Welcome to The Courier’s morning politics briefing, it’s everything you need to know about politics in your region, and across the country, before you start your day.
New this morning:
- Dundee residents are being warned of a blight of bed bugs after figures showed a 160% rise in the number of council pest control call-outs to tackle the critters.
- Paul O’Kane, the first openly gay man elected to Holyrood from Scottish Labour, says the Scottish Parliament has the ability to “change lives” this Pride Month.
- Nicola Sturgeon will meet Boris Johnson at a virtual “coronavirus summit” today, and will be the first time the leaders have spoken since the May 6 election.
Coming up today:
- First Minister’s Questions will take place at Holyrood at midday, including questions on the EU Settlement Scheme, school class sizes, historic forced adoption, and the mental health of police officers.
- Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville will lead an education debate at Holyrood at 2pm.
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a coronavirus recovery summit with the leaders of the devolved nations this afternoon.
- The UK Government will give an update to its ‘green travel list’, which lists which countries UK residents can travel to without having to quarantine on return.
In case you missed it:
- Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is self-isolating after David Duguid, MP for Banff and Buchan, tested positive for Covid-19.
- Up to £12 million is to be made available to businesses in council areas kept in level two lockdown restrictions.
- Scottish school pupils will have the right to appeal their assessment results directly for the first time but face a “perverse gamble” as grades could be moved both up and down, the education secretary has confirmed.
