The Snippet: 7th March 2025
Buffer zone protests begin, Rosebank firm investigated over Israel links, more Reform defections...
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Snippet, your weekly round-up of the top Scottish politics stories written especially for young people.
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🏥 Buffer zone protests begin
Pro-life group 40 Days for Life began a series of vigils outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on Wednesday. The group has said they won’t breach the buffer zone, which came into effect last year and bans protests from taking place within 200m of a clinic where abortions are offered (via STV News)
El Johnstone, a woman who lives nearby the buffer zone and who could see the protest from outside her bedroom window, made headlines after she approached the protesters. See a video of the interaction below 👇
Ahead of the vigil, Greens MSP Gillian Mackay - who spearheaded the legislation in Holyrood - said the buffer zones could be extended if protests “cause issues” (Steph Brawn, The National)
👀 Scotland reacts to Trump
In case you missed it, a heated argument took place in the White House last Friday between Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy - just one day after Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in the same room, inviting Trump (on behalf of the King) to a second state visit to the UK.
The PM is now facing calls for the invitation to be revoked - particularly from Scottish voices, as Trump is set to meet the King in Scotland before the official state visit.
There’s a lot to get through this week on this, so here’s a handy breakdown…
First Minister John Swinney said a second state visit for Trump would be “unthinkable” if he doesn’t change his stance towards Ukraine. Speaking in Holyrood on Tuesday, he said Scotland will “forever stand with Ukraine” (Alistair Grant, The Scotsman)
Starmer dismissed the calls, saying he wasn’t “going to be diverted by the SNP or others trying to ramp up the rhetoric” (Mary McCool, BBC Scotland News)
The Prime Minister also said the SNP needs to drop its opposition to nuclear weapons, as he said: “If ever there was a time to reaffirm support for the nuclear deterrent, it is now” (Daniel Sanderson, The Times)
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn echoed Swinney’s calls, writing on Twitter/X that Starmer needed to “get back up off his knees” and revoke the offer of a state visit, leading the Prime Minister to tell the Commons he wouldn’t be deterred by “keyboard warriors”. Watch a video of the exchange HERE via BBC News
Flynn was met with criticism from opposition parties as a result - Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the situation required “serious grown-up leadership, not Twitter diplomacy”, while Scottish Conservatives leader Russell Findlay said “grandstanding comments, such as those from some senior SNP politicians, are self-indulgent and counter-productive” (Hamish Morrison, The National)
Meanwhile, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said “bully boy alpha male” leaders like Donald Trump are “upending” the world. She was speaking at an event on leadership in Edinburgh on Tuesday (Rachel Amery, The Scotsman)
A new poll has found that 71% of Scots have an unfavourable view of Trump, compared to 18% with a favourable view (PA, via STV News)
An interesting side note: The Ipsos Scotland survey also found support for Trump was higher among young people. 27% of those aged between 16 and 34 held a favourable view, compared to 18% for those aged between 35 and 54 and 11% for those aged older than 55. Interesting…
🛢️ Rosebank firm linked with Israel
One of the fossil fuel giants behind the controversial Rosebank development is being investigated over human rights concerns in Palestine
Norwegian state-owned Equinor is being probed by the Norwegian Consumer Authority over its relationship with Ithaca Energy, the two companies behind the Rosebank proposals
Ithaca is majority-owned by the Delek Group, an Israeli fuel company that operates in the occupied West Bank and has been flagged by the United Nations for human rights concerns
🗳️ More Holyrood 2026 announcements
Another week, another flurry of MSPs announcing they’re stepping down at the next election…
Finance Secretary Shona Robison announced that she would be standing down at the next election, saying “now is the right time for me to take on some new challenges and contribute to public life in a different way” (Alasdair Clark, The Courier)
Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop has announced she will be retiring. She said the decision was “entirely personal” and “for positive reasons” (Jody Harrison, The Herald)
Former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard is also stepping down, saying that he would continue to campaign for a "more democratic, more equal, socialist society" (Ian Bunting, Daily Record)
🗣️ FMQs
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie pressed Swinney on why promised legislation for ending gas home heating has not been advanced. The First Minister said progress would be made as quickly as possible (via Scottish Greens)
Meanwhile, Swinney rejected the Scottish Conservatives’ proposal that the school leaving age should be lowered to 14 (Rebecca McCurdy, The Herald)
Earlier this week, the proposal was dismissed by the Scottish Government as “Dickensian” (Lucy Jackson, The National)
The plumbing trade body also said the policy was “reckless, unworkable and deeply irresponsible” (Calum Ross, The Scotsman)
Scottish Labour led on NHS waiting lists as Anas Sarwar argued that the health service is “no longer free at the point of need” (via BBC)
🤔 More defections to Reform
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice was in Glasgow on Thursday, where he announced two more defections to the party - but he was unable to name them (David Bol, The Scotsman)
Click HERE to see a video of the exchange with journalist Tom Gordon
Renfrewshire councillor John Gray and South Lanarkshire councillor Ross Lambie have defected to the party
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, he said John Swinney and Anas Sarwar were “terrified” by the rise of Reform in Scotland
⚽ Football booze ban could be lifted
Police Scotland has told the SPFL they are “open to discussions” on lifting a ban on the sale of alcohol at football games (Andrew Learmonth, The Herald)
John Swinney has said he was not “sympathetic” to the plans, saying: “I think we’ve got a set of arrangements in place just now that work, that are appropriate, that are necessary, and I think we should stick with them” (Kieran Fleming, STV News)
That’s all for this week - thanks for reading the seventh edition of The Snippet! Don’t forget to subscribe to get a weekly-round up sent straight to your inbox every Friday.
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