It has been announced that the Scottish Executive will be re-branded as the Scottish Government. This is an announcement that has long been expected and should come as no surprise to anyone in Scottish politics.
One of the main problems with the word Executive was that it wasn't clear and descriptive enough. There is no other government in the world apart from that of Northern Ireland who uses the term Executive. There has often been confusion in the first eight years of the Scottish Parliament, with members of the public and journalists failing to correctly identify what is done by the Government and what is done by Parliament. It is good that the SNP Government is moving quickly to address this and Alex Salmond and his team are to be applauded for doing so.
The re-branding will extend to letterheads and written communications though it will stop short of formal name change at this point as this would require amendment of the Scotland Act at Westminster, something which is unlikely in the extreme. The re-branding includes a saltire and has dropped the royal seal which used to adorn the stationery of the Scottish Executive.
