So the Prime Minister’s first official trip to the US is going off fairly uneventfully. Not a great deal worth commenting on, a few titbits on the economy, a little on a 10 year old war, a few words on a global corporation engulfed in controversy and a wee chat on one of the biggest acts of terrorism ever. Quite an easy first trip for Mr Cameron to embark on don’t you think?
There has been much talk of the merits, or otherwise, of devolution lately, and with the Tory-LibDem UK government starting to implement its agenda, there is little doubt that political divergence between Scotland and the UK is increasing. But it raises an important question; is the UK leaving Scotland behind?
Never has there been much of a rapport struck between British Trade Unions and the Tories, to say the least. The ‘horror’ which met an invite to David Cameron to address the annual TUC conference confirms that nothing has changed.
According to the Scotsman, Labour MPs in London are seeking to ‘audit’ devolution and to assess whether or not it has been a success. Potentially incendiary stuff, and perhaps not too surprising that the story has ‘broken’ after Holyrood has gone into recess.
Today Deputy PM Nick Clegg announced that a referendum on voting reform is to be held on the 5th May, 2011. As I’m sure you’ll all know the 5th May is the day of the Scottish elections. And the Welsh Assembly’s and the Northern Irish Assembly’s too. Either the Deputy PM missed the ‘Respect Agenda’ memo or we all didn’t read the small print and the Respect period is now over; who had two months in the sweepstake?