Here's a quick thread on the chronology leading up to today's vote in the Scottish Parliament on whether ministers should go to court to investigate the finances of Donald Trump's Scottish resorts via a legal mechanism known as an Unexplained Wealth Order.👇

Intrigue surrounding the source of Trump's finances here is by no means new. An editorial in @TheScotsman questioned where the money was coming from back in *2008*. But the UWO issue came to prominence last Feb during exchanges in the Scottish Parliament. https://t.co/wA0GpIXxnI
The issue returned to parliament last November, when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said any consideration or application for an UWO were "properly matters for the Crown Office, not for the Scottish ministers."
This argument went against the explicit definition of who is able to apply for a UWO, as set out in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 / Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which states that "the Court of Session may, on an application made by the Scottish ministers, make an UWO"
The leading advocate, Aidan O'Neill QC, has also said Scottish ministers alone are responsible for decisions around UWOs, and that transferring responsibility to the Crown Office or Lord Advocate "does not and can not" change its legal responsibilities. https://t.co/9rlBQ26Ku8
A few days after I wrote this story, Mr O'Neill's advice was put to Ms Sturgeon in parliament. She said she had not read it "in detail" and maintained UWO matters lay with the Lord Advocate.

https://t.co/xvBIEAc0t3
Which led to the story I wrote on Sunday evening, revealing there would be a parliamentary vote on whether ministers should apply for a UWO against Mr Trump, given what @patrickharvie has characterised as "serious and evidenced" concerns over his finances. https://t.co/aPwwsNkt8w
Here's my column in today's @TheScotsman, spelling out some of the many mysteries surrounding the money behind Mr Trump's Scottish entities, which were acquired as part of an uncharacteristic decade-long spending spree. https://t.co/MxcUCWmk5i

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Handy guide for Dominic Raab and other Brexiteers, and for anyone keen to replace our EU trade with trade with the rest of the world on WTO terms...


You can't magic away the vast distances involved. Clue: we fly in only 1/192th of our trade compared to the amount that arrives via sea


But even if you invented a teleporter tomorrow, WTO terms are so bad, so stacked against us, that a no-deal Brexit will be a total economic disaster


And while the Brexiteers fantasise, real jobs are being lost, investments are drying up, companies are moving assets to the EU27 or redomiciling. All already happened and happening right now, not in some mythical


Of course, there are many, many myths that Brexiteers perpetuate that are total fiction. You've seen a couple of them already. The thread below busts a whole lot

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