to ensure elections go forward as normal on May 1st this year. Voters should have their say on what’s going on in their communities and importantly on the local government reforms that are being imposed by the Government.
We have written to the Deputy Prime Minister urging her to ensure elections go ahead.
The Government’s dalliance (and we hope it’s just that) with cancelling elections reveals some much deeper problems at the heart of our democracy. These won’t go away without the kind of major political reforms which Unlock Democracy is campaigning for. Let’s look at those issues –
A gaping hole in our democracy
There’s a serious question as to whether any Government should have the power to delay or cancel elections. At the very least, it should be a power that can only be used in truly exceptional circumstances with strong safeguards. No guardrails exist in our democracy and we should all be worried about that.
Trust in politics
To many, this looks like an attempt to avoid a difficult set of elections this May. It’s not just the Government that might suffer, it’s the official opposition too. When these seats were last fought, the Conservatives were on 43% in the national polls and the Labour Party was on 33%.
Today the Conservatives are polling around 20% worse and the Labour Party around 8% worse. Both face a very challenging election in May and it is potentially politically beneficial for both parties not to go to the polls.
With trust already at record lows, voters are unlikely to give the Government the benefit of the doubt when it tries to justify its decision on this.
The relationship between central and local government
The relationship can be likened to a parent (central government) and child (local government) relationship, but not in a good way. In this relationship, the parent tries to control everything that the child does and thinks that if the child has any freedom bad things will happen.
It’s the equivalent of saying, if I give my child pocket money, they might spend it on drugs, so I won’t give my child any pocket money!
Over the last few decades, this is where central government has got to with local government. To a significant degree, it’s what we’re seeing in this Government’s devolution plans. Central government can dictate whether councils even exist, they can dictate what powers they have and they control the money. As discussed, it can even dictate whether elections can even take place!
This is not to say that local government has been perfect over the decades. At times Councils have wasted money and taken decisions that have not been in their residents’ best interests. But the same thing can equally be said about central government – HS2 is an obvious example of this.
This is a dysfunctional relationship and needs a reset.
How can we fix it
One of Unlock Democracy’s founding goals is to secure a Written Constitution. It’s the rulebook that our political system is lacking and it’s the guarantee of people’s rights and our democracy.
A written constitution would include rules about elections – when they happen, who can vote and on what grounds, if any, they can be postponed. No Government could ignore a written constitution.
A written constitution, developed with the input of ordinary citizens, would be a major start to restoring trust in our politics. It would contain rules that would ensure that no Government or Prime Minister can ignore. It would restore the checks and balances that have been too easily overridden in recent times.
Finally a written constitution would clearly define the powers of both central government and local government. It would give local government the legal standing it lacks. It will enable a partnership between central and local government in building a better future for their citizens.
People on most, if not all, sides of the political divide agree that our political system isn’t working the way it should. A written constitution should be a key plank in a long overdue reform programme designed to fix things.
We will continue to fight for this, whilst at the same time calling for this year’s elections to go ahead.
VICTORY FOR APATHY ASFEWER THAN ONE IN THREE ELECTORS BOTHER TO VOTE
The Colinton/Fairmilehead by-election result has been announced at Waverley Court in Edinburgh.
Neil Cuthbert of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and Conor Savage of the Scottish Labour Party have been duly elected to serve in the City of Edinburgh Council as members for the Colinton/Fairmilehead Ward.
The declaration was made in the early hours of this morning (Friday, 24 January) by Returning Officer for Edinburgh, Paul Lawrence.
Returning Officer for Edinburgh Paul Lawrence, said: “Thanks to everyone who took part in the by-election to elect two new councillors to represent their communities on matters affecting their ward and the wider city. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Neil and Conor as new councillors and look forward to working with them.
“I would also like to thank our elections team and council colleagues who have worked so hard on this by-election in recent months – not least given the extremely challenging circumstances of rescheduling the count at such short notice due to Storm Eowyn.”
Still time to sign up for our Community Councils webinar at 6pm on Wed 29 January, when we will get an update on the Democracy Matters consultation from the Scottish Government.
The Democracy Matters engagement process asked communities to consider what the future of community decision making should look like where they live.
On 19 September 2024, COSLA and the Scottish Government published the Democracy Matters National Conversation report alongside a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to this work.
In this session Scottish Government officials will be presenting the process findings and outlining next steps for this important work.
The Colinton/Fairmilehead by-election takes place this Thursday (23 January) and residents in the ward are being urged to remember their polling cards and cast their votes.
Residents in Colinton, Fairmilehead, Bonaly, Dreghorn, Oxgangs and Swanston who are aged 16 or over and have registered to vote can participate in Thursday’s by-election.
Together they will select two new councillors for the ward, which has a current electorate of 19,669. For this election there are 14,290 electors (72.7%) who have opted to vote in person and 5,379 postal voters (27.3%).
Whilst it is not mandatory to bring a polling card this will speed up the process when you arrive to cast your ballot.
Returning Officer for Edinburgh, Paul Lawrence said: “With the by-election fast approaching, I encourage residents of the Colinton/Fairmilehead ward to visit their local polling place on Thursday.
“Please remember your polling cards and take this opportunity to have your say. Your two new local councillors will represent your community on issues affecting the ward and Edinburgh as a whole.
“Our elections pages provide useful information on how the Single Transferable Vote system works – you can rank candidates in order of preference, choosing as many or few as you’d like.
“If you’ve requested and received a postal ballot, please return it as soon as possible to make sure your vote is counted.”
Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on 23 January at:
Charwood
Fairmilehead Parish Church Hall
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church Hall
Oxgangs Neighbourhood Centre
Pentland Community Centre
The electronic election count will take place on Friday 24 January starting at 10:00am.
