As part of World Cleanup Day, Gordon Macdonald MSP participated in a litter pick organised by Friends of the Pentlands on Saturday 15 September. The litter pick events are organised by local groups under the “Let’s Do It! World” movement where millions of volunteers in 150 countries participated in this year’s event, which was hailed as the biggest civic action in human history. The Friends group are a voluntary organisation who organise walks and talks and enjoy the support of the Pentland Hills Regional Park. The special litter pick involved 33 volunteers from Friends of the Pentlands, Water of Leith Trust, Balerno Ramblers, North Tweeddale Path Group, Youth Vision, Edinburgh Southern Ori
Positive economic growth as Scotland moves ahead of the UK. SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald has praised new figures showing that Scotland’s economy has outperformed the UK’s in the second quarter of this year. According to official figures, announced by Scotland’s Chief Statistician, the economy in Scotland grew by 0.5% in the second quarter of 2018 while growth in the UK was at 0.4%. In the first half of this year, Scottish GDP grew by 0.8% - ahead of the UK at 0.6% over the same period, and already higher than the 0.7% growth forecast by the Scottish Fiscal Committee for 2018 as a whole. The last year has seen the Scottish economy grow by a total of 1.7%, whilst the UK lags behind
SNP: Retirement age does not need to be raised The SNP has called for the devolution of immigration powers to the Scottish Parliament – warning the UK government’s hostile approach to immigration is damaging Scotland’s economy and public services. Gordon Macdonald MSP made the case in The Scottish Parliament, after the publication of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report revealed that without immigration the Scottish population could fall, making it very hard to deal with an ageing population. The SNP MSP said that this challenged should be addressed by attracting more migrants of working age to live here, not by raising the retirement age as the UK government's MAC suugest. The MSP
Ruth Davidson's party preying on the anxieties of parents. The Tory party has been criticised for putting party political games ahead of children’s futures, as they published their motion for debate at Holyrood tomorrow calling for a halt to Primary 1 assessments. Ruth Davidson has sought to rewrite history, by stating that her party “have opposed these p1 tests from the start. However, her party’s own 2016 manifesto blows this baseless claim out of the water: “We welcome the Scottish Government’s recent decision to reintroduce national testing in primary schools . . . We believe the Scottish Government needs to be far bolder in measuring progress in our education system. Only by me
This year’s SNP Programme for Government will help contribute to a successful and vibrant Edinburgh, driving progress in health, social security, the environment and the economy, the SNP’s Gordon Macdonald has said. Edinburgh will benefit from ambitious action in a wide range of areas throughout 2018-19, including: • Empowering head teachers to lead improvements to their schools with more power over their own budgets; developing ways for parents and pupils to ensure their voices are heard in decision-making; giving £10m to schools and councils to work together across regions; continuing to support teacher recruitment; and investing £33 million over three years to help children in care
The SNP’s Gordon Macdonald has written to the UK government calling for reassessments of Child Tax Credits in Scotland to correspond with Scottish school term times, following reports of delayed payments. The Edinburgh Pentlands MSP has been contacted by families who are struggling to manage, after they did not receive the Child Tax Credits payments they were due. HMRC confirmed they are recalculating all Child Tax Credits in line with the return of schools in England, with payments delayed due to system overloads. Child Tax Credits were automatically stopped on 31 August 2018 (in line with the new school term in England) despite families in Scotland contacting HMRC two weeks ago (when schoo
