Philip Sim@BBCPhilipSim

BBC Scotland political journalist & occasional courtroom live-tweeter. ✍️:@BBCScotlandNews,📻:@bbcpodlitical, largely spreadsheets & snark on here

 Holyrood
bbc.co.uk/news/scotland
Joined May 2015
6,979 Photos and videos
ScotGov appears to have kicked council tax reform into the 2030s…after Ivan McKee said on the radio that there was “absolutely a need” for a revaluation, govt says it’s not happening and any big reform will need an electoral mandate (in 2031, after five more years of debate)
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We will not undertake a Council Tax revaluation. “Ministers believe any suggestion of a revaluation could only proceed if a broad political consensus in favour existed. They do not believe that consensus currently exists. “Any changes to Council Tax must also be informed by robust evidence and wide public consultation. Our joint programme of engagement with COSLA on options for reform is intended to inform that public debate. “This process will run for a number of years. Ministers believe any plan for substantial reform thereafter, including any suggestion of revaluation, would require a mandate from a Scottish Parliament Election and that this will not be possible this decade.”

ALT A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We will not undertake a Council Tax revaluation. “Ministers believe any suggestion of a revaluation could only proceed if a broad political consensus in favour existed. They do not believe that consensus currently exists. “Any changes to Council Tax must also be informed by robust evidence and wide public consultation. Our joint programme of engagement with COSLA on options for reform is intended to inform that public debate. “This process will run for a number of years. Ministers believe any plan for substantial reform thereafter, including any suggestion of revaluation, would require a mandate from a Scottish Parliament Election and that this will not be possible this decade.”

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Fergus, Winnie, Margaret and Annabelle Ewing have clocked up a combined 102 years of elected politics in Holyrood, Westminster and the European Parliament. But in 2026, a Ewing will stand *against* the SNP at the polls. Going to be a fascinating contest... bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24…

SNP's Fergus Ewing to run as an independent in Scottish elections

Ewing has represented Inverness and Nairn since 1999, and previously served as rural affairs secretary in government.

bbc.co.uk
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Fergus Ewing is one of three MSPs seeking to retain the same seat they've had since 1999. On current boundaries he's never had a majority under 20% - the Tories were the closest challengers in '21 and '16. So it could well end up being a straight race between him and Emma Roddick
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The bookies were offering longer odds on Labour winning Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse (11/1) than they were on Aberdeen winning the Scottish Cup final against Celtic (8/1)...
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ScotGov has used a parly question the morning after the local elections down south to announce that it isn't going ahead with its long-promised misogyny bill this term, but will instead add sex protections to the hate crime act. Conversion practices ban also kicked to next term
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring people are protected from misogynistic abuse and we had previously committed to the introduction of a Misogyny Bill. This is a complex area of policy and law, and it would be necessary that any Bill which brought misogyny into criminal law contained clear and unambiguous provisions in regard to the circumstances in which they apply. This would include the implications of the recent Supreme Court Judgment. Given the short time left in this parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Bill to be finalised and introduced in this session, therefore the Scottish Government has decided not to proceed with this Bill in this parliamentary session. To ensure there are protections for women and girls in law, we will therefore lay an SSI by September to add the protected characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 so that they have the same protections as other groups protected by that Act.

ALT The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring people are protected from misogynistic abuse and we had previously committed to the introduction of a Misogyny Bill. This is a complex area of policy and law, and it would be necessary that any Bill which brought misogyny into criminal law contained clear and unambiguous provisions in regard to the circumstances in which they apply. This would include the implications of the recent Supreme Court Judgment. Given the short time left in this parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Bill to be finalised and introduced in this session, therefore the Scottish Government has decided not to proceed with this Bill in this parliamentary session. To ensure there are protections for women and girls in law, we will therefore lay an SSI by September to add the protected characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 so that they have the same protections as other groups protected by that Act.

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Susan Smith and Marion Calder from For Women Scotland jubilant after their win in the Supreme Court; thanking their supporters across the country who backed and donated to the case; say there is an ongoing fight against some government policies and guidance
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The champagne is out…Susan Smith says everybody should be protected by the Equality Act; this is not about hatred for any other community, but there need to be protections in the law based on biology
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Supreme Court ruling on For Women Scotland vs Scottish ministers; Lord Hodge reading verdict. He says court is aware of strength of feeling from both sides, but court’s role is to decide what the law means - what is a woman, when it comes to the Equality Act?
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Lord Hodge says unanimous decision of court is that woman and sex in equality act refer to biological sex. He counsels not to see this as a triumph for one side over the other - stresses law still gives trans people protection against discrimination
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Lord Hodge says the predecessors to the Equality Act used definitions of biological sex; gender reassignment was added as a separate protected characteristic. Says after “painstaking analysis”, including people with a GRC in the sex group would make EA read in an “incoherent way”
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I have today written to the Returning Officer @SouthLanCouncil to confirm the by-election for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse will be held on Thursday 5 June 2025. Read the news release⬇️ ow.ly/hgqw50VAFjO
Text says By-election Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Thursday 5 June 2025. Image shows the inside of Holyrood's debating chamber.

ALT Text says By-election Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Thursday 5 June 2025. Image shows the inside of Holyrood's debating chamber.

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I'm like a broken record on this, but there is absolutely no reason why the government cannot comment on a *civil* case. There's no jury, no risk of prejudice, they've already thrown a kitchen sink full of arguments at the court and there'd be no harm in reiterating them publicly
Lewis McKenzie@LewisMcKenzie94
28 Jan 2025
Asked for a response on this, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government cannot comment on live litigation."
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All that's going to happen is that we have to read the government's position out of the court papers in complicated legalese, instead of a minister or spokesman explaining it to people in something approaching plain language
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After more than six years and 350 eps, today was our last Podlitical. Obvs pretty gutted, but huge thanks to @LucyJWhyte @Rajdeep1 @nickeardleybbc @lynseybews @MatthewSMCox @BBCDavidWL @MylesBonnar @Annie__McGuire @GeorgiaZemoreyR and countless others who made it such a fun ride
BBC Scotland News
@BBCScotlandNews
19 Dec 2024
In our final episode, the #Podlitical team look back at 6 years of change and chaos in politics Listen here ➡️ bbc.in/3BCsSu2
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Sat down with John Swinney for a wide-ranging chat on Podlitical… - how he feared the SNP could “quite easily have been wiped out” in the GE - why he’s the “one person on the planet” to turn their fortunes around - and lots more… bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0kcws…

Podlitical - Interview: First Minister John Swinney - BBC Sounds

Scotland's First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney sits down with Podlitical.

bbc.co.uk
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More from John Swinney i/v: - the 1am chat with Willie Rennie that made him vow to reach out of govt bubble - how he might’ve stood down in 2026, but now pledges to stand for full term as FM to 2031 - how 2-child cap policy was added to a budget that put SNP “back on front foot”
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All that and more, including how John Swinney is taking his budget on the road in January to win over the public and put pressure on MSPs, and the “hard reality” of winning support for independence (while not “getting bogged down in process”). Wherever you get your podcasts etc
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Ban on dual mandates obvs hogged attention in the election reform bill at Holyrood, but it also commits ministers to a review of ballot paper ordering; potentially countering phenomenon where candidates of same party are usually returned in alphabetical order in council elections
Text of amendment from Ross Greer, supported by Kenny Gibson, saying that "ministers must review the method of ordering candidates on ballot papers" at council elections and Holyrood ones too

ALT Text of amendment from Ross Greer, supported by Kenny Gibson, saying that "ministers must review the method of ordering candidates on ballot papers" at council elections and Holyrood ones too

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Where parties ran multiple candidates in multi-member wards in 2022, they were returned in alphabetical order 83.7% of the time. Proposal is to randomise the order on ballot papers; ministers voiced concerns about impact on disabled, but will run the study
Philip Sim@BBCPhilipSim
12 May 2022
I have now trawled through the full set of council results in Scotland, and I reckon there were 406 instances of a party running two or more candidates in a ward. In 340 of them, the candidates were returned in alphabetical order...so it happened 83.7% of the time
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We continually warn against drawing broader conclusions from one poll or local by-election. But what about all 29 by-elections there have been in Scotland since the general election? When you look at them all together a couple of interesting themes emerge...🧵
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On the one hand it's hard to read a lot into these results when the average turnout is 23.97%, with a low-water mark of just 12.4% in Glasgow North East. But it also speaks to a disengagement with the mainstream that an anti-establishment party could potentially capitalise on...
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Obvs there's a long (ish) way still to go until Holyrood 2026, and multiple opportunities for narratives and momentum to shift. We may have just had one in the budget! But if you take these by-elections as a reasonable indicator of sentiment post-GE, we're in for quite a contest.
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