Earlier this week the Scottish Policing Board met to discuss the viability of merging Scottish police forces into three or potentially one force. At the present moment there are eight forces in Scotland and a total of 17,294 police officers, add into this administrative staff (i.e. human resources etc) and I’d estimate that we’re looking at a provider of around 20,000 jobs in Scotland. But, the question being posed is do we need eight separate forces?
Apparently it will take the ‘Toxic Tories’ a massive 25 years to rebuild their flailing reputation in Scotland according to one senior source reported in The Herald. According to another they do not have anyone to match the character of Alex Salmond and according to a third source they need to drop David Cameron as leader of the Conservatives in Scotland.
Rebecca Harris, Tory backbench MP for Castle Point (South East Essex if you were wondering), has tabled a Bill asking the UK government to “conduct a cross-departmental analysis of the potential costs and benefits of advancing time by one hour for all, or part of, the year”.
Labour is on course to win the 2011 Holyrood election. That’s the verdict of the latest TNS-BMRB poll for the Herald, which showed an increase in support for both Labour and the SNP. But will the build up to the Scottish election do anything to fuel the electorate’s fire?