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Sandra White at Greyfriars Garden in the Glasgow Kelvin constituency she s represented since 2011. White was first elected as a Glasgow list MSP in 1999. SANDRA White has been in politics for 30 years. Now she’s stepping down from the constituency she loves after playing a part in three of the biggest challenges ever to hit Scotland’s political system. One is Covid, as a member of Holyrood’s Health and Sport Committee. Another is Brexit, as the member for Glasgow’s diverse, multi-cultural Kelvin seat. The third is the inquiry into the handling of harassment complaints against her old party boss, Alex Salmond, as a member of the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB).
Result in 2016: SNP 7 seats (6 constituency, 1 list), Conservatives 3 seats (0 constituency, 3 list), LibDems 2 seats (2 constituency, 0 list), Labour 2 seats (0 constituency, 2 list), Greens 1 seat (0 constituency, 1 list) IT’S easily forgotten that the eight electoral regions in which the Scottish Parliament’s list MSPs are chosen were originally based on the old Scottish constituencies for first-past-the-post elections to the European Parliament – although ironically those had become defunct within just a few weeks of the inaugural Scottish Parliament election due to a move to proportional representation. Perhaps surprisingly, the one Euro-constituency in which the SNP were always totally dominant was the Highlands & Islands, and not the North East – Winnie Ewing held the seat from its establishment in 1979 until she became an MSP 20 years later. That unbroken run of success has since continued in the Holyrood list ballot – the SNP have topped the popular vote in t
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Scotland editor
RAIL unions and opposition politicians have welcomed Scottish government action to bring ScotRail services into public ownership.
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson told the Scottish Parliament today that a publicly owned operator of last resort will run the franchise from March 2022.
Mr Matheson said that staff will transfer to the new employer with their terms and conditions protected.
The SNP minister reiterated calls for the full devolution of rail powers, adding the government’s preferred option for the future was an “integrated public-sector” model.
The decision was welcomed by the rail unions, which have long called for public ownership.