Scottish labour's attempt to win the Glasgow East Westminster by-election and save Gordon Brown's job has suffered a humiliation after it emerged the party was about to select its fourth-choice candidate.

Support for independence has dropped slightly in the first opinion poll conducted since the SNP government's first parliamentary session in office.

Mike Rumbles, the outsider candidate in the Liberal Democrat leadership contest, says he wants to see Scotland taking full control of its economy, and getting a slice of North Sea oil.

A Scottish Tory MEP at the centre of an expenses probe has been cleared by the European parliamentary authorities.

The Scottish Orange Order is to rebrand its Twelfth of July Orange Walk as a week-long cultural festival and tourist attraction.