By Liz S
When Elaine Stewart awakes from her stupor perhaps she can digest this below and then ask the Chancellor “What’s Scotland getting and when” ?
Labour UK government future plans and projects and more importantly the locations of these future government plans/projects.
Heathrow expansion – location London.
Also they have backed the expansion of City Airport and Stansted Airport – location around London.
Expand Luton Airport and build an emergency runway at Gatwick Airport will be delivered soon – location London.
Reopen the Doncaster Sheffield Airport, aiming to turn it into a thriving regional hub – location is regional hub in England.
A new partnership between Prologis and Manchester Airport Group will build a new advanced manufacturing and logistics park, resulting in £1bn of investment and 2,000 jobs – location in England.
Build “Europe’s Silicon Valley” between Oxford and Cambridge, with policies aimed at boosting the region’s growth – location in England.
Funding has been confirmed for transport projects, including new services on an East-West Rail line beginning this year – location in England.
Upgrade on the A428 between Milton Keynes and Cambridge -location in England.
Approvals for new towns are expected soon as the government has already received proposals along the rail with 18 submissions for sizeable new developments – last year in September Angela Rayner , the Labour Housing minister, suggested this would be in places near Oxford, Bristol and York – so locations in England.
A new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital will also be prioritised – location England.
The government has approved £7.9bn in investment for water companies to build nine new reservoirs to include one that serves Cambridge, two in Somerset, Hampshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and West Midlands- locations all in England.
Redevelopment of Old Trafford where the Old Trafford scheme is expected to use public money to move three rail freight terminals blocking the redevelopment and the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has promised the scheme will build 5,000 homes and create a second “major football campus” in the city – location in England.
£28m will be invested in Cornish Metals, which provide the raw material for solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles – location in England.
Last year the Labour government pledged nearly £22bn for projects to capture and store carbon emissions from energy, industry and hydrogen production which would create thousands of jobs – location Merseyside and Teesside in England.
Also the same Labour government made a decision last year in August to shelve £800m for the creation of an Exascale supercomputer at Edinburgh University and a further £500m for AI Research Resource, which funds computing power for AI – supercomputer location in Scotland and other AI projects may also have been in Scotland too.
The reasoning given by Labour was that “The government is taking difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments in the face of billions of pounds of unfunded commitments,” it said in a statement.
“This is essential to restore economic stability and deliver our national mission for growth.”
However the now habitual and very boring mention of the “financial black hole” by Labour politicians, is as a “financial black hole”, not preventing the Labour UK government from investing financially in many future projects in England , but it is apparently making them have to take “difficult and necessary decisions” on projects within Scotland , as only these projects being shelved in Scotland are being shelved as apparently that is “essential to restore economic stability”.
“The mission for growth” seems to be one by the Labour UK government that is mainly for England alone to benefit from and also experience growth from, as so far for Scotland we have only heard that approx 200-300 jobs will created in Aberdeen at GB Energy headquarters according to the Chairman of GB Energy, who is based in Manchester – location also in England too !!
I’m wondering then is it not England who are really at the heart of the new Labour UK government , as it also was with the previous Tory UK government too, while Scotland, Wales and NI are all being left out in the cold as it seems to be that the pecking order within the UK , as far as political parties, UK governments and too the media are concerned , it’s always a case of prioritising England First before any other nation within the UK, if indeed any other nation is even given any consideration at all by various UK governments.
Perhaps Labour UK forget who, as nations, are within the UK state , as they do seem to be acting as if the UK is synonymous with England being the only nation within it !
Liz S
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
I’ve nearly completed my self imposed listen to GMS for 1hr daily penance and have just caught John McTernan explaining this for us. Basically Labour has had to make the hard decisions that no-one else was brave enough to take, Scotland will benefit indirectly through increased traffic via Heathrow and anyway the Scottish Govt needs to cooperate with Westminster especially in relation to freeports – it’s their fault there’s nothing for Scotland
In addition, no mention of the JRF report on poverty, but plenty of time for yet another Audit Scotland report on Scotland missing green transport thanks to lack of government (SNP of course) direction and now on to people with learning difficulties getting stuck in institutions
Thankfully I have done my bit now, time to switch off and look for some real news
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Has the UK Government abandoned Scotland or is Labour about to make a come back in Scotland?
The media has numerous reports and articles slating Rachel Reeves for leaving Scotland out of her plans to change government priorities from supporting financial services in the City, for over half a century, to supporting the rapidly growing new technology industries in the country around London.
Rachel Reeves linking the Scotch Whisky and Scottish industries to Heathrow and talking about the Glasgow Area City Deal could be confirmation that Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour really has going to head in a new direction and will soon be announcing its plan for projects in Scotland.
Offering such a plan, backed by UK Government funding, as an alternative to the limited investments outlined in John Swinney’s budget would put Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour back in the forefront of Scottish politics in the lead up to the Holyrood Elections.
Of course it would just be pie in the sky with jam on it for tomorrow and a repeat of the successful campaign at the general election but Scottish voters have short memories and at the moment Labour has very little left to lose in Scotland.
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It sounds plausible John, we’ve heard very little from Ian Murray or Anas lately which could mean they are sneaking about hatching plans. I think it’s time the Scottish Office are ordered to publish their diaries and minutes from meetings (if Neil Gray is expected to do this for casual football related “meetings” why not Ian Murray?) and that all businesses publicly state whether they support the Scottish Government’s aims or those of Westminster.
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Ian Murray is on paternity leave.
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Paternity leave ? I thought he was just a little overweight !
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If Anas Sarwar’s announcement that Labour would abstain in the budget vote was not just a tactical withdrawal to be reversed on budget day because Scottish Labour had responsibilities to the hard working people of Scotland and could not sit by and watch the SNP impose this budget on them.
Of ccourse it wouldn’t make any difference but imprinted on minds by dominating the media on the day after the Scottish budget.
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It is almost like they are preparing a new England; for when Scotland leaves. If I am correct, as a Scot, you would need to be the idiot’s idiot to vote in favour of the union.
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It all makes sense when you realise that there are Local Government elections in England in May.
It should be Scotland’s turn next year – but don’t hold your breath…
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O/T but still about Labour.
The British Labour Party’s leader in the Holyrood parliament, Anas Sarwar MSP is quoted in a Holyrood magazine article from February 14, 2024 entitled: ‘Labour unveils new ‘blueprint for economic growth’. It was a fairly typical ‘blame the Scottish Government’ piece useful for illustration.
‘Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused the SNP-Green government of “failing” businesses and “choking off opportunity and hurting families and companies in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and a cost-of-doing-business crisis”. (my emphasis)
And: ‘The Labour Party argues that the SNP has failed to grow the economy over its 17 years in government ..’
It’s worth recalling that the British Labour Party has governed Wales within a devolved settlement since 1999. So what’s been its track record? This is something that came up in the most recent Senedd session of FMQs.
From the Tory leader of the opposition (January 28 2025): “First Minister, the labour market overview was published by the Office for National Statistics last week. The figures showed that you’re a record-breaking Labour Government, but you’re breaking records for all of the wrong reasons, because the data shows that Wales has the highest level of unemployment in the United Kingdom and the highest level of economic inactivity and the lowest average take-home pay in Great Britain.”
The FM’s response notably didn’t refute the veracity the statistics but rather laid blame: “Well, thanks very much. I’m sure people across Wales and the UK will know the most difficult impact that has been on businesses in recent years is huge increases in inflation, but also increases in interest rates, and all of these things are as a result of the calamitous leadership of the Tory Government in the past.”
And in response to a follow-up question from the Tory leader, still on the poor performance of the Welsh economy, the FM states:
“… part of the reason why we are so challenged is because of Brexit. And it is, I think, important to note that our opportunities and the opportunities for companies in Wales to export have been significantly dented as a result of those higher barriers that we now have to confront. The difficulties to recruit in some of our really specialist areas are as a result of Brexit. And those promises that you made in relation to bringing immigration down, well, they didn’t come to pass either. Promises, promises, promises. And I’m afraid—. We’ve got to respect the fact that people in Wales did vote for Brexit, but they were told untruths. They were told untruths, and that is part of the problem. They were told—. They were made promises that have not been fulfilled.“
Source: https://record.senedd.wales/Plenary/14808?lang=en-GB
All the circumstances the Welsh FM refers to impacted the whole of the UK. All the circumstances the Welsh FM refers to are outwith the control of a government with limited, devolved powers. And whatever has been achieved by successive administrations in Cardiff to mitigate external factors, they clearly have been inadequate – unsurprisingly.
It is remarkable how British Labour Party leaders find ways to excuse their track record in government by reference to external factors when they don’t have the SNP to blame for a nations ills.
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Whether Labour are indeed holding off and so preparing to announce benefits for Scotland next year prior to the Scottish election then why wait until then as that surely will be too obvious and also too tactical ?
Yes I do know that is who Labour are politically.
Though will most of the political damage and the fallout for Labour in Scotland not already have happened by next year ?
Many of Reeves announcements, for England, were for the future so why not also include something for every nation within the UK.
It also stinks to make all of these announcements yesterday but to let the decision on Grangemouth still stand , especially when the Labour UK government announced that they will provide £600 million guarantee to the Ineos founder and Chairman , billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe , for him to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe, in Belgium.
Talking of Grangemouth and Ineos and then not leaving out Sir Jim Ratcliffe , the Old Trafford announcement yesterday by the Chancellor will please Sir Jim as he owns 27.7% of Manchester Utd.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Newer Labour , not to be confused with Sir Tony Blair’s New Labour, is where there is plenty of money for the few but nothing for the many.
37 Labour MP’s elected in Scotland in 2024 will not change that, as they, as MP’s, will never fight for Scotland when they have pledged 100% allegiance to the party.
Brian Leishman, also elected as a Labour MP in Scotland in 2024, is not the exception to the rule as a Scottish Labour MP, as he must now be seen to rebel against his party as his future depends upon it , more so within his now very much betrayed constituency, where I suspect many voted for him there with the promise that both he and Sarwar made in saying Labour will save Grangemouth and will invest in it.
In June 2024 Anas Sarwar was reported as saying ” Labour would put hundreds of millions pounds into a energy transition hub at Grangemouth”.
Indeed both Sarwar and Leishman told the workers there that Grangemouth was a site for the future. One wonders if they consulted with Grangemouth’s owners and the founder and Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe before making such a bold statement , as after the 2024 GE his opinion for the future of Grangemouth was that ” the chemical industry is coming to an end in Britain, due to high energy costs and carbon taxes” so there was to be no future for Grangemouth.
The Trade Unions response to Grangemouth closing was to hold both the UK and the Scottish government as jointly responsible for Grangemouth being betrayed by Labour, no surprise there, indeed that too was Brian Leishman’s initial reaction , which I suspect was also him instinctively trying to protect his party , Labour , and also himself, from getting all of the backlash
Perhaps some of his constituents contacted him and reminded him that it was he and Sarwar who made promises on behalf of Labour UK upon Grangemouth and not the Scottish government, hence why he has been more vocal recently against his own party at Labour HQ.
Sarwar will now tell Scotland that it is a “New Direction” with Labour as apparently “Change” has been dropped by Labour as a pledge.
Scotland has to decide in 2026 whether they will vote for slogans from Labour, which have now proven to be nothing more than empty unfulfilled slogans, or whether they will now vote for a real opportunity to see real change and a real new direction in Scotland, in us taking the first step to teh majority here finally deciding to become independent from a UK that fails to invest in us as a nation and as a people.
Liz S
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Utterly disgraceful that a so. Allen MP representing Scotland would champion Scotland losing buisness. On a brighter note that’s not been commented on yet is Chinese export company Temu will fly direct into Prestwick with a UK Supply warehouse being constructed there too.
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