Here’s what to expect from major upcoming year for politics in city
Glasgow will play host to world leaders ... and faces major tasks
AS we say goodbye to 2020, a year like no other, we can look forward to 2021 with some hope as the Covid vaccination programme gets under way.
It gives hope that there can be a return to life as we knew it before March 2020.
In the political calendar, 2021 is shaping up to be a hugely important year.
The Scottish Parliament election in May looks like it could be as crucial as the election of 2011, when the SNP won a majority that paved the way for the 2014 referendum.
If Nicola Sturgeon’s party wins a majority, it will seek the powers for a second independence referendum.
It will set up a collision course with the UK Government which has already said it will refuse the request.
It is one thing to refuse just now, but another to refuse if a referendum is a central policy of the SNP manifesto that gets majority support in an election.
In Glasgow, there are eight constituency seats and another seven on the regional list up for grabs.
Some changes are guaranteed in the city as two of the current MSPs are not seeking re- election.
Sandra White, one of the few remaining MSPs from the very first intake in 1999, is standing down.
Adam Tomkins, a newcomer compared to Ms White, is standing down after just one term as a Glasgow list MSP for the Conservatives.
Others could lose their place at the top of party lists, meaning new faces will emerge.
In November, the biggest event to hit the city comes with the COP26, when world leaders will be in Glasgow, pandemic permitting, for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
More than 70 leaders – potentially including US President- Elect Joe Biden – will be in the city for the week- long event at the SEC.
It is being billed as the most important climate change summit since the Paris COP five years ago when countries committed to action on reducing emissions.
What a massive boost to the city’s hospitality industry this will bring if it can go ahead as originally envisaged.
In the early part of the year the Scottish Government and health boards will face a mammoth task of ensuring the biggest vaccination programme in history is delivered safely and effectively, now that we have two approved vaccines for use.
Then there is the recovery. Getting people back to work, helping industries rebuild.
The city council will have a big role to play in helping to deal with the problems the pandemic has caused. The focus of the pandemic will undoubtedly shift over the year from the health implications and the need to suppress and control the virus to rebuilding from the damage the resulting lockdown caused.
The emphasis on delivering effective action will switch from health and scientific advisers to the economic advisers and from the Health Secretary to the economy and finance ministers.
The city centre has been badly hit with lockdown, and as we emerge from the health crisis, action on the purpose of the city centre becomes even more urgent than it was before.
The layout of the streets will continue to change. George Square will be almost traffic free and more streets will be for people, not traffic.
The challenge is to bring new life into the city centre as changing patterns of retail and of working will leave huge empty spaces, ripe for new opportunities.
The council will be pressing on with the Avenues project and will be expected to make good on commitments to the Glasgow Metro starting with the link from Glasgow Airport to Paisley.
Others could lose their place at the top of party lists