View from Westminster
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John Swinney is favourite to lead SNP
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Humza Yousaf ended his defiance at noon today, announcing that he will stand down as first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party when a successor is elected. The puzzle of why he mishandled the SNP's Green coalition partners remains, but is now for historians to contest. Except that the fundamentals of the hung Scottish parliament are unchanged. Whoever succeeds Yousaf will still need to deal with the Greens or with Ash Regan, the former SNP MSP who defected to Alex Salmond's Alba Party. Yousaf's problem was that he could survive in the short term by doing a deal with Regan, but it would leave government and opposition tied on 64 seats each, and he would rely on the presiding officer's casting vote to govern. John Swinney, the favourite to succeed Yousaf, is a more experienced politician, having been leader of the SNP in between two spells of Salmond 2000-04, but will he be any better at handling the Greens, who may not be as scared of an early Scottish parliament election as the SNP is? |
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Who is the only MP to have defected to the Conservative Party in the 21st century? |
Answer at the bottom of today's email |
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| UK government claims EU would be guilty of double standards if Ireland was allowed to return asylum seekers to UK |
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| Rob Blackie, had neck broken by thugs, says he will bring hundreds of officers back to the front line |
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| Although I cannot find any details in the Green Party manifesto |
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What else you need to know today |
- Rishi Sunak continues to take the risk of seeming to be dismissive of mental illness, pressing ahead with a green paper on "overhauling" disability benefits – and Mel Stride, work and pensions secretary, appeared to suggest that some people who were off work were simply struggling with the "ups and downs of life"
- I am running an online sweepstake on this week's mayoral elections: so far entrants are split 50-50 between Ben Houchen, the Tory, and his challenger Chris McEwan, Labour, in Tees Valley; most expect Kim McGuinness, Labour, to beat Jamie Driscoll, the former Labour independent, in the North East; David Skaith, Labour, to win the new York and North Yorkshire post; and Richard Parker, Labour, to beat Andy Street, Tory, in the West Midlands – enter free here
- I wrote at the weekend about the fall of Humza Yousaf, and the warning it contains for Keir Starmer of the danger of impossible promises – it was an unrealistic green target that broke the SNP-Green coalition
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Will the Tories cave to pressure and cap net migration? |
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Archie Mitchell looks at the numbers game on legal immigration, and the demands from Conservative MPs for a guaranteed limit... Read more |
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Tomorrow inside the Westminster bubble |
Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for |
After Rishi Sunak chairs the cabinet's weekly session, foreign affairs will loom large. At 11.30am Andrew Mitchell will answer Commons questions for the first time since being handed the title of deputy foreign secretary – a small bone tossed to MPs who want to question the real foreign secretary, David Cameron. The government has rebuffed calls for the Tory peer to appear in the Commons. However, Cameron will be quizzed by the Lords international relations committee at 3pm. Alex Younger, the former MI6 chief, will be questioned by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee about counter terrorism at 2pm.
MPs will debate Lords amendments to the Digital Markets Bill.
Theresa May, the former prime minister, will speak about the "abuse of power", the theme of her recent book, to the Chatham House think tank at 6pm.
The Home Office will outline action against hate preachers. The Department for Health will begin a consultation exercise on updating the NHS's constitution.
Much-delayed post-Brexit checks on animal and plant products entering the UK from the EU are supposed finally to take effect. |
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"If only every person in Scotland could be afforded the opportunity of being first minister for just one day."
Humza Yousaf, in his resignation speech |
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Quiz answer: Lisa Cameron, who defected from the Scottish National Party in October 2023 |
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