The Herald Politics Team

Political news and analysis from The Herald’s top team in Holyrood. @andrewlearmonth @kacnutt @_RebeccaMcCurdy @HannahMargBrown

[Rebecca McCurdy @_RebeccaMcCurdy]

EXC: Peter Murrell faces a fresh legal aid row after his counsel revealed he will be able to repay £400k embezzlement from SNP.

Murrell was granted legal aid last year... @heraldscotland👇

https://t.co/sSJ6nZrI6s

[Kathleen Nutt @kacnutt]

Unspun: Did John Swinney put loyalty to Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell above the wider interests of the SNP when he failed to listen to concerns about party finances raised in 2021?

@heraldscotland

https://t.co/gNthToVWtS

[The Herald Politics Team @HeraldPols]

Delighted for our Political Editor @andrewlearmonth for taking home runner up in the Political Journalist of the Year category at the Scottish Press Awards. Amazing achievements all round for team @heraldscotland.

[Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco @joshpizpom]

Absolute class from Team Herald at @ScotPressAwards last night...

5 winners and 6 runners-up, the most of any publication.

@heraldscotland

[Catherine Salmond @SalmondSalmond]

What now for indy? For Labour? Why did the Greens surge? What to expect from Reform? Got some post-election questions? Let us try to answer them.

Subscribe for a year for £20: https://t.co/HlLopifhgk

How big is Swinney's indy problem? @_RebeccaMcCurdy
https://t.co/rgQ9f9R2vr

[Catherine Salmond @SalmondSalmond]

Strong teamwork yesterday at @heraldscotland (as always) across all our platforms, ending with two striking print fronts - our main book and an eight-page broadsheet election special supplement.

[The Herald Politics Team @HeraldPols]

Unspun: Election Briefing, the new newsletter from @heraldscotland, is out now. Every morning at 8am, @andrewlearmonth, @_RebeccaMcCurdy, @kacnutt and @HannahMargBrown will be in your inbox with what you need to know from the campaign trail.
Sign up here 👇https://t.co/YC2AP8HfHz

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

EXC: Reform has suspended its Holyrood candidate in Dundee City West after it emerged he agreed to a seven-year disqualification from acting as a company director over misuse of a taxpayer-backed Covid loan. @heraldscotland https://t.co/KPgwXgccoN

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

Reform candidate banned as a company director over breaching terms of £50,000 Covid loan https://t.co/fZgmINV0fz

[Hannah Brown @HannahMargBrown]

🗳️Holyrood has rejected the assisted dying Bill- but the debate is far from over.

@heraldscotland Unspun: Why lived experience from both sides isn’t a distraction from lawmaking, but essential to understanding how such legislation would work in practice.
https://t.co/GtncUcGSPT

[Rebecca McCurdy @_RebeccaMcCurdy]

Anas Sarwar has been told to apologise to stroke survivors after he made an inappropriate joke at the end of a press conference today.

Chest Heart and Stroke has said it "diminishes" the suffering of survivors and their families. Story @heraldscotland 👇https://t.co/IoDzEeOM3P

[The Herald Politics Team @HeraldPols]

Pan Duncan-Glancy says she is relieved after the assisted dying proposals fell in Holyrood tonight.

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

NEW: Brian Whittle becomes sixth MSP to withdraw support for assisted dying Bill.

On current numbers, it’s now effectively 63–63.

In a tie, the Presiding Officer uses her casting vote and by convention backs the status quo, meaning, if numbers above are right, the Bill falls

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

"It was beautiful. I wish that death for myself. I wish it for anyone who wants it for themselves." Lorna Slater tells MSPs about her father's assisted death in Canada.

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

Daniel Johnson confirms he will vote against the assisted dying Bill tonight.

By my reckoning, if just one more MSP who backed it at Stage 1 switches, and no one moves from no to yes, the Bill is likely to fall.

[Kathleen Nutt @kacnutt]

Lots of interesting insights from Professor Sir John Curtice during his talk today to the annual conference of the @ScotPropFed.

I wrote about his main findings for @heraldscotland Unspun.

https://t.co/TzuX6qn5w3

@heraldscotland

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

Jeremy Balfour tells MSPs that disabled people are "frightened" by the assisted dying Bill. "Colleagues, friends, I am begging you to consider what the consequences of passing this bill will be for the most vulnerable in our communities," he says.

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

George Adam tells MSPs his wife Stacey, who has MS, "was ever facing unbearable suffering at the end of life, she would want a choice.”

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

In the assisted dying debate, Pam Duncan-Glancy tells MSPs that disabled people are already living “without choice”.

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

Maggie Chapman tells MSPs assisted dying is about giving people control, dignity and peace.

[Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth]

During the assisted dying debate, former first minister Humza Yousaf says that a "society that leaves someone with a terminal diagnosis believing that their only options are either to endure intolerable suffering or end their life prematurely, is a society that has failed them".