THE BIG STORIES
Sturgeon: Yousaf’s “catastrophic” decision on Green deal | North Sea rejection will spark a row | Trump rant

📣 Humza Yousaf’s decision to end the power-sharing agreement between the SNP and Greens last year was “catastrophic” and “wrong”, Nicola Sturgeon has said. Speaking to the think-tank The Institute for Government in an interview published today, she also said she was wrong to believe a new leader could “reset” the SNP after her departure.

In another interview with the institute, former health secretary Michael Matheson said the row over his £11,000 iPad data bill had been “completely blown out of all proportion”. Mathieson resigned in February 2023 after claiming the data costs on expenses, claiming there had been no personal use of the device, and then blaming his children for watching a football match via the iPad’s wifi hotspot. He said the pressure on his family had been huge. “If you do make a mistake, you can end up in the eye of a political storm.”

And in a third interview, Fergus Ewing said Sturgeon became “obsessed” with trans issues and her gender self-ID plans when she was first minister. He said she focussed on “crap policies that are completely undeliverable” after the Bute House agreement with the Greens.

• Yousaf was wrong to end Bute House agreement (Herald £)

• Sturgeon: I was wrong to think my successor could “reset” government (Holyrood)

• Matheson: iPad scandal got “blown out of all proportion” (Scotsman)

• Sturgeon became ‘obsessed’ with trans issues, ex-minister says (Telegraph £)

• Ministers Reflect: full reports & archive (Institute for Government)

📣 North Sea oil and gas suffered a blow when a judge ruled consent for new fields was granted unlawfully. Fresh approval is required.

Lord Ericht wrote that there was a public interest in having the decision "remade on a lawful basis" because of the effects of climate change, which he said outweighed the interests of the developers.

The decision creates a headache for the UK Government, which will now have to revisit a controversial decision which will - inevitably, again - be framed as a choice between economic growth and the environment. Ed Miliband’s Department for Net Zero has already promised not to approve any new licenses in the North Sea. (BBC) (Daily Mail)

• Read the full judgement 

📣 After yesterday’s deadly air crash in Washington, the focus is on the safety of US air traffic control, which appeared to break down when an Army helicopter crashed into a passenger jet, killing 67 people. “Multiple layers of the country’s aviation safety apparatus failed”, according to early investigations.

President Donald Trump meanwhile made a series of baseless claims in a press conference yesterday, wrongly claiming diversity goals were set by his predecessor and that they were to blame. In fact, greater diversity in hiring began under his previous administration, and there is no suggestion DEI policies caused the crash.

• Crash renews concerns about air safety lapses (New York Times £)

• Trump’s “diatribe against diversity hiring” (AP)

FROM THE WEEKLY MAGAZINES
Red tape | Private schools | Migration | Big Tech

🗣️ The Economist reflects on “an anti-red-tape revolution” taking hold around the world. It’s not just Donald Trump trying to set fire to bureaucracy, executive order by executive order. Rachel Reeves wants to overhaul planning roles and overcome opposition to expand Heathrow Airport. Javier Milei has - literally - wielded a chainsaw against Argentinian regulations. “Narendra Modi’s advisers are quietly confronting India’s triplicate-loving babus,” the newspaper says.

“Done right, the anti-red-tape revolution could usher in greater freedom, faster economic growth, lower prices and new technology.” But it cautions against Trump’s demolition tactics, which don’t build before they destroy - his is a recipe for “human misery and economic harm”. Best to make reform that’s “bold enough to count but coherent enough to succeed”. (The Economist £)

🗣️ The New Statesman focuses on “the battle over private schools”, saying Labour has a chance to “win the battle over private education” by further reforming the private school sector. Francis Green, an economist at University College London, and David Kynaston, a social historian, write the magazine’s cover story: they stop short of proposing private schools be entirely nationalised, but call for sweeping reform well beyond the recent imposition of VAT on fees.

They build the case for what they call the “Fair Access Scheme”: forcing private schools to admit an initial one-third of their intake to means-tested, state-funded state school pupils. The proportion would gradually increase to end what the authors call “this country’s peculiarly entrenched educational apartheid”. (The New Statesman £)

🗣️ In the wake of this week’s revelations about Britain’s booming population, driven by migration, The Spectator asks: “Who’s here”? The magazine notes that the Office of National Statistics has struggled to assess who is in the UK now, so projections might be even wider of the mark. Our methods of counting the population are flawed, and getting worse. Why so? It’s deliberate, the magazine suggests. Population data creates trouble for politicians: when budget cuts squeeze that data, there isn’t a clamour to return it.

Moreover, collecting accurate data on the population risks exposing a failure to control migration, the magazine says, and also revealing how many British businesses now rely on illegal immigrant labour. But a lack of understanding has real consequences in the provision of state services and utilities. “Britain’s phantom population affects nearly every aspect of life in this country”. (The Spectator £)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Creative Scotland has unveiled a £208m package of support for the Scottish arts. More than half of the 251 organisations in the programme are seeing longer three-year funding deals for the first time, and the overall amount of money being disbursed is up by £40m over the next two years. The funding is welcome news for a number of organisations which had warned, in recent months, that cuts or changes to funding could lead to closures. (The Scotsman)

• The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has found its new chief executive: Tony Lankester, a former broadcaster and current chief executive of the Riverside Studios in London, takes over in April. (The Scotsman)

📣 John Swinney has warned councils again over council tax rises this year. Speaking to The Scotsman’s Steamie podcast, the First Minister said council leaders had told him they got a better settlement than expected - and that a 10% increase in council tax would be too high. (The Scotsman) (The Steamie Podcast)

📣 The Scottish Government’s search for a financial advisor is likely to cost much more than first expected: the estimated value of the contract is now £1.5m before tax, according to the latest tender, triple the £500k estimate of the tender notice issued at the end of 2024. (Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance)

AROUND THE UK

📣 An “epidemic of violence against women and girls” is getting worse despite years of government promises and strategies, the National Audit Office has said. More than one in four women in the UK are estimated to be the victims of violence each year, although the true number is likely to be much higher. (Guardian)

• Read the report (National Audit Office)

📣 John Prescott was remembered at his funeral in Hull yesterday with a eulogy delivered by former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, who called his former deputy, who died in November, “a complicated man, wrestling frequently with the tangle of ambition and altruism”. His cortege included two Jaguar cars, in a nod to his nickname. (Guardian) (BBC)

SPORT

⚽️ Rangers’ love affair with the Europa League continued last night: even in a season of faltering form, things can happen on Thursday nights at Ibrox. Last night’s 2-1 win over Union Saint-Gilloise saw the club into the top eight of the Europa League and automatic qualification for the final 16 of the competition. (BBC) (The Times £) (The Scotsman)

• Manchester United and Tottenham are also through

🏉 The Six Nations opens tomorrow with Scotland meeting Italy at Murrayfield, and head coach Gregor Townsend has named his team for the clash. Dave Cherry returns as hooker, replacing his Edinburgh team-mate Ewan Ashman after a spell out of the national team. You’ll recall his last involvement in the setup ended after he fell down some stairs at the team hotel during the World Cup in 2023.

• Graham Bean runs the rule over Gregor Townsend’s choices (The Scotsman)

• The Offside Line wins the prize for the most complete coverage I’ve seen so far ahead of the Tournament, with team-by-team guides and more (The Offside Line)

• Scotland v Italy is live on BBC One & iPlayer (Tomorrow, 2.15pm)