The Record brings you its regular 5pm round-up of the day’s Scottish politics news.
17:00, 29 Mar 2026
Jordan Linden outside Falkirk Sheriff Court(Image: Central Scotland News)
John Swinney ‘ignored’ call to investigate Jordan Linden complaints process
John Swinney failed to respond to a plea six months ago to investigate the SNP’s complaints process linked to sex offender Jordan Linden.
The First Minister instead backed a probe on Friday despite being sent a letter in September by councillor Greg Lennon.
Linden, a former rising star in the SNP, was last week convicted of 10 separate offences following a trial at Falkirk Sheriff Court, including five sexual assaults.
It has now been claimed Swinney had been urged to investigate the complaints process last year but ignored the call.
Correspondence shows Lennon, who now sits as an independent in North Lanarkshire, wrote last year “on behalf of affected former SNP councillors” outlining concerns.
The letter, dated September 11, was emailed to the first minister and copied to his predecessor Humza Yousaf the day after.
The SNP vows to help terminally ill Scots pay energy bills as costs rocket
The SNP has vowed to take action on a Sunday Mail campaign demanding terminally ill Scots are given help to pay rocketing energy bills.
Social Justice Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville has said if re-elected in May her party will step in to end the scandal of people being left to die in grinding poverty.
Watchdog Consumer Scotland has recommended
A shocking 7700 people close to the end of their lives have been plunged into fuel poverty, according to charity Marie Curie.
And there are fears escalating war in the Middle East will make things even worse. payments of up to £450 to cover extra costs faced by the terminally ill.
200 rough sleepers in Glasgow in a month as homelessness hits new records
Two hundred people slept rough in Scotland’s biggest city in just a month as overall homelessness stats hit new record levels.
Glasgow City Council figures found a record 9337 homeless people living in temporary digs as of last month.
That included a shocking 3367 children, another all-time high for the city which is buckling under a housing and homelessness emergency.
Between January 1 and February 12, a total of 203 people were reported sleeping on the streets.
Maeve McGoldrick of Crisis Scotland said the rough sleeping figures were “huge”. She said: “It’s absolutely an indictment of where we are just now.