In the meantime, it’s been another deluge of bad news for the Scottish Government on the domestic front. But when will that start telling decisively with Scottish voters?
The First Minister stands accused of having officials draw up new statistics to “reverse engineer” an excuse for his wildly inaccurate statements about an independent Scotland’s energy potential.
Also: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland grapple with RAAC in schools and health buildings; ex-SNP MP receives trivial fine for embezzlement as short-term lets sector revolts against Scottish Government’s new licencing regime.
Also: Scottish Government’s legal regulation reforms denounced by judges and lawyers; Ross offers to work with Nationalist rebels to break Greens’ grip on government; new scandal for PSNI as High Court finds it illegally disciplined officers.
The first ever Scottish Green MSP says he will resist any “attempt to needlessly destroy the United Kingdom”. But where is the option for green voters who feel the same?
There is nothing to stop the Scottish Nationalists, or their sympathisers, producing policy privately, or supporting think-tanks to do so on their behalf. But they should pay for such work out of their own funds. (If they can find them.)
The First Minister says that despite “challenges”, he will ensure his party remains “open and transparent”.
The Nationalists’ dominant position in Scottish politics was built on uniting the 2014 Yes vote. Absent progress on separation, it is fracturing.
The First Minister reportedly told mutinous colleagues to quit the party if they weren’t prepared to support his predecessor.
Having run as her heir, he seems unable or unwilling to put enough distance between his regime and hers if the fraud investigation blows up.
“A Government will want to get its legislative agenda through,” Yousaf adds. “Not be frustrated at every single turn.”
The Government has once again taken on the Nationalists and, contra 25 years of devolutionary received wisdom, won the day.
Scottish Government also ploughs more money into Ferguson Marine despite conceding it would be cheaper to start from scratch at another yard.
Meanwhile, both Humza Yousaf’s personal ratings and support for independence on the wane as the Sturgeon magic wears off.
Recent polling shows the party well ahead of both the UUP and the TUV, meaning the current deadlock would simply be reproduced.