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John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland, has revealed that bus fares in the western regions of Scotland will be capped at £2 per journey. This change will start from Monday and applies specifically to travel within Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, and Inverclyde. This announcement is part of the Scottish Government’s ongoing commitment to reduce transport costs, as outlined in the SNP’s manifesto, which aims to see all bus travel capped at £2 across Scotland by the end of the current parliamentary term. At present, a similar fare cap already exists in the Highlands and Islands, though no timeline has been given for its extension throughout the rest of Scotland.
In his programme for government, Swinney also outlined a major reorganization of the National Health Service in Scotland. He confirmed plans to reduce the number of health boards from fourteen down to two, describing this as the “most significant structural reform in the NHS in the era of devolution.” These two new boards will split the country into eastern and western sectors, with management led by the chief executives of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian. The goal is to create more capacity for patient treatment and improve efficiency, although it remains unclear whether these changes will translate into financial savings through reductions in senior management or streamlined departments.
The health restructuring plans have been met with criticism, notably from the trade union Unite, which condemned it as a “slash and burn programme for the NHS.” Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, warned that the reforms would “inevitably result in swingeing cuts and thousands of job losses across the public sector,” and insisted that workers “will not be the collateral damage for the Scottish government’s failings.” Additionally, the First Minister pledged that no patient would wait more than 26 weeks for treatment by 2031—a noticeable softening from the 2011 commitment of a maximum 12-week wait for inpatient or day-case treatment.
Beyond transport and healthcare, Swinney announced the forthcoming introduction of a misogyny bill, addressing male violence against women and girls. Although this legislation had previously been withdrawn last year due to timing concerns around Supreme Court rulings on gender definitions, it will now be reintroduced alongside a public health campaign aimed at challenging misogynistic attitudes among boys and young men. Swinney emphasized that these measures are part of a broader vision to “deliver real, lasting improvements to people’s lives” by modernizing public services and maximizing the impact of investment, all while tackling inequality, poverty, and division in Scotland.
Reactions from opposition parties highlighted skepticism about the government’s promises. Jackie Baillie, acting leader of Scottish Labour, questioned whether two health boards sufficiently cover the country and advocated for an additional board for the Highlands and northeast. She criticized the SNP for promising improvements but delivering failure, saying that patients in Scotland “deserve so much better.” Malcolm Offord, leader of Reform UK Scotland, dismissed the government’s pledges as “same old empty promises, rebranded,” criticizing initiatives like GP walk-in clinics and the food price cap as mere “gimmicks.” The Scottish Greens took issue with the limited scope of the bus fare cap and voiced concern about NHS reforms, calling for assurances against compulsory redundancies among NHS staff and advocating for free bus travel for all. Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay expressed a lack of confidence in the government’s ability to enact meaningful reforms, citing past failures like the ongoing issues with Police Scotland and the costly abandonment of the National Care Service plans
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