Welcome to your Full Scottish, live from our Cowcaddens studio in Glasgow.
Full Scottish programme starts at 12:00 on Sunday 9th September 2018
Corri Wilson
To discuss a very busy week, guest presenter, Corri Wilson is joined by James Dornan MSP and Ronnie Cowan MP.
This week saw the return of the Holyrood Parliament and Westminster after the summer recess and the Scottish Government got straight down to business with the launch of its programme for Government on Tuesday, which parliament went on to debate for the rest of the week. The investment in mental health services received wide cross party support and the ambitious plans for an additional £7 billion investment in infrastructure were welcomed, but it did not take long for opposition parties to fall back on their “Get on with the day job” jibes, the irony of which would not be lost on many observers of Scottish politics. With 7% increase in Scottish exports, the investment in infrastructure and the new Scottish National Investment Bank, the Scottish Government could perhaps be forgiven for appearing to be very at ease in their supposed “managerial” style of government.
At Westminister on Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May, announced that European Arrest Warrants had been issued for Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Bashirov the two suspects in the Skripals attempted murder case and Security Minister Ben Wallace claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ultimately responsible for the attack.
Meanwhile in America Barack Obama came out pulling no punches as he spoke about the failings of the Trump administration at the same time as the Donald was stamping his feet demanding to know who was responsible for that OP-ED alleging that the president was like a petulant child who needed to be managed.
Dysfunctional government is not the sole preserve of the Trump administration as the machinations of the Brexiteers paralyse the tories completely and they seem incapable of producing any coherent plan for Brexit which would be acceptable to the EU and all of the tory party, never mind parliament as a whole and then, bang on time, Bojo hits the headlines for his extra-marital affairs and it now turns out that No.10 might be behind it.
The UK Government’s lack of understanding or even a complete disinterest in the consequences of Brexit in Northern Ireland were given emphasis this week as NI Secretary Karen Bradley admitted she knew nothing about the country before being given the job. consider that after watching Channel 4 Despatches documentary of the Ballymurphy massacre.
That same UK government was on display this week, as Scottish Secretary, David Mundell appeared before the Scottish Government Constitution Committee and in questioning, refused to give any guarantee that Westminster would not overrule the Scottish Government in any future Sewell Convention legislative consent motions which had been refused by the Scottish or other devolved administrations.
By now some of you are asking where is the demand for Indyref2, well the SNP are meeting in Edinburgh today at the largest of their National Assemblies to talk about just that.
James Dornan MSP
James Dornan lives in the Glasgow Cathcart Constituency he has stayed in most of his life. He joined Glasgow City Council in May 2007 as the elected Member representing the SNP in the new Langside Ward. He was elected as the Leader of the Opposition in Glasgow City Council in 2008. In the 2011 Holyrood Elections, James was elected as MSP for Glasgow Cathcart and was re-elected in the 2016 elections. James is determined to see an end to sectarianism in Scotland and tirelessly campaigns against one of the worst issues in Scotland in the 21st century.
Ronnie Cowan
Ronnie is the Member of Parliament for Inverclyde having been first elected in 2015 and retained the seat at the 2017 General Election. Ronnie is from Greenock and after leaving school he got a job as a trainee computer operator at Playtex in Port Glasgow, and went on to build a career in IT, latterly running his own company which focussed on finding IT solutions to business problems.
He is a member of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs (PACAC) Select Committee and Transport Select Committee. Alongside this, he is vice-chair of the All-party parliamentary groups (APPG) on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals; Kidney Group; Drug Policy Reform; Medical cannabis under prescription. He is also a member of the APPGs on autism and Scottish sport. His political interests include Drugs policy reform, employment, gambling related harm, prostitution laws, renewables and universal basic income.