Start as you mean to go on

The election was one week ago, and already the SNP and the Scottish Government are making their mark.

The 56 new SNP MPs have arrived at Westminster and are currently undergoing training in the procedures of Westminster, settling into their offices and taking up casework.  There has been some concern expressed that, having become the official third party in the House of Commons, the SNP will simply become absorbed into the machine, as so many others have before them.  Then this happened on Twitter:

The Tory MP giving us an initiation talk says clapping in the chamber is 'deplored'. #SNP members respond by applauding warmly.

Typical wry Scottish humour there.

Next there is the Tory plan to scrap the Human Rights Act, to be replaced with a new Bill of Rights, something which the Scottish government has said it will not consent to. This is significant, as Scottish law must conform to the Human Rights Act which therefore makes it a devolved matter.  Because of this, the Scottish government must be consulted on the changes under the Sewell convention. 

Then yesterday Nicola Sturgeon made a speech in Holyrood, in which she vowed to protect the vulnerable from Tory cuts, to protect the NHS from further privatisation and to protect the UK's position in Europe, to be done by forming alliances with other like-minded progressive parties and people.

It's said a week is a long time in politics.  Already it seems that a fresh breeze is blowing through UK politics, driving out the old and stale. Let's hope it continues.