Welcome to The Courier’s morning politics briefing — everything you need to know about politics in your region and across the country, before you start your day.
Top stories
- Dundee and Aberdeen will host “pioneering” research for a project hoping to find out what is in Scotland’s illegal drugs.
- Alex Cole-Hamilton, the frontrunner to take over the Scottish Liberal Democrats, has slammed a “digital divide” which he claims is holding back rural areas.
- Hybrid working at Holyrood: Are changes here to stay?
- Business leaders in Scotland say individual workplaces should be the ones to decide when employees go back to the office, not the Scottish Government.
- A disabled Fife man has received an apology after Fife Council left him for nearly three weeks with an unfinished bathroom.
What’s happening today
- Scotland’s high school pupils will find out their exam results on Tuesday, the second time they have been upended by the pandemic.
In case you missed it
- The boss of the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) has vowed to ensure communities are not left behind amid the rapid rise of a new generation of rural property owners who have been dubbed the “green lairds”.
- Scotland’s Net Zero Secretary Michael Matheson has said a new UN report confirms that the upcoming COP26 conference in Glasgow will be the world’s “best chance” to avert the worst destruction caused by climate change.
- John Swinney has signalled that face coverings will be required in Scotland until “at least” the end of winter – and he said he believes “Monday to Friday” office working may be consigned to the past for many staff.
- A group of Scotland’s leading universities, supported by the government and political parties, is set to launch a new Scottish Council on Global Affairs to throw a spotlight on the country’s place in the world and help shape policy.