The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland - a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson
By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS
From STV yesterday:
Cuckooing is to be made a specific criminal offence in Scotland in a package of new laws to make streets safer. The legislation, designed to better protect children and vulnerable people from exploitation, is to be introduced to the UK Parliament on Tuesday. Cuckooing is a highly exploitative practice where criminals take control of a vulnerable person’s home without consent to conduct illegal activities like drug dealing – which could see perpetrators facing five years behind bars.
Fantastic Ian. This will help Police Scotland to deal with the plague of County Lines gangs from London , Liverpool, Birmingham, Bradford and Newcastle (No, none from Scotland) operating across Scotland.
It’s about time.
Why?
From Police Scotland, 17 months ago:
Police Scotland targeted drugs dealers who exploit vulnerable young people during a national County Lines Intensification Week of activity – between Monday, 9 October and Friday, 15 October 2023. Proactive action by officers across the country saw a number of vulnerable people being identified and safeguarded and addresses used for cuckooing being visited.
Illegal drugs and offensive weapons, including a firearm, were also recovered. Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn said: “The harm caused by illegal drugs across Scotland is well-documented and County Lines drug dealers bring nothing but misery to our communities. They exploit vulnerable people and groom and threaten young people to become involved in their nefarious activities.
“Over the week we have worked in partnership with a wide range of national organisations, including the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, to crack down on those involved in County Lines activity.
“Our message is clear, this is simply not welcome or tolerated in Scotland.”
During the UK-wide initiative – co-ordinated by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) – officers in Scotland safeguarded 17 vulnerable people and engaged with another 650. 373 addresses believed to be used for the purposes of cuckooing were also visited
373 addresses? There are only 52 towns with populations of 15 000 or more in Scotland, big enough for a drug gang to want to operate in, so that’s 7 or 8 cuckooed vulnerable folk in the town where you live.
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“Cuckooing is to be made a specific criminal offence in Scotland”
Damn Baillie is for it now.
Everytime I have to listen to her tripe, she drives me cuckoo!
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Ha Ha
Yes indeed groaver, she and her party also drive me “cuckoo” too.
Plus she and her party thinks voters in Scotland are also “cuckoo” if she and they think that we would ever want to see Anas Sarwar as our next FM or indeed her as our new Scottish Health Secretary.
Talking of “cuckoos” here is a saying about the “cuckoo” that one could attribute to the Labour party and their (broken) pledges and also especially to Sarwar’s (broken) pledges too and also his behaviour in Scotland towards Scotland….#Betrayal…
“The cuckoo comes in April, he sings his song in May, he changes his tune in the middle of June and then he flies away“
Labour comes to Scotland in elections and makes their pledges, they then change their tune, once elected, in betraying people and then they run away and hide from all of the fallout that results from their broken pledges, betrayals and also their many U-Turns.
(Kind of similar ….in a different sort of way Ha Ha).
Liz S
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I heard on the radio this morning of a terrible tale of a mother trying to get help for her daughter who had been groomed as a 12 year old and her daughter was now being forced to sell drugs for the gang as she had herself had become addicted.
This was on BBC Channel 4 and was very difficult to listen to all the steps that the mother had taken to try and get help. The family were in England, but I guess that the same is now happening in Scotland.
If you have access to the BBC maybe it is on “catch up” or whatever it is, and worth listening to.
What a pity we have BBC Scotland instead of a real public service broadcaster.
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Well as the English government retains broadcasting powers, (thereby denying Scotland their own state broadcasting channels etc) there is little Scotland can do to about the BritEngNats’ lies and propaganda being deployed in Scotland.
All of these ‘media’ channels and outlets calling themselves ‘Scottish’, including STV, and the daily faux newspapers like the ScotsMan, are all HQ’d in England and their ‘reporting’ is biased against the SNP to say the very least. It’s a full on Brit/English state assault on Scottish democracy, but what’s new. Just have to share articles like this and make sure to not buy the daily rags or give ‘BBC’ any of your hard earmed cash.
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You can read all about the situation in Scotland re drugs gangs etc here at TUS..the facts about English drugs gangs operating in Scotalnd, and the lies being touted by the BritNat ‘media’. Loads of info to be perused.
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BBC Scotland and Prof Paterson shamefully misinterpret statistics to cast another cohort of Scottish students and staff as failures when they are not
PMQs
Stephen Flynn confronts Keir Starmer over energy bill ‘failure’
He does not answer but reverts the usual SNP bad in regards to the education of the above. I thought the Torries were bad but he is worse slime ball come to mind.
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One of Keir Starmer’s gripes when he was the Labour official opposition leader at WM was that whenever he asked a Q to a Tory PM then they failed to respond to his Q , instead they just made some snide remark about Labour or some remark about him, for example, the Captain Hindsight title.
So previously there was no response from the Tory PM to Starmer’s, Q’s or indeed to other opposition MP’s Q’s either .
Now that Starmer is the new Labour PM then he is doing the exact same thing as the previous Tory PM’s did to him and also that they did to the SNP MP’s too.
Where he , Keir Starmer , as the new Labour PM , also chooses to give no response to others Q’s, mainly the SNP MP’s Q’s, instead he resorts to making snide remarks to the SNP benches at WM.
So no “change” there then from the Tory party at WM with the new Labour government and their new Tory leader.
Of course they do say that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”
Liz S
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Will this new ”Cuckooing ” Law apply to all those Labour MPs from down South who were dropped into Scottish constituencies before the GE last year ?
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Was the power to pass such a bill not devolved to Holyrood at the time of devolution? I assume that because it is being introduced at Westminster it was not something the Scottish Government was empowered to do.
There was a similar omission with regard to parking on pavements. The power for Holyrood to legislate had not been devolved. It was an oversight. Once it was pointed out, the Secretary of State, David Mundell, issued an Order devolving the power for Holyrood to legislate.
The Home Secretary is presenting a bill at Westminster covering 50+ issues relating to gangs and public order and ‘cuckooing’ is one of these. Probably, Mr Murray is amending the bill to include a ‘cuckooing (Scotland)’ section. It is probably a quicker way of getting legislation passed than devolving the power and Holyrood legislating. It is a pragmatic solution.
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Whilst supportive of actions to catch, convict and imprison those perpetrating ‘cuckooing’, I’m still puzzling over some of the information presented in the above blog post.
What has the Secretary of State for Scotland done to merit the positive headline – or has my sense of humour failed (again) when it comes to Unionist politicians?
The new legislation aimed at addressing ‘cuckooing’ is contained in the UK government’s Crime and Policing Bill. It is being introduced by ministers in the Home Office and the Ministry for Justice. Ian Murray’s role?
I’m no legal/constitutional expert, so can anyone enlighten me as to why and by what means this UK government Bill – or at least this aspect of it – is to apply in Scotland? Does it not address a devolved matter?
When the Crime and Policing Bill was referred to in the King’s Speech it was stated explicitly in the supporting information that the Bill will extend and apply to England and Wales. I think the ‘cuckooing’ provision may be a more recent addition to the UK government’s scope for the Bill.
On publication of the Bill, the UK government published a ‘factsheet’ which included this explainer:
‘Will these measures apply across the United Kingdom? – Subject to limited exceptions, all the provisions in the bill apply to England and Wales. Certain provisions also apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland. The provisions in the bill relate to a mixture of devolved and reserved or excepted matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.’ So yes a ‘mixture’ but no clarity here as to why or how.
In another ‘factsheet’ for the Bill, specifically on the provisions regarding ‘Child criminal exploitation’ and ‘cuckooing’, there is no mention of the geographic scope of the proposed legislation.
In the official record of the Scottish Parliament for January 10, 2025, Cabinet Secretary Angela Constance states, in the context of legislation to further disrupt drug-related offences: ‘My officials are continuing to engage with the Home Office to explore the potential for this offence, and others that disrupt aspects of the illicit drug trade such as cuckooing, to be taken forward in one of the bills that will be introduced in early 2025. In the event that such legislation is brought forward, we will give careful consideration to the possibility of extending such measures to Scotland.’
Given all of the above, have the Scottish Government and the Home Office negotiated the inclusion of legislation better to tackle ‘cuckooing’ in Scotland in the UK government’s Crime and Policing Bill? Has this been judged by the Scottish Government to be a convenient/timeous means of having a devolved matter wrapped into an already in train legislative process, committing in principle up front to introduce and support in Holyrood a legislative consent motion?
If so, to repeat: what has the Secretary of State for Scotland done to merit the positive headline – or has my sense of humour failed (again) when it comes to Unionist politicians?
The new UK legislation to specify ‘cuckooing’ as an offence is welcome. However, it will not bring about the first conviction for ‘cuckooing’ in Scotland – hopefully it may facilitate more.
From the Crown Office website dated August 30, 2023 for example: ‘County lines gang members who manipulated drug users into ‘cuckooing’ their homes jailed – Two members of a county lines drug trafficking gang have been jailed for a total of 11 years and three months.’
The two convicted individuals ‘set up an operation to ferry substantial amounts of heroin and cocaine from their home city of Bradford to Edinburgh. And they preyed on vulnerable addicts by offering them free drugs in return for letting them use their homes as bases to co-ordinate their illegal activities – a practice known as “cuckooing”.’
See https://www.copfs.gov.uk/about-copfs/news/30-08county-lines-gang-members-who-manipulated-drug-users-into-cuckooing-their-homes-jailed/
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‘What has the Secretary of State for Scotland done to merit the positive headline – or has my sense of humour failed (again) when it comes to Unionist politicians?’
My wife says my humour is too vague.
John
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