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British Labour’s Scottish power grab
Plans to change the law to give the Scottish Secretary of State powers to bypass the Scottish Parliament to directly fund ‘anti-poverty schemes’ could provoke an unwelcome crisis for Anas Sarwar, argues VINCE MILLS
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar

WHEN Scottish Labour MSPs head back to work next week in Edinburgh, they might be forgiven for having a spring in their step, despite the best efforts of atrocious summer weather to put a damper on everything.

An opinion poll by Norstat for the Sunday Times on August 24 suggests that come the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026, it will be Labour and not the SNP that Scotland’s first minister will come from. 

There now follows a flock of caveats. It is a long way to 2026, and the impact of both Westminster and Holyrood announcing a new age of austerity is as yet unclear. Furthermore, the Norstat polling numbers were very close. 

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