Parties hit the road for one final push

This week, Scotland’s political class geared up for one last effort to convince voters to back them ... with the possibilty of Indyref2 looming large

Monday, May 3 Two-thirds say Salmond should not be an MSP

THE majority of Scottish voters do not consider Alex Salmond a fit and proper person to become an MSP.

According to an exclusive poll for The Herald, 63 per cent of people do not believe the former first minister is fit to hold political office at Holyrood.

Just 9% of women, and 14% of men, thought it would be acceptable for the Alba Party leader to return to Holyrood as an MSP, according to the poll conducted by BMG Research, while around one-quarter (23%) of voters were unsure.

Mr Salmond appears to have more support among those in favour of independence, with 18% of “Yes” voters agreeing it would be acceptable for him to be an MSP, compared to just 6% of “No” voters.

Among the independencesupporting electorate, 56% believed he was not a fit and proper person for Holyrood, and 26% were undecided.

A total of 76% of people who do not support Scottish independence thought it would not be appropriate for Mr Salmond to become an MSP, with 18% unsure.

The survey was carried out between April 27 and 30, with 1,023 respondents aged 16 and over asked:

“In your opinion, is Alex Salmond a fit and proper person to be an MSP?”

Those who are planning to vote for his former party the SNP on May 6 were also more accepting of the ex-first minister’s potential return to Holyrood, with 16% backing his suitability.

Covid outbreaks could lead to further action

COVID compensation claims could be the industrial illness crisis of a generation, according to a legal expert who is preparing for the floodgates to open for potential cases and court action.

Experts say similarities can be drawn from cases in the past which included miners’ black lung disease from breathing in coal dust to the spread of workplace tuberculosis and outbreaks superbug MRSA.

Inquiries for claims for Covid-related issues from bereaved families or individuals seeking recompense to workers wanting to know if employers had taken all possible measures to prevent the transmission of the virus in the workplace are on the increase.

It comes as a charity set up to help workers in non-unionised sites, Scottish Hazards, says its inquiries have gone from a handful a week to more than 400 in the past 12 months.

One leading law firm, Thompsons Solicitors, which has a base in Glasgow, has decades of experience in handling compensation claims for industrial and workplace incidents, and has placed such importance on Covid that it has a dedicated unit for virus-related claims and believes it will reach an unprecedented scale of claims for some time to come.

Leading the unit is industrial claims expert Bruce Shields, a partner and solicitor advocate, and while it has already been advising a number of clients and acting for others on a number of Covid-related issues, he believes it has only just skimmed the surface.

Tuesday, May 4 Schools crisis as number of teachers off with stress soars

THE manifestos of all three of Scotland’s biggest political parties are disconnected from “fiscal reality”, a leading economic think tank has said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said paying for the billions of pounds worth of promises made by the SNP, Tories and Labour would likely mean hiking taxes or cutting spending in other areas.

It accused Scotland’s politicians of failing to level with voters. Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, said the manifestos all made “strikingly big promises ... without any serious attempt to provide costings or to say how they would be paid for”.

The think tank said the Scottish Government’s budget is likely to be tight in certain areas from next year, even before the parties’ new spending plans are accounted for.

It said the SNP and Conservatives will “almost certainly” have to spend more on the NHS than they have budgeted for, in order to meet their pledges and keep pace with demand, while Labour has failed to provide figures after 2021/22.

Elsewhere, the IFS said an independent Scotland would start life with a large budget deficit “substantially higher than the rest of the UK” and would face difficult choices to bring this down.

David Phillips, an associate director at the IFS, said the manifestos all show “a disconnect from the fiscal reality”.