Scottish Parliament's Sixth Session: A Mixed Bag

0:00It's March 30th. This is Edinburgh News today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Cory with the Story. The sixth session of the Scottish Parliament just wrapped up after 27 years since Holy Root first opened. MSPs are heading into recess until the election on May 7th, leaving that 400 million pound building feeling like a ghost town since so. Many now work from home. Retiring veterans like Christine Graham, Fiona Heislop, and former First Minister, Nicholas of Sturgeon get a 75,000 pound resettlement grant to ease back into real life. Even one-term MSPs pocket around 37,000 pounds, half a year's salary, so the cost of living won't hit them hard. Taxpayers funded three First Ministers in five years. Sturgeon quit in February 2023 after her gender reform bill tanked, Humsai Yusaf. Lasted just 18 months before the green coalition crumbled, and John Swinney's been holding the fort, likely sticking around post-election. Some winds included safe access zones around abortion clinics and pardons for 1984 to

1:0485 striking minors, but big flops like, assisted dying hit the wall. Meanwhile, the NHS faces brutal waiting lists, housing locks out young buyers, and education gaps stay wide. Parties are out promising free childcare and 125,000 new homes, but with a projected 5 billion pound budget hold by 20, 30, real change in spending is the only way forward.