National Politics News Shorts

1 – Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said that his party was “a party for all of Scotland” in a live webchat last month, responding to comments posted on the website of The Scotsman newspaper.

Mr Gray said: “[Scottish Labour] would show that even in difficult financial times there is a better way than the Tory way”, and defended the last UK Labour government's handling of the economic crises, asserting that “it was Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling who took the tough decisions to save our banking system especially Scotland's two largest banks.”

When asked if he would stand down if Labour lost the election, Mr Gray said of being party leader that it is “a privilege to do that job in opposition and government but I do not expect to lose.”

2 – Scots Tories have "widely held" values, says Prime Minister

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, David Cameron insisted that the Scots Tories should show patience.

Mr Cameron told radio presenter Gary Robertson: "I am an optimist and I am a believer that if you show patience then actually you can perform better.

"I think the values that Scottish Conservatives hold, values of supporting families, believing in enterprise, and wanting a more dynamic private sector, of being fearfully proud of being Scottish, but also being passionate about our United Kingdom. I think those values are very widely shared in Scotland."

3 – Scottish National Party gains support from The Sun

Scotland's best-selling newspaper has garnered support for the incumbent SNP in the coming elections, the first time that a national newspaper has supported the party.

During the 2007 Holyrood election, The Sun heavily criticised the SNP, with the front page of an issue being a map of Scotland placed in a hangman's noose shaped like the SNP's logo.

More recently, while the UK Sun returned to the Conservative fold the Scottish edition merely withdrew its support for Labour. The Sun has previously endorsed Scottish independence, but not explicitly the SNP.

In the 1992 UK General Election, the newspaper proclaimed its support for independence with the headline: "Rise Now And Be A Nation Again."