Excitement at Holyrood

Well, the past couple days have been EXTREMELY interesting! Especially for me, who is still a semi-outsider and trying to acclamate myself to the Parliamentary system.

So, the Scottish Government's budget was defeated yesterday - and the First Minister has threatened to call an election if the next budget is voted down as well.* Because of this here's quite a lot of pressure to get this budget passed! The Lib Dem leader and Finance Secretary are meeting with the FM and John Swinney today to negotiate and have already stepped down from their 2p income tax break demand. The Greens, who nearly got £33 bn for a home insulation program now may get nothing (which is a shame - because my flat holds about as much heat as my freezer and some new insulation would be really nice... honestly, I wouldn't mind paying the outrageous price for my electric bill if my flat were roasting hot - but that's a whole other issue!).

So what will happen? My prediction: it will pass. The Greens might be able to gain a few more concessions and if the Lib Dems are already withdrawing their 2p tax cut demand then there's a good chance they'll abstain from the vote. I think Labour will still vote it down, because (from my very limited vantage point) they're playing party politics in addition to not having some of their demands met. I guess we'll see.

All I know is that I'll be pulling for whatever situation will avoid an election - talk about job insecurity! Eeek! I haven't even been here a month!






*However, as I've learned today, the FM can't actually do this. If he steps down, then Parliament has 28 days to appoint a new FM (Labour has already thrown Ian Gray's name into the mix)... and if noone is appointed then it goes to an election.