John Swinney looks set to be first minister as he's backed by potential challenger Forbes. Following his announcement he was running to be the next leader of the SNP and new First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, the former deputy to Nicola Sturgeon for almost a decade, looks set to win the top job after potential rival Kate Forbes announced she is backing him. The team analyse what might happen next, whether anyone else will put their name forward for the role, and - if Swinney is unopposed ...
May 02, 2024•29 min
First Minister Humza Yousaf has announced his resignation. What happens now? The team chats about how events unfolded over the weekend, culminating in First Minister Humza Yousaf announcing his plans to resign on Monday, after just 13 months in post, following the fallout from his scrapping of the Bute House agreement with the Scottish Greens the previous week. With divisions in both the party and parliament exposed, are we now heading for a Holyrood election, or an internal SNP leadership elect...
Apr 30, 2024•29 min
First Minister Humza Yousaf faces a no-confidence vote after a dramatic day at Holyrood. The team react to the termination of the Bute House agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens, from the furious reaction from the Greens leadership to the fiery FMQs that followed. With Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross saying he will bring a no-confidence motion to Parliament next week, and the SNP's former power sharing partners confirming they will vote against the First Minister, is this...
Apr 25, 2024•20 min
The Scottish Government announces it is dropping its 2030 net zero emissions target. The team discuss the political implications of the SNP & Scottish Greens government announcing it's 2030 net zero target is "out of reach", as well dropping its annual and interim targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, including if it will hit the parties in the polls, and if this represents a wider movement from UK parties away from green promises and policies. Also in Holyrood, Scotland's only gende...
Apr 18, 2024•31 min
The Scottish Labour MSP on making Scotland accessible, working for the NHS, and more. MSP for the Glasgow Region, Pam Duncan-Glancy talks to Podlitical about her first "political moment" while in school, her mission to make Scotland a more accessible place for those with disabilities, and her election as the first permanent wheelchair user in Holyrood. Duncan-Glancy shares her thoughts on the new Scottish hate crime legislation, Israel/Gaza, and how she feels Labour is "grown up" enough to have ...
Apr 16, 2024•21 min
Scottish Trade Unions Congress General Secretary Roz Foyer sits down with Podlitical. Ahead of the STUC annual congress, Roz Foyer discusses how she first got involved in unions, and rose to become the STUC's first female General Secretary. Foyer talks about how women have always been at the heart of the Scottish union movement despite the perception of it being male-dominated, how she urges politicians to offer "real delivery" of workers rights and not just "talk the talk", and her vision for w...
Apr 11, 2024•31 min
The Scottish Greens MSP for the West Scotland region talks to Podlitical post-conference. Ross Greer sits down with the podcast to discuss protest in the form of direct action, including why he backs the right for protesters to disrupt First Minister's Questions at Holyrood, and the reaction to the new Scottish hate crime bill which came into force. Greer talks about his career over the last eight years, why he sees a "more urgent need" than ever for green politics, and his involvement with the ...
Apr 09, 2024•42 min
The team talk rent controls, assisted dying, and the FM's first year in office. As Holyrood takes a break for recess, the Podlitical team look at some of the big bills moving through Scottish Parliament and causing some controversy, including the Housing Bill which could see rent controls introduced in areas of Scotland, the introduction of the Assisted Dying Bill which hopes to legalise medically assisted dying for people with terminal illnesses, and new hate crime laws which some claim will st...
Mar 28, 2024•29 min
The Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP on legalising assisted dying and representing Orkney. Liam McArthur joins Podlitical to discuss his upcoming bill on assisted dying for the terminally ill being presented at Holyrood, why he thinks a ban is unsustainable, and why he believes once a framework for assisted dying is in place we'll realise it was "long past due". McArthur also discusses the unique parts of representing a remote island constituency like Orkney, how he feels that local government has ...
Mar 26, 2024•27 min
How do politicians balance attacking the opposition, while appealing to their voters? In a week where parties have toed the line between attacking their political rivals while trying to woo their voter bases, the team discuss the risk of alienating the very people you want to win votes from. As the Conservative leadership look to the Rwanda Bill to define themselves as different from past iterations of the party ahead of the upcoming election, so too have opposition parties been defining themsel...
Mar 21, 2024•25 min
The Secretary General of the MCB on the new Government definition of extremism, and more. Zara Mohammed sits down with Podlitical to talk about becoming the first female, first Scottish, and youngest leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, her thoughts on the new Government definitions of extremism announced by the Conservatives last week, and the Government's non-engagement policy with the organisation. Mohammed discusses how life has changed for Muslims in the UK since the October 7th attack ...
Mar 20, 2024•26 min
Officials face PR problems with alleged racist comments and publicly funded "pornography". The Podlitical team sit down to discuss the week's news, including a row in Westminster into alleged comments made by Tory donor Frank Hester about MP Diane Abbott which politicians and public figures have called racist, with pressure mounting on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to return the £10m donation. In Holyrood, public arts body the National Lottery Open Fund faces criticism as Scottish culture secretary...
Mar 14, 2024•24 min
The SNP MSP on his suspension, his clashes with the Greens, and bullying allegations. MSP for Inverness and Nairn and former Rural Economy cabinet secretary Fergus Ewing sits down with Podlitical to discuss his efforts fighting for fishermen and farmers, and being an "apprentice rebel at 66" when it comes to speaking out against his own party's plans - sometimes in a theatrical fashion. Ewing talks about the allegations by civil servants of bullying, denying his behaviour crossed a line, but cla...
Mar 13, 2024•36 min
Will the budget make you better or worse off, and what does it mean for Scotland? The team are joined by Mairi Spowage, Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde to deep dive into the Conservatives' 2024 spring budget, including the 2p cut to National Insurance and a proposed extension of the windfall tax on energy industry profits, which has caused concern inside the Scottish Conservatives. As the dust settles on the announcements, the team discusses if this ...
Mar 07, 2024•25 min
The Scottish Conservatives leader on the oil industry, energy windfall tax, and more. Off the back of the Scottish Conservative Party conference, MP and MSP Douglas Ross joins the Podlitical team on the eve of UK Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt's budget, and explains why he's against a windfall tax on energy company profits being extended, and why he thinks backing the oil industry makes economic sense, as the Tories face what he calls a "challenging electoral map" at the next general electi...
Mar 05, 2024•29 min
Headaches for political parties this week as high profile members voice their opinions. Whether it was Lee Anderson losing the Conservative whip for his comments on "Islamists" controlling London Mayor Sadiq Khan, former Prime Minister Liz Truss voicing thoughts on the "deep state" alongside presidential hopeful Donald Trump's former chief advisor, or the SNP's Fergus Ewing calling his own party "authoritarian" after being suspended, the team discuss the fallout this week from some strong words....
Feb 29, 2024•31 min
The Scottish Labour Leader on election plans, prejudice, and being called a "traitor". Sarwar sits down with Podlitical to talk about how his father's experience being the first Muslim MP initially made him want to "run a million miles away" from politics, his hopes for Labour in the next election, and why he wants to see less "playground politics" with an acceptance no one political party has all the answers. Following the Scottish Labour conference in February, Sarwar discusses the party's pla...
Feb 27, 2024•37 min
Chaos in the House of Commons as a vote on a Gaza ceasefire motion turns into a row. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is facing accusations he played "party politics" by granting a vote on Labour's Gaza ceasefire motion, breaking with convention and sparking fury from SNP and Conservative MPs. He said he allowed the vote to protect MPs' safety, and later apologised, but the row continues, with the SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn saying his party has no confidence in him as speaker. The team disc...
Feb 22, 2024•22 min
The Scottish Greens Co-Leader and Scottish Government minister sits down with Podlitical. Patrick Harvie talks about his early exposure to Green politics and his career so far, including why he sees compromise and finding "genuine common ground" is how democracy should work, his feelings about the Bute House Agreement with the SNP, his belief that the "moral panic" over transgender rights has become toxic in a way he "would not have believed was possible" previously, and how he's coming to terms...
Feb 13, 2024•33 min
Michael Matheson resigns as Scottish Health Secretary ahead of a report on his iPad bill. Late last year, it was revealed that the then-Health Secretary Matheson had racked up a £11k roaming bill on his parliamentary iPad, subsequently admitting that his sons had used the iPad as a data hotspot so they could watch football. The team react to the news and the Scottish government cabinet reshuffle, discussing why the resignation has come now, and if it will have the stated intended effect of avoid...
Feb 08, 2024•24 min
The former Scottish Labour MSP on the next election, the COVID inquiry messages, and more. Neil Findlay sits down with Podlitical to discuss how his pre-politics career influenced his socialist ideology, why he thought Labour siding with the Conservatives in the 2014 independence referendum's Better Together campaign was the "kamikaze route", how he views Scottish Independence now, and how he "dodged an atom bomb" by losing out on becoming Scottish Labour leader. Findlay shares his reaction to t...
Feb 06, 2024•29 min
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon appears at the UK COVID-19 Inquiry. As the Scottish portion of the inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by UK Governments comes to close, this week we heard from ex-First Minister Sturgeon and former Deputy FM John Swinney, with the former denying that she presided over a culture of secrecy and that she politicised the pandemic. The team sits down to discuss what happened this week and the potential political impacts.
Feb 01, 2024•24 min
First Minister Humza Yousaf appears at the COVID Inquiry. The team sit down to discuss the week's big political news, which saw Humza Yousaf, who was both Scottish Justice and then Health Secretary during the Covid-19 pandemic, answering the questions of the UK COVID inquiry as it continues in Scotland. WhatsApp messages and their deletion played a large part of both the questioning and First Minister's Questions, with an additional expletive-laden message between former First Minister Nicola St...
Jan 25, 2024•23 min
The former leader of the Scottish Conservatives on Israel & Gaza, the pandemic, and more. The MSP for Eastwood, Jackson Carlaw sits down with Podlitical to discuss his career, from representing Scotland's largest Jewish community and his thoughts on the Israel / Gaza conflict, to why he felt he wasn't ruthless enough to be Scottish Conservative leader. Carlaw talks about his unwillingness to be seen as "screaming abuse" at then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in FMQs during the early days of ...
Jan 23, 2024•31 min
PM Sunak sees off a rebellion over his Rwanda Bill, and the Horizon scandal continues. Despite two senior resignations, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak managed to pass his bill to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in the Commons despite threats of rebellion, but now the legislation passes to the Lords, with the PM urging them to back the bill in a press conference. What's going to happen next, and is the Rwanda bill the vote winner the Conservative Government hopes it will be? In Holyrood, opposition par...
Jan 18, 2024•26 min
The longest currently-serving SNP MP on independence strategy and Top of the Pops. Pete Wishart joins the Podlitical team to talk about his early career as a musician and appearing on Top of The Pops, why he made the transition to politics, and his work at Westminster. Wishart discusses why he thinks there are "inherent contradictions" with the SNP's Scottish independence strategy, and that it hasn't "hit the mark", but voters can't "pick and choose" when to support independence. For a range of ...
Jan 17, 2024•36 min
The team returns to discuss the Post Office scandal and conversion therapy laws. In Westminster, Prime Minister Sunak has announced emergency legislation to ensure hundreds of wrongly convicted subpostmasters, who were prosecuted due to faulty Horizon software used by the Post Office, will have their names cleared, with Humza Yousaf's Scottish Government looking to follow suit. Also in Scotland, the government is set to seek opinions on banning the controversial practice of conversion therapy. W...
Jan 11, 2024•25 min
Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary Shona Robison MSP discusses the budget. Following her delivery of the Scottish budget to Holyrood on Tuesday, the Deputy First Minister sits down with the Podlitical team to talk about the "tough" budget and the "difficult" decisions that had to be made, the new tax band and council tax freeze, how she wants to keep discussions going with COSLA, and the importance of social justice and reducing child poverty. For a range of political interviews, subscr...
Dec 21, 2023•42 min
The team deep dives into the Scottish budget and the new tax rate. Following Tuesday's budget, where Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison announced a new 45% tax rate on earnings between £75,000 and £125,140, as well as an increase to the top rate of tax and confirmation of plans for a council tax freeze, Phil Sim sits down with BBC correspondent David Henderson and Mairi Spowage, Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, to go over the fine details of the Scottish budget, what it means ...
Dec 20, 2023•34 min
The team talk difficult decisions facing Holyrood, and the "Five Families" in the Tories. In Holyrood, the Scottish Government faces tough political choices ahead of next week's budget, and whether or not to appeal the ruling in favour of the UK Government in relation to blocking Scotland's Gender Recognition Reform bill, as well as a row with Lord David Cameron over how meetings with foreign leaders should be conducted by the Scottish cabinet following First Minister Humza Yousaf meeting with T...
Dec 14, 2023•30 min
