Stuart Stevenson

Policy Researcher for Scottish Labour
Views my own

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

@Dan_Dawson65 @Daily_Record Totally agree.

https://t.co/psKTgD6paG

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

https://t.co/OOZLjeC7kY

[Paul Hutcheon @paulhutcheon]

🚨 EXC: The Standards Commission is refusing to reveal their legal costs after a court defeat to Glasgow councillor Fiona Higgins in a free speech case.

They claimed they would be exposed to “public comment” if they confirmed the taxpayer-funded bill.

https://t.co/BLvOFfRQxM

[Jackie Baillie @jackiebmsp]

Such luxury in a cost-of-living crisis is not the lived experience of most Scots.

Perhaps the FM should have considered the expectations of taxpayers before spending our money.

It's not the first time the SNP have been cavalier with the company card.

https://t.co/Kpu2jvssXj

[Scottish Labour @ScottishLabour]

100 days on from the election, how is the SNP's record looking? 👇

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

@MonicaLennon7 took the time to campaign in Hamilton (in torrential rain) because she was giving her own campaign a half day off but still wanted to help her home CLP.

I can't speak for the HLS CLP but I believe their trust has been earned.

https://t.co/3YH9EqcC4e

[Monica Lennon @MonicaLennon7]

Thank you Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse CLP for believing in me.

The endorsement of my own CLP means the world to me.

If elected leader, I will work tirelessly to ensure @ScottishLabour makes all members proud and earns the trust of our communities.

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

But parliamentary staff are not elected, and in my experience do not carry enough sway in any office for it to matter.

MPs should be acting in the interest of their constituents. That includes hiring professional people who can also act in the interest of their constituents.

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

This feels very out of step with most people's concerns. It has been barely 10 years since two MPs were murdered. Parliamentary staff bare the brunt of abuse levelled at MPs but don't receive any kind of compensation for that.

https://t.co/5lHjYiG45R

[Gabriel Pogrund @Gabriel_Pogrund]

A glorious day for opponents of transparency in public life.

MPs have removed the names of their parliamentary staff from a decades-old public register - meaning we do not know who these people are and are left to accept the word of their employer when they say (as in the case of the prime minister, here) that said staff do not have any outside earnings or private interests.

"All staff have confirmed they have no registrable interests": oh, well that's that then.

No way of determining if true; no way of finding out if MPs employing family members; no way for anyone other than MPs themselves to uphold standards or examine who is operating in the Palace of Westminster on their behalf.

The decision was driven by ... you guessed it ... MPs themselves, following behind-closed-door consultations with staff trade union representatives - not media or anti-corruption organisations.

Echoes of the time that decided among themselves - with nil meaningful debate - to exempt themselves from the centuries-old system by which those arrested would be named before the Commons.

Parliament being sovereign it is always free to take such steps without consultation or engagement with the public - the hope is they decide not to abuse their positions and proactively seek criticism or counter-views.

In this instance, sadly, MPs have demonstrated they cannot be trusted to do so - they have put us out of step with comparable democracies without anything approaching scrutiny:

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

It's correct that MPs should need to make declarations. And I would agree that close family members employed by parliamentarians should be declared (even where it is a different parliamentarian or party). This is the case in the Scottish parliament.

[Hamilton Academical FC @theacciesfc]

Welcome home 🏠

Thanks to our partnership with the Accies Supporters Association, a billboard in the town centre proudly displays that Hamilton Accies are back in the heart of the town

For a chance to win 4 hospitality tickets, snap a pic of our billboard and use #AcciesAreHome

[Jackie Baillie @jackiebmsp]

Neil Gray and the SNP lied to voters about Monklands Hospital.

Shame on all of them.

Neil Gray needs to resign.

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

There are many things not to like about the ubiquity of driving (environmental, financial, inequality, ableism, etc.) but we should start by not excusing the hundred plus deaths per month as an acceptable sacrifice. And that begins with the language that we use.

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

@BBCNews I really struggle to see why Mr. Purja was "killed" by an avalanche but the scores of people struck down by cars each year always seem to have "died".

It is whitewashing of a very real danger that no-one talks about and the BBC should do better.

https://t.co/QUMrfrWH8g

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

There were 1,633 deaths in most recent data showing no sign of a decline. That is more than three times as many people murdered.

https://t.co/kBROfrIhAs

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

Everyone wants a government that is tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime. Gauke's party forgot to do the latter and so now he wants Burnham to forget the former.

There is a reason that early release is unpopular.

https://t.co/69YSgdAKhS

[David Gauke @DavidGauke]

A few thoughts on the suspension of the early release scheme. First, the politics of releasing prisoners earlier than previously expected is very difficult. Victims & their families, for whom everyone is sympathetic, will be upset & angry. 1/

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

Farage only got 46% at the 2024 election. It is reasonable that if it was a straight race then @CountBinface could come out on top just by being the only alternative.

https://t.co/6Et01OMjfF

[emily m @maitlis]

Greens confirm they WONT stand a party candidate in Clacton. So far the by election has two candidates. @Nigel_Farage and @CountBinface

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

Lineker-esque from De Ketelaere

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

A tough one of course because the foul is debateable but suspending the punishment to when it won't really matter means FIFA acknowledge foul play but also say that the US won't have to pay the price for it. The worst of both worlds.

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

It's like the next evolution of post-truthism. Openly taking credit for corruption.

https://t.co/6YwzEAulh5

[Stuart Stevenson @SStevensonLab]

Corrupt up to his eyes behind the scenes making half a billion in crypto scams + market manipulation but also corrupt for the people of the US so they can unfairly muscle their way through fair play and due process.