A sharp slice of what matters in Scottish law

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has announced that Professor Alexis Jay will lead a public inquiry into child abuse grooming gangs in Scotland. Ms Gilruth said that Prof. Jay, who lead the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales, will focus on the past and current prevalence of child sexual abuse and exploitation, driven both by evidence from survivors and by findings from an independent review. Prof. Jay said the inquiry "will get to the truth of exploitation in Scotland in the past and the present, in order to prevent it in the future", and will "examine the extent to which public authorities and other organisations effectively identify the risk of child exploitation and take action to protect children".

 

STV

Glasgow Evening Times

The Daily Record

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Scotland’s Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain has said she understands why people feel "uncomfortable" about her briefing First Minister John Swinney on the case against former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, after it emerged she provided details in March 2025 as well as January 2026. Bain faced questions at Holyrood over why the earlier notification was not mentioned in previous evidence to MSPs, prompting accusations she had misled parliament. She said she had not reviewed the March document since it was sent and emphasised that first ministers sometimes receive sensitive information because of their responsibilities. Scottish Conservatives have called on her to consider whether her position remains tenable amid the controversy.

 

STV

Glasgow Evening Times

The Daily Record

The Press and Journal

The Scotsman

 

The Isle of Man's Assisted Dying Bill has faced significant delays in the UK Ministry of Justice, taking 337 days for processing. This is nearly four times longer than the average 88 days for other legislation. Dr Alex Allinson, who guided the bill through Tynwald, noted that extensive work remains to implement the law, including consultations with medical professionals. The bill, which allows terminally ill adults to seek assisted dying, awaits royal assent before further steps can be taken.

 

Glasgow Evening Times

Douglas Ross, the former Tory leader, has been barred from the Holyrood chamber for a day following a clash with Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone. The incident occurred when Ross questioned her impartiality during a session. Johnstone deemed his comments inappropriate and insisted he withdraw them. When he refused, she ordered him to leave. Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Greene condemned the repeated questioning of the Presiding Officer's authority by Conservative members, stating it undermines the Parliament's integrity. A spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives confirmed Ross accepted the ban and apologised for his actions.

 

The Daily Record

The Scotsman

Police in Glasgow seized heroin valued at over £1m during an operation against a serious crime gang with international ties. Drug trafficker Henry McAulay, 28, was arrested after arriving at an industrial yard in a Hyundai Tuscan. Officers discovered nearly three kilos of cutting agents in his vehicle and over 23 kilos of heroin in a rented van. McAulay admitted to serious organised crime and was remanded in custody pending sentencing.

 

Glasgow Evening Times

Tim Dale has been appointed as the knowledge and client service partner at Burness Paull. With ten years of experience in leading knowledge functions at an international law firm, he will enhance the firm's knowledge and learning initiatives. Dale will also assess AI's impact on legal advice delivery and identify AI-powered solutions for improved efficiency. Dale expressed enthusiasm for joining the firm and aims to improve client service across the globe.

 

Scottish Legal News

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has urged the Scottish Government to "prioritise council tax reform", which could be a "key intervention" in the fight against poverty. The JRF's associate director for Scotland, Chris Birt, said that meeting legally binding targets on child poverty "will require bold action at scale", and said that a "fair tax on housing wealth is part of what is needed, by cutting through the budget constraints that have limited investment in radical solutions to poverty". He has urged all parties standing in the Holyrood elections to "bring forward proposals for major legislative change on council tax" to help "break a 30-year cycle of hoping a problem will just go away".

 

Daily Mail

Cllr Andrea Manson, the convener of Shetland Islands Council has been banned from serving as a company director for three and a half years after the Insolvency Service found that a failed pub business of which she was director owed at least £170,000 to HMRC. The investigation found that between 2019 and 2023, Mid Brae Inn Ltd, which traded as a pub of the same name, failed to pay more than £110,000 in VAT and almost £60,000 in PAYE and National Insurance despite continuing to trade. A statement from the Insolvency Service noted Cllr Manson's "senior position in local government", adding: "This is a position of responsibility and respect, yet she failed to ensure her company met its own tax obligations, leaving HMRC owed more than £170,000."

 

STV

BBC News

The Daily Record

Glasgow City Council is to reinstate 24/7 monitoring for city centre CCTV cameras thanks to a funding allocation in the council's budget. Police Scotland have previously warned that the decision to only man cameras 12 hours a day was "hampering" investigations, while unions have also called for round the clock coverage to be reinstated. City Treasurer Cllr Ricky Bell said the council is "reinstating 24-hour CCTV in recognition of changing crime patterns" as part of a wider package of city centre funding, including £500,000 of revenue funding and £1m of capital investment.

 

STV

Cllr James Dalgleish, education convener at City of Edinburgh Council, has revealed that a consultation on proposals to ban mobile phones in the city's schools has attracted more than 12,300 responses so far - more than were received in a recent consultation on a new North-South tram line. Cllr Dalgleish said that if the council is "going to do this right", it needs to hear "the voice of parents, of pupils, of teachers, of everyone who cares about it". The consultation comes as Queensbury High and Portobello High take part in a pilot scheme that sees pupils place phones in lockable pouches during the school day.

 

Edinburgh Evening News

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned that a significant decline in net migration could adversely affect economic growth and tax revenues. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has cautioned that low immigration levels might lead to a shortfall in tax receipts, potentially necessitating tax increases or public spending cuts. Nick Ridpath, a research economist at the IFS, said that if recent trends do continue, the Chancellor's fiscal rules "could come back into focus" by the time of the Budget. The IFS highlighted that new immigrants contribute positively to tax income, as they are often of working age and less likely to use public services heavily. In November, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that net migration would fall from a peak of around 900,000 in 2023 to around 260,000 in 2026 and 2027, before rising back to 340,000 by 2030. However, recent figures put the provisional figure for 2025 at 204,000, considerably below the 290,000 forecast.

 

Daily Mail

The Independent