The Reformer Scotland | Independent Scottish Political Commentary

Oct 15, 2026

Prospects for Scotland’s public finances are bleak, while the SNP appears indifferent and overwhelmed

OVER MANY YEARS I’ve watched how the SNP handles its public finance responsibilities when in power in Scotland. It would be hard not to…

Oct 12, 2026

Culture

Scotland’s Parliament would rather ban the debate than the burqa

Amanda Lindsay

ON THURSDAY EVENING THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT held its last members’ business debate of the week. Thomas Kerr had lodged a motion on face coverings…

Scotland’s Parliament would rather ban the debate than the burqa

Oct 12, 2026

Energy

Burnham must get off the Tik-Tok and urgently approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields

Duncan Massey

QUITE WHAT A BY-ELECTION IN CENTRAL LONDON has to do with Andy Burnham’s so-called pragmatic energy policy is still not clear to me. But…

Burnham must get off the Tik-Tok and urgently approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields

Oct 9, 2026

Politics

Stephen Flynn is winging it – and Willie Rennie knows it

Graham Simpson

SPARE A THOUGHT for any Scottish companies seeking to do business with the United Arab Emirates – Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn is in town…

Stephen Flynn is winging it – and Willie Rennie knows it

Oct 9, 2026

Brexit

The conference season is over, but will it make any difference?

Brian Monteith

IT HAS BEEN an eventful party political conference season, to say the least. The Greens have revealed themselves as the jackboot tendency – now…

The conference season is over, but will it make any difference?

Oct 8, 2026

Brexit

Six impossible things before reversing Brexit

Jonathan Stanley

THERE IS A PHRASE increasingly used in British politics that sounds deceptively simple: “rejoining the European Union.” It suggests that Britain left, changed its…

Six impossible things before reversing Brexit

Oct 8, 2026

Immigration

Why the Conservatives cannot be trusted to run the country

Frankie Hutcheson

HOPES THAT THE RIGHT WILL UNITE to stop Labour winning the next election underestimate how very differently Reformers and Conservatives see the crisis facing…

Why the Conservatives cannot be trusted to run the country

Oct 5, 2026

Law

When the allegation becomes the evidence: the hollowing out of Scotland’s corroboration rule

Edward Graham

THERE WAS ONCE A FAIRLY SIMPLE IDEA at the heart of Scotland’s criminal justice system. If somebody is accused of a crime, the prosecution…

Holyrood’s Lord of the Flies

Defence Against the Dark Arts: Why J.K. Rowling is right to stand up for women

Why I’ve no faith in an interfaith Holyrood

When considering how to vote, ‘once bitten, twice shy’ can be a problem

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