Economy

Unemployment: Official figures released yesterday have shown that Scottish unemployment rose to 8.1 per cent, compared with a UK figure of 7.8 per cent (Scotsman page 1, Herald page 6, Telegraph page 2).

Professor David Bell of Stirling University has warned that the cuts expected to hit the Scottish public sector after the spending review in the autumn will mean that Scotland’s unemployment rate will be higher than the rest of the UK for some time (Scotsmanpage 4).

Justice

Police bonuses: Almost all of Scotland’s chief constables and deputy chief constables have agreed to give up their bonuses for this year (Herald page 8).

Local Government

Glasgow City Council: The trust which runs leisure services on behalf of Glasgow City Council has confirmed that it must make cuts of £10 million by 2013. Unions said they would fight any compulsory redundancies at Glasgow Life (Herald page 8).

Politics

Devolution: There is further coverage of Policy Exchange’s report which argues that it is more important for Scotland to radically reform public services than have greater powers (Scotsman page 2,  Scotsman page 30, Scotsman page 31, Herald page 6, Times page 8, Telegraph page 4).

David Mundell: Police have been asked to investigate Tory MP David Mundell’s election spending after it was revealed at the weekend that he may have exceeded the legal limit (Scotsman page 2, Herald page 6).

AV referendum: UK ministers have been warned that plans to hold a referendum on voting reform on the same day as the Scottish Parliament elections are against the rules. The Interim Elections Management Board has written to the Scottish Secretary to tell him that he will need to change the law if he wants to go ahead (Scotsman page 20).

Mandelson book: Tony Blair is reported to be furious about the revelations in Lord Mandelson’s memoirs. Andy Burnham has called on the party to leave factional fighting behind (Times page 3, Herald page 6)

Army in schools: The Army has denied claims by SNP MSP Christine Grahame that the Ministry of Defence is deliberately targeting young children in a recruitment drive (Telegraph page 1).

Public service reform: Hamish Macdonnell contrasts the different attitudes to public service reform in England and in Scotland, and suggests that England has the better approach (Mail page 14).

Megrahi: US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is to look into suspicions by a group of senators that the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing was freed in return for Libyan oil (Herald page 1).