Block-Headed

A couple of posts ago, I took umbrage at James Purnell MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for his assertions that Scotland would forfeit some £400m of Council Tax Benefit if we were to replace the Council Tax with a local income tax.

His argument, you may remember, was the rather trite 'if there's no Council Tax there's no Council Tax benefit'. You can therefore imagine my delight this weekend to read in the Sunday Herald the revelation that, as this Treasury 'Statement of Funding Policy' document from 1997 makes clear (point 7, page 39), Council Tax benefit is post-devolution to be regarded as part of the Scottish Block grant.


So, was Purnell misleading us earlier, was he poorly informed, or was he simply trying to throw his weight about and scaremonger? It scarecely matters now - with the release of this Treasury document, we have what I believe is often called called a 'slam dunk'.

Sunday Herald and SoS back SNP-led Executive

Are my eyes deceiving me? Apparently not, since with varying degrees of enthusiasm, both titles are backing an SNP-led Executive post May 3 with Alex Salmond as First Minister :-)

Let's not be churlish about deciding at the last minute to back what looks increasingly like a safe bet. Fairness, not favours - that's all the SNP has ever asked for from the Scottish media!

Sunday Herald Editorial

Scotland on Sunday Editorial



UPDATE: The Sunday Times and even the Sunday Express (!) are getting in on the act as well:

SUNDAY TIMES

Time for a change

“The Sunday Times has always been a Unionist paper. It may seem strange therefore that we should now come out for an SNP-led coalition. Yet that is our position . . . The choice now is not between the Union and independence, but between a Labour party that has run out of ideas and the SNP which promises more vigorous and imaginative government. We need a change of government, and only the SNP can provide this. Within the confines of devolution, and in the awareness that there will be another opportunity to vote for the Union, we have concluded that an SNP-led coalition is the best option for voters.”

SUNDAY EXPRESS

It’s Time

"Thursday’s poll is all about change, not independence. In his party’s manifesto, Alex Salmond offers ‘fresh thinking’ and there are few who would disagree that this is exactly what the country needs.”

Protesting too much?

Well, well, well. If today's 'Sunday Herald' is to be believed, it seems like one of Labour's Scottish MPs is in talks with the SNP about crossing the floor.

The MP, whom it is claimed has had several discussions with SNP bigwigs about joining the party, is said to be unhappy with the decision to renew Trident, as well as with the current situation in Iraq. If it does come to pass before next May, it will represent a body-blow to Labour's chances of re-election in the Scottish Parliamentary elections.

I'll say here and now that I'm too far down the SNP food chain to know whether this is true or not. For that reason, I would have been inclined to file it under the category of 'I'll believe it when I see it'. However, that was before I read Labour's denial on the BBC News website.

Describing the story as "Fundamentally untrue", a Labour spokesman said: "These talks are so secret that no Labour MP has been involved in them". He then went on to bluster about imaginary black holes, before making a silly remark that perhaps "Alex Salmond is so keen to speak to Labour MPs because Labour is the party with ideas for Scotland's future that will unlock the potential of every Scot, and SNP MPs are fighting like ferrets in a sack."

Does anyone else think this denial might be just a little too spirited, a touch too vehement? It would have been enough to dismiss the story as untrue, but to describe it as 'fundamentally untrue' before launching into an unusually vigorous version of his party's standard ad hominem anti-SNP diatribe, suggests that a nerve might have been touched.

No smoke without fire? Who can tell. One thing's for certain, though. With discontent over Blair reaching a crescendo and Labour about to lose a large chunk of their local government base thanks to PR, their internal cohesion is likely to be tested over the next few months as never before.