In your briefing today:

📣 Keir Starmer has delayed plans to announce a vast Chinese investment in Scotland, amid warnings it could present a security threat and make the UK too reliant on Beijing for its renewable energy.

The PM had been expected to give the go-ahead for the £1.5 billion Mingyang wind turbine plant in Ardersier, which could create up to 1,500 jobs.

There had been speculation the deal would be announced during his three-day visit to China, which begins today, although Downing Street now says there had been no plan for that.

Whitehall sources now say the decision on the plant will be taken later. (🎁 The Times - gift link)

📣 The Scottish Government will come under pressure today to publish its files surrounding the scandal at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, who first raised the controversy in 2017 has now called for an end to the “culture of secrecy and cover-up”, insisting that “those responsible must be held to account”.

This afternoon, Sarwar will call on MSPs to back a motion calling for the release of the files. (Scotsman)

📣 The family of a University of Glasgow student who took his own life after being wrongly told he could not graduate say they have been left “sickened” after a report found further failings at the University.

The University had claimed that the mistakes which led to Ethan Brown being given the wrong information about the credits he had amassed were not systematic.

But the new QAA report contradicts that, revealing the University knew - from an earlier internal review - that two other students also at the Geography school were given incorect outcomes, while five other students had potential errors.

The QAA also found the University had not carried out any investigations into 23 other schools in the University. (Daily Record)

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Join for free today!

📣 Pubs in Scotland want the same rates relief as those in England, to help them avoid closure. (Mail)

📣 Rock band Deacon Blue say they are “appalled” that one of their most beloved hits, Dignity, is being used by Reform UK’s new Scottish leader to describe his personal story. (Guardian)

📣 Former Fife MP Neale Hanvey has called on a local council to buy the homes of dozens of people who face mass eviction within weeks. (The Herald has the exclusive).

📣 President Donald Trump says his administration will “de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota, after the fatal shooting of a protester at the weekend. (BBC)

📣 EasyJet has been told to stop claiming you can take carry-on baggage abord “from £5.99” after the advertising watchdog failed to find evidence you could, at that price. (BBC)

📣 A mountain lion roamed the exclusive Pacific Heights neighbourhood of San Francisco before being captured: it turns out the wild animals live in hills south of the city, but rarely make their way into urban areas. They’re also common in LA. (AP)

⚽️ As the transfer deadline nears, speculation grows as to what deals will get done.

🏉 Scotland star Sione Tuipulotu says the Scotland team needs to “regain the trust” of the Scottish rugby public after a disappointing autumn campaign. (Scotsman)

🗣️ Magnus Linklater agrees with Anas Sarwar: the Labour leader has labelled the deaths of at least six people at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital “the worst scandal in the history of the Scottish parliament,” and he may be right.

“It is not the deaths themselves, painful and avoidable as they were, that have exercised him for the past eight years. It is the history of cover-up, blame shifting and possible criminal negligence that lies behind them,” writes Linklater.

This newsletter covered the astonishing decision by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to concede, in its final submission to the inquiry this month after ten years of “obfuscation and denial”, that the water supply may have contributed to the deaths, and that the hospital hadn’t been ready to open.

None of the politicians in positions of responsibility say they knew of problems or applied pressure to get the hospital opened. “Shona Robison, [health secretary] at the time, is doubtless regretting her response to a parliamentary question from Sarwar in 2018,” writes Linklater, “when she accused [Sarwar] of an ‘outrageous’ attempt to ‘talk down our state-of-the-art hospital’ when he raised safety concerns following Milly’s death. She too, it seems, knew nothing.”

The government is on thin ice in two places, says Linklater. First, there’s the moral question: any government in power takes responsibility for the services it administers.

Second is the question of who knew what, when, “because it goes to the heart of the scandal,” writes Linklater.

“Either way, responsibility lies with the government, which is why this is a scandal.” (🎁The Times - gift link)

🗣️ Despite his impact in the hospital row, however, could Anas Sarwar be gone before embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer? It’s a prospect raised by Euan McColm, who says there’s “mounting speculation” about the future of the Scottish Labour leader, should the party encounter the “electoral disaster” polls say is on its way.

Allies of Sarwar point to events beyond his control, notes McColm: the decision, for instance, to cut the winter fuel payment for pensioners “blindsided” the Scottish party, and was a gift to the SNP.

But there is also “huge frustration among some Labour MSPs about the way in which their leader has handled the matter of women’s rights,” writes McColm. He quotes a Labour MSP who tells him: “‘The vast majority of voters think gender ideology is absolutely bats**t and we should be where they are.

“‘Instead, the Tories and bloody Reform are championing women’s rights and Anas just looks lost.’” (Mail)

🗣️How do the Tories beat Reform? Rebecca McQuillan looks to former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson for the answer. Davidson has, says McQuillan, “acquired a sort of mystique: the Tory leader who was popular in Scotland”.

Earlier this week Davidson launched a “movement”, Prosper UK, alongside former West Midlands mayor Andy Street, to try and exert some influence on the Conservative leadership. “She believes they should tack back to the centre ground, away from Reform. She is almost certainly correct.

Moreover, “Russell Findlay should be listening hard,” writes McQuillan, who notes the Scottish Tory leader’s rightward drift on issues such as immigration. It’s not working, she says, with MSPs quitting and core voters apparently abandoning the party. (The Herald £)

🗣️I learned something from Lisa Simonis’ column on the joys of watching Ice Hockey in Edinburgh: the fights which litter the sport are “controlled” and seen as very much part of the event.

“As my friend put it,” writes Simonis, “‘fighting is fighting, as long as it’s in good spirit’. Last year, three fights broke out in the first nine seconds of a Four Nations game between Canada and the USA.”

She marvels at how they manage to swing the punches while on skates. And she relishes the atmosphere and culture that surrounds the games - including another surprise: “ice hockey romance novels, widely shared across social media and credited with introducing many to the sport”.

It’s not recorded if those novels include fights, too. (The Scotsman £)

Sent this by a friend?