SNP leadership nominations to close
Ash Regan is joining the race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon today. Assuming no one else decides to jump in before nominations close at midday, she will be facing Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf, who are also running for the party’s leadership.
The Edinburgh Eastern MSP has the support of about 7% of SNP voters as the race starts, according to a poll released on Friday. As she launches her campaign, she gas intimated she wants to let groups who worked for the wider Yes movement in the run-up to 2014 take the lead on independence, while the Scottish government focuses on running the country.
She has accused her colleagues in the SNP of failing to listen to such groups.
Also today, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the UK will not directly supply Ukraine with its Typhoon fighter jets because their complexity and the lack of training among Ukrainian forces would also require the deployment of a large number of RAF ground crew to the warzone; a step the UK is not willing to take.
Instead, he has said, Britain could offer air cover for eastern European nations who want to provide aircraft the Ukrainian forces are already trained to operate and maintain.
Key events
Pitching herself to members as the candidate who would govern the country the best, Regan has said:
I respect everything that my predecessors have achieved since 2007, but recently we have lost our way. Under my leadership we will reestablish our track record, we will reform our team, we will reiterate the vision of an independent country with parity of esteem in the world.
Regan has previously claimed an SNP led by her would seek to launch negotiations on leaving the UK with Westminster after a majority vote for independence-supporting parties at any UK or Holyrood election in the future.
At the launch, Regan described the policy as a “voter empowerment mechanism”, although it is unclear how this differs from the current leadership’s position of treating the next election as a de facto referendum.
In her first 100 days, Regan has pledged to focus on “running the country wisely, fairly and competently”, and would reconvene the council of economic advisers and other bodies to bring in “the best minds”, as well as “move on” from the Sustainable Growth Commission, claiming “too much has changed”.
Following the theme of her interview with the Herald, Regan has said the Scottish independence movement has been divided by “petty differences and personal agendas”, as she officially launches her SNP leadership campaign.
Speaking in North Queensferry on Friday, Regan has pitched herself as the unity candidate in the hours before nominations close.
Our campaign is built on hope, optimism and a belief in the power of our people. The truth is that our movement has been divided for far too long by petty differences and personal agendas.
But we can’t afford to let these differences tear us apart any longer and we must come together as one united force for Scotland because the challenges facing our country are too great for us to face them if we are divided.
Asked by journalists after her speech what differences and agendas she was referencing, Regan was not specific, but appeared to hint at gender reforms as being one such issue.
I think everyone, the kids in the playground can see that there have been some issues in the SNP of late.
I think I’m the only candidate on the slate that’s credible on some of the top issues that have been a problem for the SNP recently, that can draw a line under this so that we can all move forward together because we need to do that for the betterment of the country.
The SNP, she said, has always been a “broad church”, and the Edinburgh Eastern MSP pledged to “heal the divisions that have emerged in the past few years”.
Everyone is going to make up and move on.
MPs observe minute’s silence for Ukraine
MPs have observed a minute’s silence in the Commons chamber to mark a year since the invasion of Ukraine began.
Proceedings were halted at 11am during a Friday sitting, when a small group of backbench MPs usually attend to consider private member’s bills.
Several ministers and shadow ministers joined the cohort of backbench Labour and Conservative MPs in the Commons for the occasion.
The deputy Commons Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton said “Slava Ukraini” – meaning “Glory to Ukraine” in the Ukrainian language – as the silence came to an end.
Outside the Commons chamber, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak led the national silence from Downing Street.
We reported earlier on the Regan-backing Joanna Cherry’s view that Nicola Sturgeon’s husband should quit. Here’s Regan’s own view on the matter:
I think this situation that we’ve got ourselves into, where you’ve got a party leader who’s married to the chief executive of the party, I don’t think we would accept that in a corporate setting, I don’t think it’s appropriate.
I think the fact that Peter Murrell is running this contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon is a clear conflict of interest.
Asked if he should stand down, Regan has said: “I think it’s a conflict of interest, that’s my position on that.”
Murrell, who married the first minister in 2010, is ultimately in charge of the contest to replace his wife.
Regan has become more outspoken in her opposition to the party’s leadership in recent months, following her resignation in opposition to gender reforms, with her most high-profile backer Joanna Cherry calling for party chief executive Peter Murrell – who is Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – to quit.
Regan has said she will seek to reset relations between the SNP groups at Westminster and Holyrood as leader, attending meetings at the House of Commons and allowing MPs to do the same in Edinburgh.
We need to adopt a far more collegiate approach and deploy all of the talents we have at our disposal properly by appointing the best people to the jobs that best suit their abilities.
Regan would not be drawn on cabinet positions for her rivals during her Herald interview, but described fellow candidate Forbes as one of the SNP’s “top talents”, adding:
If I’m elected to serve, there will be some very important jobs up for grabs in my government, and I want to ensure that only the very best people get them, irrespective of whether I agree with them on everything.
We have to have the very best people advising us, even if they don’t back independence. What’s important is that they have the gifts and the desire to help us make Scotland better.
She has also restated her position of dropping any potential legal action against the UK government over its blocking of the gender recognition reforms (Scotland) bill, saying she will not be “wasting any more time” on a court battle that is unlikely to be won.
Ash Regan launches bid to succeed Nicola Sturgeon
The SNP has “dismantled” the yes movement since the independence referendum, the leadership candidate Ash Regan has said.
Speaking to the Herald, the former community safety minister hit out at the party’s current leadership, saying she will return the independence movement “back to the people”. Regan launches her campaign on Friday. She has told the paper:
In recent years, the wider yes movement has become marginalised in the fight for independence. If elected, I intend to change that.
As a party, I don’t think we’ve listened enough to the groups who got us here. I know these people, because I campaigned side-by-side with them throughout the first referendum. The party has effectively dismantled the yes campaign, but I want to reconstitute it once more.
It’s also important that we get on with the business of governing on the day-to-day issues affecting all of the people of Scotland.
And, as much as possible, allow some of the groups who did amazing work for the yes cause in 2013 and 2014 to do what they did so well back then. I want to get the band back together, if you like.
SNP leadership nominations to close
Ash Regan is joining the race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon today. Assuming no one else decides to jump in before nominations close at midday, she will be facing Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf, who are also running for the party’s leadership.
The Edinburgh Eastern MSP has the support of about 7% of SNP voters as the race starts, according to a poll released on Friday. As she launches her campaign, she gas intimated she wants to let groups who worked for the wider Yes movement in the run-up to 2014 take the lead on independence, while the Scottish government focuses on running the country.
She has accused her colleagues in the SNP of failing to listen to such groups.
Also today, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the UK will not directly supply Ukraine with its Typhoon fighter jets because their complexity and the lack of training among Ukrainian forces would also require the deployment of a large number of RAF ground crew to the warzone; a step the UK is not willing to take.
Instead, he has said, Britain could offer air cover for eastern European nations who want to provide aircraft the Ukrainian forces are already trained to operate and maintain.