SNP Westminster Media spokesperson, Pete Wishart MP, today (Tuesday) met with Tim Blott, managing director of Herald/Times and new editor-in-chief, Donald Martin to discuss the restructuring of the Herald titles which has resulted in the all 250 staff being made redundant and forced to reapply for their jobs. Mr Wishart was accompanied by Enterprise Minister Jim Mather. The Scottish Parliament will debate the restructuring at the Herald titles this week.

Speaking following today’s meeting, Mr Wishart said: "We had a full and frank exchange of views on the Herald/Times restructuring plans and the management team heard very clearly our unhappiness at the current situation.

"We repeatedly asked them to get round the table with the unions and resolve their issues without these mass redundancies but it appears the Herald/Times management are determined to pursue this course of action and re-employ staff on reduced terms and conditions.

Obama inauguration must lead to "more sustained and positive" international engagement

Addressing a cross-party event at the Glasgow Central Mosque Community Centre this evening, which is seeking to raise aid for Gaza, Govan MSP and Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "The ground action in Gaza taken by the Israeli Government has raised the crisis to a new and perilous level, and it is vital that the situation is de-escalated.  The United Nations Secretary General has called for an immediate ceasefire, and I add my voice to the weight of international opinion urging the Israeli Government to heed that call.

Commenting on the attack by five leading bishops on Gordon Brown's government, questioning the morality of Labour policies, SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson John Mason MP said the comments reflected wider public concerns about Labour.

Mr Mason said: "The bishops are right to speak out, and their withering attack reflects wider concerns about Labour policies and how they are creating a more unequal society.

"A government that would rather spend billions on a new generation of Trident weapons of mass destruction instead of working to eradicate poverty is one that has lost its moral compass."

SNP government delivering popular policies for people of Scotland

An analysis of Holyrood opinion polls in Scotland for 2008 shows the SNP leading across the year with the party ahead of Labour and increasing its lead.

According to a poll of polls for Holyrood in 2008 the combined average for the constituency vote shows the SNP leading on 40% - an increase of 7% from the 2007 elections – to 31% for Labour. For the regional vote the SNP leads on 35% to Labour's 28%.

SNP MSP Sandra White has welcomed indications from the Scottish Government that it is considering the regulation of independent ambulances.

Independent or Private Ambulances are used to provide services such as patient transport and ambulance cover at major events and festivals.

A consultation by the previous Scottish Executive in 2006 received unanimous calls for private ambulances to be regulated by the Care Commission but no action was taken.

Following a letter from Ms White the Minister for Public Health Shona Robison has said the Government will look at regulating private ambulances as part of a wider review of regulation in Scotland.
 

SNP Work and Pensions spokesman, John Mason MP, has issued an eve of Christmas appeal calling for the UK Government to bring forward compensation for Farepak families, who are still waiting for reparation two years after the collapse.

Comparing the UK Government's response to bailing out the banks with Farepak, Mr Mason has written to Gareth Thomas, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs, asking why 20,000 Scottish customers, who lost their Christmas savings in 2006 are still out of pocket.

Mr Mason said: "The UK Government bent-over-backwards to bail out the banks including those who shut the doors on Farepak, but have not found a single penny for the Farepak families.

SNP Work and Pensions spokesman John Mason today slammed plans from the UK Government to charge up to 28% interest on loans from the Government's social fund.

The proposals put forward by the Department for Work and Pensions would see the currently interest free loans from the Social Fund, which is available to support less well off households with emergency costs such as home repairs, channelled through credit unions at MAXIMUM lending rates.

John Mason MP for Glasgow East said: "This is a step too far from loan shark Labour.

"If the government is going to charge 28% interest those in need would be just as well getting a credit card.

SNP MSP and Deputy Whip Bill Kidd has today called on Lord George Foulkes to restrain his frivolous use of public cash after expenses from the House of Lords and research into his use of Parliamentary Questions showed he has cost the taxpayer nearly £150,000 in the last 18 months with nearly

£100, 000 of parliamentary questions - many on frivolous subjects - and over £50,000 of personal expenses for trips to the House of Lords.

Lord Foulkes has claimed expenses at the House of Lords of over £50,000 including £7,000 in daily subsistence expenses.

SNP MSP Bill Kidd has today urged the UK Government to reconsider proposals for a new generation of Trident submarines after US president-elect Barack Obama appointed a science advisor who has stated that "in the long run, a 'two tier' system in which a few states are allowed nuclear weapons, while all others are denied, cannot persist."

News of the appointment emerged as it was revealed the UK Government had offloaded it’s stake in the Aldermaston facility which produces nuclear warheads and is now entirely owned in the USA.