User:Sky4t0k/DateStamp3

cpas

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister%27s_Office
 * 10 Downing Street
 * Office of the First Minister
 * 
 * Special advisers in the United Kingdom
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:British_special_advisers
 * number10.gov.uk The official site of the Prime Minister's Office
 * UK Independence Party Nigel Farage
 * list
 * Routes: newspaper, think tanks, party machinery (admin, local gov), industry
 * http://network.civilservicelive.com/pg/pages/view/263191/
 * http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/table/2009/jan/08/blair-meetings-june-2005
 * Ruth Turner (political advisor), director of government relations (diary sec and gatekeeper role)

cpas 15

 * Team changes at 10 Downing Street
 * http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/18/cameron-backroom-team-move-cuts
 * Personnel, staff, No 10 team/operation
 * Conservative campaign headquarters in Millbank
 * media, policy and strategy operations

policy cycle management

 * policy research and analysis
 * policy recommendations, proposals
 * policy formulation, detail, design, development, modelling, testing,
 * policy announcement, communication, diplomacy
 * policy implementation progress, monitoring, delivery, enforcement
 * policy effect, implications, consequences
 * http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/series/diary-of-a-civil-servant
 * No 10 greater policy control; long term strategy
 * policy detail vs reform narrative


 * open government / freedom of information

incomes policy who is the best person to do controversial solutions explanations of policy strategic failure - deficit redution program

matthew taylor 2003-2006 - downing street adviser

u-turns - a matter of scale and regularity new proposals attracts new pressure how the government is run?

forestry management nhs reform what the problem is and explain policy problems and solutions

strategic failure manifesto or not mentioned corporate [central] leadership initaiaves, ideas overloaded, too many fronts too much going on connections beef up no 10 underpowered undermanned central unit

strategic ,acute understanding of public opinion issues

cpas 16

 * Category:Government of the United Kingdom


 * "Prime Minister's Office"
 * uk pm office
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Principal_Private_Secretary_to_the_Prime_Minister
 * UK Prime Ministers timeline

The Prime minister’s office

Lies within no. 10 Downing street and is headed by a chief of staff and staffed by a mix of career civil servants and special advisors. It provides the prime minister with support and advice on policy, communications with parliament, government departments and public/media relations

Until 2001 the office had 5 main units:

i.	The private office (relations with parliament and Whitehall)

ii. The press office-The press office has grown in significance as media attention on the PM has intensified. Thatcher’s press officer Bernard Ingham was one of her most important advisors. Alistair Campbell’s influence as Blair’s press officer has been even greater

iii. The policy unit (advice on strategic issues and detailed questions of policy)

iv. The political office (liased with the PM's party and constituency)

v.	The appointments office

Reorganisation of the office (2001)

The PM’s office was reorganised into 3 directories:

i.	Policy and government ·	Took over the functions of the Private office and policy unit ·	Prepares advice for the PM and coordinates development and implementation of policy across departments

ii. Communication and strategy, contains 3 units:

a.	Press office: responsible for relations with the media

b.	Strategic communications unit

c.	Research and information unit: provides factual information to no. 10

iii. Government and political relations: Handles party/public relations

Changes were intended to strengthen the PM’s office. However, Some commentators have suggested that Blair’s reforms have created something similar to a ‘Prime ministers department.’ The reorganisation brought about the fusion of the Prime minister’s office and the cabinet office- a number of units within the cabinet office are directly responsible to the PM

cpas 17

 * Cabinet Office
 * Oliver Letwin - Cabinet Office Minister of State for Government Policy
 * 1983-1986: worked in No. 10 Policy Unit, under PM Margaret Thatcher
 * Chairman of Conservative Research Department; Conservative Party Policy Review Board


 * PM Office - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom


 * Chief of Staff, (Ed Llewellyn)
 * Deputy Chief of Staff (Kate Fall)


 * Political Secretary/Director of Political Operations (Liz Sugg)
 * Senior Adviser to the PM (Steve Hilton) policy unit oversight
 * Director of Political Strategy (Andrew Cooper)
 * Director of Policy Development and Implementation (Paul Kirby [Policy and Implementation Unit]
 * head of implementation (Kris Murrin,].
 * Director of Communications (Craig Oliver)
 * Press Secretary, Gabby Bertin
 * Alan Sendorek, aide to Press Secretary (replaced Henry Macrory- moved to Tory HQ press operation)


 * Prime Minister's Spokesman (Steve Field)
 * Photographer


 * Components
 * [No 10 Policy Unit]
 * http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/1096/strategy-unit-rip/
 * http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/11/cameron-to-close-down-his-strategy-unit/
 * http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2010/06/cchq-needs-a-policy-unit.html
 * Prime Minister's Strategy Unit "Prime Minister's Strategy Unit"
 * No 10 Policy Unit /No 10 Policy Directorate/ "Downing Street Policy Unit"
 * Senior Policy Adviser(s)
 * each department shadowed by a relevant policy expert

James O'Shaughnessy, (Gavin Lockhart, Sean Worth, Tim Colbourne).


 * non-political advisers
 * political SpAds
 * defunct
 * Downing Street delivery unit
 * Prime Minister's Delivery Unit
 * "no 10 delivery unit"; "Prime Minister's Delivery Unit"
 * 

Strategy Unit

 * Political consulting
 * Derek Draper
 * Downing Street Press Office
 * research assistants


 * Geoff Mulgan, Strategic Adviser of Atomium Culture and former Director of Policy and Director of the Prime Minister Strategy Unit of the British Prime Minister Tony Blai
 * Cabinet Office
 * Social Exclusion Task Force
 * Service design
 * Social innovation
 * Geoff Mulgan, Professor Geoff Mulgan, former director of policy at 10 Downing Street and director of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
 * Institute for Government, David Halpern, formerly Chief Analyst in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
 * Culture change, Behavioural change theories, Public value
 * Keep Calm and Carry On
 * Direct Payments, Waste Implementation Programme
 * Wendy Piatt - Dr Wendy Piatt was appointed in January 2007 as Director General. Formerly, she worked as Deputy Director in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and as former head of education at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR)
 * George Hosking
 * Stephen Aldridge, Director of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit under Tony Blair; MSc Economics, 1982


 * Delivery


 * Ian Watmore
 * Office of the Permanent Secretary (Scotland)
 * Cabinet Office
 * Michael Barber, Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit responsible for implementation of priority programmes in health, education, transport, policing, etc. (2001–2005)
 * Professor Michael Blaydon Barber, Prime Minister's Chief Advisor on delivery and Head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit.
 * René Carayol
 * James A. Reed (businessman)

cpas 18

 * No 10 to build engine for long haul

PM and his deputy are creating a team for joint policy development; tactical adjustments, not a strategy change

10 Downing Street; 15-strong Policy Unit;  engine for ideas; “strong but tight” unit at the heart of government

No 10: better/stronger [centralised] control over public sector reform plans; unit will hold ministers to account for delivering their reforms, contained in departmental business plans

A strengthened policy unit and a new strategy director will take a more hands-on role in vetting policy proposals, so potential mistakes and political slip-ups can be spotted early.

political advisers and “the brightest and best” civil servants; five political appointees and 10 high-flying civil servants

coalition agreement; 2010-12; 2012-15

scrapped the Strategy Unit – a Tony Blair creation charged with longer-term thinking –

want instead to have a large strong policy unit, modelled on the vaunted organisation that worked in Number 10 for Margaret Thatcher in the mid-1980s; “All governments need that kind of in-flight refuelling so they don’t run out of steam in mid-term,” said David Willetts, universities minister and veteran of the Thatcher policy unit. answering to a board led by Oliver Letwin, the Tory cabinet office minister, and Danny Alexander, Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary; New civil service recruits and outside experts are being sought, in a move designed to bolster the capacity of the offices of both Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg

Senior civil servants have given private warnings that Mr Cameron’s willingness to empower ministers to draw up radical reforms – and to deliver them quickly – could see a policy pile-up.Mr Letwin has already been charged with scrutinising health department plans for a shift of power and accountability in the NHS, amid concern at the Treasury and Number 10 over implementation.

list
Social market foundation: Daniel Finkelstein, Rick Nye and Andrew Cooper
 * Daniel Finkelstein
 * Drug policy / Prohibition of drugs


 * "Downing Street Policy Unit"
 * "Prime Minister's Policy Unit" "Prime Minister's Policy Unit"
 * "10 Policy Unit"


 * "policy unit" "prime minister"
 * British Prime Minister's Office
 * Prime Minister's Office
 * UK Prime Minister's Office
 * Executive Office of the President of the United States
 * Office of the Prime Minister
 * Office of Prime Minister
 * Office of the Prime Minister (United Kingdom)
 * Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
 * Prime Minister's Office of the United Kingdom
 * Prime Minister's Office (United Kingdom)


 * 


 * Dan Corry
 * Ros Altmann


 * Ted Wragg
 * Tim Collins (politician)


 * John Redwood MP – Director, Number 10 Policy Unit, 1983-85
 * Tory! Tory! Tory!; Yes Minister
 * Central Policy Review Staff
 * Liz Lloyd
 * John McTernan
 * David Miliband
 * Matthew Taylor (Labour politician)
 * Carolyn Fairbairn
 * Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis
 * Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
 * Institute for Public Policy Research
 * Jonathan Hill, Baron Hill of Oareford
 * Patrick Diamond


 * John Vereker (governor)
 * Robin Harris (author) Director Conservative Research Department 1985–88, member Prime Minister's Policy Unit 1989–90
 * Ferdinand Mount
 * Forsyth, Justin: Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, Downing Street Policy Unit, United Kingdom
 * Ted Wragg
 * Tim Collins (politician)
 * A-List (Conservative)
 * Sarah Hogg, Viscountess Hailsham
 * Committee for a Free Britain
 * Michael Hastings, Baron Hastings of Scarisbrick


 * politicisation of civil service apparatus
 * uk parliament paper on uk central government machinery
 * ruth turner, still blair's top lieutenant
 * cameron, blair, continuation


 * Gavyn Davies
 * David Willetts
 * Damian Green
 * Samantha Cameron
 * Brian Griffiths, Baron Griffiths of Fforestfach


 * 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours
 * [[Norman Blackwell, former Head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit , 1995-7 (created Lord Blackwell of Woodcote)
 * Norman Blackwell, Baron Blackwell
 * John Hoskyns, Hoskyns Baronets
 * Richard Smethurst


 * Robert Chote


 * Nicholas True, Baron True

59g

 * Stanley A. McChrystal/Operations (military staff)
 * Julia Goldsworthy
 * Bruce Anderson2006 20072008;2010 2010
 * http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/bruce-anderson/
 * 
 * 


 * http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tag/andrew-cooper/
 * http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tag/steve-hilton/
 * http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tag/david-cameron/

59ga

 * The Centre of Government-No. 10, the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury
 * http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/rp2005/rp05-092.pdf
 * http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldselect/ldconst/30/3011.htm
 * john mcternan "director of political operations" "policy adviser"

60g

 * "Angus Robertson" "cabinet office"

Wrestling with independence It was Labour’s worst defeat in Scotland for 50 years, but Gordon Brown’s problems are just starting, writes Tom Gordon

When Alex Salmond woke yesterday morning, he would have been forgiven for pinching himself. After a political career spanning 20 years in continued opposition, he had just led the Scottish National party to an epoch-breaking victory, undoing 50 years of Labour-dominated history. For much of the past week there was a mounting sense that the SNP, the perennial bridesmaids of Scottish politics, were heading for yet another quintessentially Scottish defeat.

Such was the regularity with which Salmond had promised much, only for it to end in glorious failure, he was in danger of being compared with Ally McLeod, the Scotland football manager famed for his ludicrously hyperbolic talk prior to the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina. “We’re on the march with Alec’s army,” could have been the party’s theme tune.

Yet this weekend he is preparing for government as the prospective head of an administration that, within four years, could lead Scotland to independence. Others may have something to say about that, not least the electorate – 75% of whom, according to polls, don’t want separatism – but who would have predicted such an outcome even this time last year? Throughout Friday, the trickle of SNP gains and Labour losses continued fitfully amid the chaos of suspended counts. Anger and despondency within the SNP camp slowly gave way to a growing belief that the party might match Labour after all.

Towards the end of the afternoon, strong showings on the regional lists together with surprise gains in constituencies such as Edinburgh East and Argyll and Bute put the SNP on level pegging with Labour on 42 seats each. Related Links

* SNP offers separatism deal

* SNP deserves the chance to rule but not to destroy the Union

* It’s up to the English to save the Union

By 5pm, after Salmond had made his presidential address, there were only two regional lists to declare and 14 seats unallocated. The first round, in Lothians, put the SNP out in front for the first time, with 45 to Labour’s 43.

Then, in a scene almost choreographed for tension, Highland and Islands declared four seats for Labour and none for the SNP. It was suddenly all over. But after the SNP demanded a recount, the tally changed. By the time the returning officer had allocated six of the seven seats remaining, the SNP and Labour were tied nationally on 46 each.

The allocation of the final seat in Scotland went to one Dave Thompson, ensuring his place in history as the SNP candidate who tipped the balance 47-46 and gave the nationalists their first shot at power.

Salmond was given the news at the Prestonfield hotel in Edinburgh, shortly after delivering his presidential address on its manicured lawn. Angus Robertson, the SNP’s campaign manager, hugged his leader and told him: “We’ve won.”

Salmond’s delight was echoed by an explosion of ecstatic cheering from a throng of his party’s senior staff. After hugging his wife, Moira, Salmond gathered his team, many of them tearful, and thanked them for helping to change history.

The foundations for this victory had been laid two years previously. The party had a disastrous showing in the 2003 election when, under John Swinney’s anaemic leadership, its share of seats fell from 35 to 27. It was followed a year later by an equally poor showing in the European elections, precipitating Swinney’s departure. Salmond took the chance to return as leader, offering to lead his lost tribe to the promised land once more.

The following year, in June 2005, a group of senior party figures and supporters gathered for a summit at the Craigella-chie Hotel in Speyside. The secluded hotel has a reputation for tranquillity as well as discretion, attracting the likes of Annie Lennox and Ewan McGregor as guests. It was here that a plan was hatched to unseat Labour and propel the SNP into office.

In charge was Angus Robertson, a former journalist and communications consultant who had worked for the Austrian Social Democrats and the UK Cabinet Office before being elected MP for Moray in 2001. The invitation list he drew up included the best of the party’s “next generation”, the twenty- and thirtysomethings who would prove key to the SNP victory last Thursday.

They included Kevin Pringle, Salmond’s most trusted adviser, party secretary Alasdair Allan, policy wonk Stephen Noon, head of communications John Fellows and the newly elected MP for the Western Isles, Angus MacNeil, who went on to initiate the cash-for-honours inquiry that fundamentally tarnished the Labour brand. There were also SNP supporters from the worlds of business, public affairs and academia. Significantly, Salmond and his deputy Nicola Sturgeon were left out of the mix to encourage uninhibited discussion.

The starting point for the weekend, which was called simply Conference 2007, was that the status quo was unsustainable. There was a conviction that unless the party started talking to the public instead of talking to itself in elections, it would never win power. Notes from the meeting reveal those present rated the SNP’s past performance as “mediocre” and felt “people want more than just protest”. It was about thinking “outside of the box”, said one of the conference’s participants.

“It was a step-change in our approach. It was about the big play, about power. People knew we had to stop accepting campaigns that were destined to fail and get serious about winning. It was the weekend the penny dropped.”

Delegates drew attention to several items that they felt had contributed to the party’s consistent failure, including lack of confidence and self-belief. However, the most important factors were lack of money and poor communications.

Priorities were divided into five main areas – communications, governance, message, organisation, and resource. Each one was assigned to a team of senior staff and politicians, then broken down into key milestones that had to be met. The most important words on the board appeared under governance: “To be ready for government before May 3, 2007 and to be in government thereafter.”

In comparison to previous years, the changes were a revelation. In 1999 and 2003, the campaigning had literally been based on a wall of Postit notes. This time around training manuals were distributed, instructing candidates how to establish a rapport with voters by mirroring their posture, body language and speech patterns. They were instructed to “fix the voter in the eye”, adding, “It is manipulative. It works! It must be done sincerely.”

For most of 2006 the perseverance of Team Salmond appeared to be paying off, assisted in no small measure by the intransigence of their main opponent. Scottish Labour was largely invisible for much of last year, trundling along in the expectation that the nationalist threat would collapse in line with previous campaigns. Jack McConnell alienated many of his own MSPs by cutting them out of his decision-making, preferring the advice of two special advisers, Douglas Campbell and Rachel McEwan.

Labour was the only party at Holyrood not to have a press officer based at the parliament. The SNP, meanwhile, crammed the airwaves and press with its campaign messages, the overarching one being that it was now a party fit to govern.

One of the first signs that the strategy was paying off for the nationalists came in September, when a Sunday Times/ YouGov poll showed 44% of Scots in favour of independence against 42% who wanted continued rule by Westminster. Support for the SNP was also up, with the party now neck and neck with Labour.

A month later, Sir Tom Farmer, the Kwik-Fit millionaire, bumped up the SNP profile with a £100,000 donation. Although he stopped short of actually endorsing the nationalists – in theory the money was given to stimulate national debate – the message was clear: serious money meant a serious party and a business-friendly one to boot.

While his staff relentlessly worked the media about the new face of the SNP, Salmond began a personal makeover, learning to bite his tongue instead of his opponents. Out went the laddish aggression, the bombast, the folksy aphorisms and the gleeful, almost sadistic, mockery that had earned him his “smart Alec” reputation. Instead, in came a more polite, more restrained vocabulary and demean-our as he trained for the role of statesman.

Belatedly realising that it had been-wrong to bank on an SNP implosion, Labour’s response was to resort to scare tactics. At its conference in Oban, in November last year, home secretary John Reid delivered his infamous warning that an independent Scotland would encourage Al-Qaeda terrorists. It was as loopy as it was ineffectual, provoking scorn rather than support for his party. Nonetheless, Labour persevered with its strategy into the new year, mounting an election campaign that contained more warnings of apocalypse than the Bible but it was consistently outflanked by a fleeter, more nimble, and ultimately more professional opponent.

The SNP’s spring conference in mid-March Glasgow was pivotal. Tony Blair tried to puncture its optimistic mood with a lecture about the dangers of separation on the opening day. But he was wrong-footed by a letter published that morning from Sir George Mathewson, who was the former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, endorsing Salmond for first minister. Blind-sided, Blair stumbled and called Sir George, one of the UK’s most respected businessmen, “self-indulgent and absurd”.

The prime minister’s gaffe was followed the next day by the SNP unveiling a record £500,000 donation from Brian Souter, the founder of Stagecoach. For Labour, the weekend was a disaster – for the SNP a triumph of forward planning.

On polling day Labour enjoyed the partisan support of Scotland’s tabloid press, which, without exception, cautioned voters to avoid backing the nationalists. On its front page The Sun carried a picture of a hangman’s noose along with the warning: “Vote SNP today and you put Scotland’s head in the noose”. From that high point, however, hopes of a recovery began to fade, especially when turnout, the key to Labour victory in Scotland, appeared patchy.

By the time the polls closed at 10pm many activists were just glad that the day was over. Despite being one of Labour’s safest seats, McConnell’s majority in Motherwell and Wishaw crashed from more than 9,000 to fewer than 6,000 with a swing of 6.9% to the SNP.

As though anticipating a loss at a national level, McConnell asserted lukewarmly that Labour had “won the debate” but that it remained to be seen if it had won votes in constituencies. Holding a handful of key marginals, Labour made a decent enough start, but losses soon began tumbling in. Salmond, meanwhile, was greeted like a conquering hero as he swept into the counting hall at 3am and ousted Lib Dem Nora Radcliffe from office.

The SNP made breakthroughs with an unexpected win from Labour in Stirling, 20th on the SNP’s list of targets and the area where McConnell started his political career, and a gain in Kilmarnock that sparked a dance for joy from Geoff Aberdein, a Salmond aide. “We’re in with a chance now.”

As the dawn rose on a new political era, Elaine C Smith, the actor and comedian, couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. “The political map of Scotland has changed. The dominance of 50 years by Labour has gone. I don’t think you can overturn 300 years of history just like that, but I feel that independence is so close now. If you had suggested that could be the case 10 years ago, you would have been laughed at.” THE main loser was not in Scotland for the result. While the SNP held a celebratory party at the top of the Royal Mile on Friday, Gordon Brown, set to become prime minister once Blair resigns and moves on to the lucrative lecture circuit, was mulling over a recent conversation with Sir Menzies Campbell, the UK leader of the Lib Dems.

If Campbell, a fellow Fife MP, can put pressure on the Scottish Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen to work for a third term with Labour, then the SNP could yet be shut out of government despite being the largest party. It would not be a decision for the Lib Dems to take lightly: if they were seen to snub the winner and side with the loser, it might cause a voter backlash at the general election. However, such is the importance of Scotland to Brown, the chancellor will be desperate to float any means of escape from the prospect of a Salmond-led government in Edinburgh. The reasons for Brown’s anxiety are manifest. The motor that drives Salmond’s party is separatism. Brown will expect him to start skirmishes in order to convince the electorate that Westminster is failing Scotland and independence is the only way to a better future. Likely flashpoints are the annual £8 billion£10 billion of North Sea oil and gas revenues, Treasury help with a new local income tax, and demands for more money for BBC Scotland. Salmond has also said he plans to create a “Trident tax”, tolling the road to the Faslane naval base on the Clyde with a unique charge for trucks conveying nuclear warheads. The charge? Around £1m per trip. “The priority will be to win the referendum in 2010,” said one nationalist insider. “That will be uppermost in his mind from day one, alongside delivering on the key promises: local income tax and economic growth. So the emphasis will be on delivery because without delivery people will not build up support and trust in an SNP-led government. “As for making demands on the oil money, I think first of all he will get the infrastructure in place, resurrecting the liaison meetings between Westminster and Holyrood that haven’t met for years. It will be more subtle than people expect.”

Another SNP MSP added: “We have to prove capable of governing so that people are encouraged to vote in the referendum.”

If Brown engages in the fight, he risks squandering the honeymoon of his first 100 days by appearing obsessed with local difficulties at the expense of middle England. If, however, he tries to stand aloof, he risks allowing Salmond’s tacticsa chance of success. The best way to deal with the situation from Brown’s point of view is therefore to keep Salmond out of power altogether. Even if his meddling produces a backlash, without an SNP government, there will be no Salmond- inspired referendum to lose.

When, on Thursday, Sal mond had finished his helicopter visit to his would-be White House, the mundane reality of the event quickly became apparent, as workmen swathed the presidential lectern in bubblewrap and bundled it into the back of a transit van. It was a reminder that much of the Salmond aura and political standing relies on his wit and mastery of showmanship. Now he is pitted against Brown for control of Scotland, we will see if he has anything more substantial to offer.

The road to power

1934: SNP formed

1968: Edward Heath makes Declaration of Perth and sets up the Douglas-Home committee to address demands for home rule.

1970: Douglas-Home committee reports recommending an elected Scottish assembly.

1973: Margo Macdonald wins Govan by-election for the SNP with 41.9% of the vote against backdrop of the nationalists’ “Its Scotland’s Oil” campaign.

1974: In the February UK general election, SNP wins 21.9% of the vote in Scotland and seven seats. Devolution with the UK white paper published. Labour’s Scottish executive rejects devolution decision.

1979: Devolution referendum defeated by 40% rule. Conservatives led by Margaret Thatcher come to power.

1983: Conservatives returned to power.

1987: Conservatives win again but with only 24% of the vote in Scotland.

1988: Jim Sillars of the SNP wins Govan by-election with 48.8% of the vote and a 33% swing from Labour.

1997: Labour led by Tony Blair come to power in UK general election. Tories wiped out in Scotland. SNP’s share of the vote is 22.1%. September referendum on a Scottish parliament wins overwhelming public support.

1999: Scottish parliament election. The Scottish parliament elects Donald Dewar as first minister.

October 2000: Donald Dewar dies of a brain haemorrhage. Henry McLeish is elected to succeed him as first minister.

November 2001: Jack McConnell is elected first minister by the Scottish parliament following the resignation of Henry McLeish.

The case for fiscal autonomy

THE great Scottish victories are always Bannockburns, won by the skin of the teeth. For 1314, read 2007.

If fortune is niggardly to Scotland, that means the opportunities have to be exploited with subtlety rather than bravado. The two qualities vie in the breast of Alex Salmond.

The SNP’s greatest test now lies in the prospect that a referendum on independence can only be held, as he wants, within three years. Leaving aside the trickiest question of all – whether he can win it given the cautious mood of the electorate – there is the small matter of whether it can even be legislated in a parliament where open support for it runs at best to 50 MSPs out of 129.

Luckily his Lib Dem partners (if that is what they are to be) have given up a hostage to fortune in their proposal for a fresh constitutional convention. In Scotland this has sound historical precedents, and it was what legitimised demand for devolution in the early 1990s. But the Lib Dems are unlikely to allow a referendum on the convention’s agenda either, at least not at the outset.

What business can a convention have, then? The obvious answer is fiscal autonomy for Scotland, with a government in Edinburgh raising its own taxes and making a fair contribution to the common expenditures of the United Kingdom.

This is more or less Lib Dem policy anyway. It is even supported by a good number of Tories. From the SNP’s point of view it takes a big step towards independence, if without actually getting there, leaving only foreign policy and social security in London’s hands.

More to the point, the policy would cover the deepest chink in the nationalists’ armour in the new parliament. On the question of independence, all the other parties line up against the SNP. On the question of fiscal autonomy, the other parties could line up against Labour (which, out of the mouth of Gordon Brown himself, has expressly rejected it) to support it.

If a constitutional convention can agree on the terms of fiscal autonomy, then the argument for ratifying it by referendum becomes strong – in the same way that the last convention’s scheme of devolution was ratified by the referendum of 1997.

It would be a fine example of democracy Scottish-style, the way we do things in a nation renewing itself. And if the Lib Dems still needed convincing, make it a referendum with multiple options. I would expect the vote in favour of standing still or of going backwards to amount at most to 20%, while 80% would plump for fiscal autonomy either for itself or in anticipation of independence.

Another and more basic requirement to win such a referendum is trust among voters that Scotland can run its own economy. I voted SNP on Thursday, but I remain dubious in the extreme about the party’s loud demands for big spending: this is not what has brought success to other small countries from Ireland to Estonia.

An alternative name for fiscal autonomy, among those who discuss these matters, is fiscal responsibility. I want to see the new government of Scotland, in the four years ahead, proving it can show that, too.

Michael Fry

national

 * timetable
 * fossil fuel levy
 * fuel price regulator
 * federalism
 * devolution of powers


 * Scottish Grand Committee
 * Scottish Affairs Select Committee
 * Scottish Questions


 * fiscal autonomy

Scottish Home Rule
In a similar fashion to Ireland, supporters of Home Rule in Scotland have historically desired greater levels of devolved governance within the United Kingdom. Although the term Home Rule has been largely superseded by 'devolution', the Home Rule movement can be seen as the forerunner to the creation of the current devolved Scottish Parliament.

Administrative devolution was granted to Scotland, with the creation of the Scottish Office, in the late 19th century. In the mid-20th century, the Home Rule movement became significant, campaigning for a Scottish Assembly. Between 1947 and 1950, the Scottish Covenant, a petition requesting a Scottish legislature within the UK, received over two million signatures. It was not until 1979 that devolution entered the political sphere - the Scottish devolution referendum, 1979 was held, failing to meet the required threshold. In 1999, due to the success of a second referendum, the Scottish Parliament was created.

was for many years a leading proponent of Scottish devolution; he saw his desire become reality and in the process became first minister of Scotland’s first Parliament in almost 300 years. A witty, brilliant man known for his exceptional debating skill, Dewar garnered respect from his Labour Party peers, as well as from the opposition, owing to his devotion to civil service and 26 years of service as a member of the U.K. Parliament. His standing, his geniality, and his characteristic moderation made him the ideal ...

Scotland
Scots law, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles, applies in Scotland. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law, with leave to appeal from the Court of Session not required as a general rule.

Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known as sheriff solemn court, or with a sheriff and no jury, known as (sheriff summary Court. The sheriff courts provide a local court service with 49 sheriff courts organised across six sheriffdoms. The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal with no possibility of retrial.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice is the member of the Scottish Government responsible for the police, the courts and criminal justice, and the Scottish Prison Service, which manages the prisons in Scotland. Though the level of recorded crime in 2007/08 has fallen to the lowest for 25 years, the prison population, at over 8,000, is hitting record levels and is well above design capacity.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Conservative_Party_%28UK%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stewart_Parnell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_committee Calman Commission recommendations to increase tax-varying powers

Dungavel Scottish block grant Scottish Police

criminal justice scotland

police in scotland police in the uk scotland police federation http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Site-Map

Wheatley Report Police Forces in Scotland Scottish Police Service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Law_enforcement_in_Scotland

medicaid, medicare, agric, mil, social security, law enforcement, ref

is the leading party in Scotland that campaigns for the independence of Scotland from the United Kingdom

The Scottish National Party is a political party in Scotland which campaigns for an independent Scotland and has a number of seats in Parliament.

the party has had varied success in attracting local and national support for its programme of a separate, culturally distinctive and economically independent Scotland

May 2007 - The Scottish National Party becomes the largest parliamentary force, ending 50 years of political dominance in Scotland by Britain's ruling Labour Party.

August 2007 - The SNP sets out plans for a referendum on independence from England.

Nationalist party that supports the separation of Scotland from the UK as an independent state within the European Union. It was formed by the combining of several early nationalist parties in 1934 and at first advocated only autonomy (self-government) within the UK. It gained its first parliamentary victory in 1945 but did not make serious headway in Parliament until the 1970s when it became an influential bloc at Westminster, and its support was crucial to James Callaghan's Labour government. The SNP won 6 of Scotland's 72 seats and over one-fifth of the Scottish vote in the 1997 general election, and 35 of 129 seats in the 1999 election to the new Scottish Parliament, in which it forms the main opposition. It is now second only to the Labour Party in Scotland. Its share of the vote fell only slightly in the 2001 general election, when it won five seats.

The Independence of Scotland: Self-government and the Shifting Politics of Union After three hundred years, the Anglo-Scottish Union is in serious difficulty. This is not because of a profound cultural divide between England and Scotland but because recent decades have seen the rebuilding of Scotland as a political community while the ideology and practices of the old unionism have atrophied. Yet while Britishness is in decline, it has not been replaced by a dominant ideology of Scottish independence. Rather Scots are looking to renegotiate union to find a new place in the Isles, in Europe, and in the world. There are few legal, constitutional or political obstacles to Scottish independence, but an independent Scotland would need to forge a new social and economic project as a small nation in the global market-place, and there has been little serious thinking about the implications of this. Short of independence, there is a range of constitutional options for renegotiating the Union to allow more Scottish self-government on the lines that public opinion seems to favour. The limits are posed not by constitutional principles but by the unwillingness of English opinion to abandon their unitary conception of the state. The end of the United Kingdom may be provoked, not by Scottish nationalism, but by English unionism.