Following on from last year’s highly successful event, Progress Scotland is holding a major one-day conference in Edinburgh on 21 June. ‘The New Scottish Politics’ provides the first major opportunity for party members in Scotland to discuss the outcome of the parliamentary elections, the breakthrough by the Scottish Socialists and Green party, and the power-sharing deal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Douglas Alexander, Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, will be delivering the keynote address.
There will be a question time session featuring three members
of the newly appointed Scottish executive: Minister for Communities Margaret Curran; Patricia Ferguson, the Minister for Parliamentary Business; and the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Frank McAveety.
Among the highlights of the conference will be a discussion on learning the lessons of coalition government. Welsh Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, Jane Davidson, former Liberal Democrat chief of staff at the Scottish parliament Willie Rennie, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Ross Martin will address the session.
Other seminar speakers at the event include: Wendy Alexander, Bill Butler, Angus MacKay and Eric Joyce; commentators Gerry Hassan and Tim Luckhurst, the BBC’s Kirsten Campbell and Scotland on Sunday’s John McTernan; Edinburgh city council leader Cllr Donald Anderson, Colin Mair, Keith Geddes and Pat Watters from Scottish local government; healthcare workers and professionals including Dr Lubna Keer, Janet Muir and Sue Stirling; and Rachel McEwan of the Scottish Executive Policy Unit, the ippr’s Matt Cain, Professor Eric Shaw, Dr Bob McLean and Renewal editor Paul Thompson.