While Scotland failed to win the Calcutta Cup at the weekend, the First Minister helped to drop kick the game into the centre of the political sphere. His “snubbing” by BBC officials, who vetoed his appearance on the channel ahead of the game, has developed into a battle over the impartiality of the broadcaster. Accusations have flown, and the issue was even brought up at First Ministers Questions. A week after a game most Scottish rugby fans would rather forget, the matter continues to trundle on, with the First Minister looking set to issue a formal complaint to the BBC.
Elsewhere, it was a tale of two budgets. The Scottish Government Budget has in the past seen a considerable amount of drama, with minority administrations needing to negotiate with opposition parties to get their budget passed by the Parliament by dolling out last minute concessions and pet projects are batted around, until the government of the day gets what it needs – majority support. With the 2011 election and the landslide SNP victory, this is no longer required. But to his credit John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, gave the outwardly appearance of being magnanimous, and seeking cross party consensus.
Money was found for colleges, local government and other projects. Not enough to paste over the extensive cut to the block grant which the Scottish Government receives, but enough for the Liberal Democrats to support the Budget. The SNP can now claim that even with a majority in Parliament, they are trying to work with the other parties.
In stark contrast to the rubber stamp feel of the Scottish Parliament Budget, the Glasgow City Council vote on their budget was a place of high drama. Following the de-selection of a number of councillors from standing at this year’s local elections, Labour found itself facing an internal rebellion. The opposition took advantage of the weakness, and attempted to put forward a joint Budget of their own, with the hope that the Labour rebels would support it. For a few hours it appeared that Labour may lose power in Glasgow, but by the time it came to a vote, the party won, albeit by 2 votes.
The pieces are now set for what will be likely the most fascinating contest in the local elections, and it will be interesting to see how Labour fares, in what is one of their key territories.
By Rob
