Holyrood

The latest Holyrood news and views from expert Scotsman journalists at the Scottish Parliament

Fergus Ewing. Picture: PA

SNP backbenchers rebel over plans for juryless rape trials

Harvie confirms he will stand down if Greens leave Scottish Government

Reducing the number of cars on the roads is one way to ramp up action on climate change

Scotland facing 'very dangerous moments' after climate U-turn

Analysis The Greens ending the co-operation deal will harm Yousaf's authority

A man couldn't get away with the things women say about Sturgeon and Sweeney Aidan Smith

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater announce the Bute House Agreement in 2021. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/pool/AFP via Getty Images

What will happen next with Bute House Agreement between the SNP and Greens?

An anti-abortion protest takes place near the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Holyrood committee backs ‘necessary’ abortion buffer zones bill at stage one

Analysis SNP left bruised and battered after week from hell

Leith

SNP launches campaign to stop Leith being ‘wiped from electoral map’ at Holyrood

Scottish Greens co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie. Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

Green voters will be 'extremely disappointed' in climate targets being ditched

Heating homes and other buildings is responsible for a large share of Scotland's climate emissions – about a fifth of the total – so efforts to improve energy-efficiency and switching to greener heating systems such as electric heat pumps is seen as crucial in the move to decarbonise

Heat in Buildings: Call for urgency on new Scottish bill

Scottish Conservatives justice spokesman Russell Findlay described the Hate Crime Act as a 'clipe's charter'

Tory demands for Hate Crime Act to be repealed are rejected by MSPs

Mairi McAllan. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Scottish Government to scrap key 2030 legal climate change target

Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland Nicola Killean.

Scottish children's commissioner has no 'fixed view' on puberty blockers

Leonie Rae Gasson was awarded £84,555 by Creative Scotland for her moving image installation project Rein. Picture: Julie Howden

Creative Scotland defends hardcore sex film as 'experimental performance art'

With two years to go, Yousaf already appears to have run out of steam John McLellan

Analysis As Holyrood returns, can Humza Yousaf move on from a bruising recess?

Humza Yousaf

Tories launch bid to repeal Scotland's controversial new hate crime law

The Scottish Parliament

Watchdog: Proliferation of commissioners in Scotland ‘undermining Holyrood’

How Covid and Green ministers killed off cross-party co-operation at Holyrood Maurice Golden

Holyrood’s hate crime law puts devolution in the dock - Brian Monteith Brian Monteith

The 'Hate Crime Act' championed by First Minister Humza Yousaf is too woolly, says reader (Picture: Fraser Bremner/Getty Images)

Readers' Letters: The SNP’s Hate Crime Act is worryingly vague

A poll found one third believe the SNP government deserves to be re-elected

Whatever hands the SNP and Conservative governments are dealt, it feels like they will probably be losing ones (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Westminster and Holyrood might do better if they left the big calls to chance

Time for Scottish Parliament to give more power to the people Scotsman comment

Nicola Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon says she is ‘veering away’ from supporting assisted dying law

Johann Lamont. Picture: Jane Barlow

Politics in Scotland ‘is glib and immature’, says former Scottish Labour leader

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC. Image: Jane Barlow/PA

Ditch plans for juryless rape trials and keep not proven, say lawyers

Liz Truss laughs at a funny joke she's just invented as she arrives at Conservative headquarters on the day she was elected party leader (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

Liz Truss's real reason for becoming Prime Minster just might have been revealed

Holyrood’s student union culture war politics is no laughing matter Brian Monteith

Liam McArthur poses for photographs and interviews as he has today published his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

MSP behind assisted dying plan ‘open to discussion’ about raising age limit

Stephen Kerr, right, has resigned over fears he is biased against Michael Matheson, left

Tory MSP resigns from Holyrood Standards Committee over Matheson bias

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur (centre, left), alongside other MSPs, during a media event at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after publishing his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. Photo: Jane Barlow

Assisted dying ‘cannot come soon enough for terminally ill' says MSP

Campaigners in support of assisted dying gather outside the Houses of Parliament in 2015

Scotland's assisted dying proposals, the safeguards and concerns

The law comes into force from Monday

Senior police officers warn activists could 'weaponise' hate crime law

‘Nice guy’ Yousaf is devoid of vision and focussing on wrong issues Kenny MacAskill

Liam McArthur MSP signs a pledge card in support of his Assisted Dying Bill at the Scottish Parliament (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA)

Three-quarters of Scots back assisted dying laws, poll suggests

Humza Yousaf

Holyrood may have to be recalled in summer to pass Post Office Horizon law

Stephen Kerr. Picture: Michael Gillen/JPI Media

Tory MSP claims he was ‘threatened’ by SNP minister during row in Holyrood

Michael Matheson returns to the Scottish Parliament. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Michael Matheson rejects calls to resign as MSP as he returns to Holyrood

MSPs are demanding answers

Scottish Parliament to probe Creative Scotland funding of 'hardcore' film

Michael Matheson has not attended the Scottish Parliament since quitting his government job (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

Readers' letters: Scotland needs a Recall of MSPs Act

Hate crime law could be Humza Yousaf's poll tax epitaph - Brian Monteith Brian Monteith

Chris Stark, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee

He also warned the oil and gas debate has 'mostly been a complete waste of time'

25 years after devolution, something is rotten in the state of Scottish politics Susan Dalgety

The golden eagle, considered Scotland's national bird, is among the birds of prey which have been victims of illegal persecution – sparking calls for regulation of grouse moor businesses, which have been linked to deaths and ‘suspicious’ disappearances. Picture: Shutterstock

Grouse shooting laws will have ‘seismic’ impact, campaigners claim

Michael Matheson resigned as health secretary, Image: Jane Barlow/Press Association.

SNP told to clarify whether Michael Matheson is off sick from Holyrood

First Minister Humza Yousaf. Picture: John Devlin

'Huge numbers' could be criminalised under new hate crime law, says Douglas Ross

King Charles III during his coronation at Westminster Abbey. Image: Aaron Chown/Press Association.

Scottish Tories in call to commission Holyrood portrait of King Charles

Scottish Parliament staff are to be banned from wearing rainbow lanyards and badges.

Scottish Parliament staff to be banned from wearing rainbow lanyards

Explainer What is the Hate Crime Act, and why is it so controversial?

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Sturgeon could be set for a comeback during the general election

Former health secretary Michael Matheson has been found to have broken two parts of the MSP code of conduct. Image: Jane Barlow/Press Association.

Holyrood's standards committee to meet to discuss Michael Matheson's fate

SNP Net Zero and Energy Secretary Mairi McAllan (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The Scottish Government could water down its legal climate targets

The Scottish Parliament is celebrating 25 years as a devolved legislature this year (Picture: Michael Wolchover/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)

Scottish Parliament's 25th birthday brings some food for thought for the SNP

A night photo of the Grangemouth petrochemical plant. Picture: Getty Images

SNP ministers warned it is now 'impossible' to meet 2030 legal climate target

The Scotsman Top Stories

Scotland has failed to meet its latest target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the latest official figures show. Picture: John Giles/PA Wire

Fail: Scotland misses climate target

Pro-independence protesters with Scottish Saltire flags (top) march for Scottish independence. Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images

Yousaf: Growing popular support for Yes the only way to Scottish independence

Nadine Dorries. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

SNP MP cleared of bullying Nadine Dorries