Wasting money doesn't help

stephen163

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

They have put devolution in place.
It's independence they need to start. Even a referendum to ask the people if they want this.

I can't really see Wales, Scotland or NI voting yes to devolution. Is there public appetite in England for getting rid of the celtic nations?...the answer is probably one third yes, one third no and one third apathy. I think the reason the govt has been luke warm on the idea of devolved power is the possibility that it might open doors to further regional breakways or a trend of moving power away from London toward the regions.

IveSeenTheLight

stephen163 wrote: »

I can't really see Wales, Scotland or NI voting yes to devolution. Is there public appetite in England for getting rid of the celtic nations?...the answer is probably one third yes, one third no and one third apathy. I think the reason the govt has been luke warm on the idea of devolved power is the possibility that it might open doors to further regional breakways or a trend of moving power away from London toward the regions.

You ask if there is an appetite for people in England to get rid of the celtic nations.
Shouldn't question be posed to the people in the celtic nations?

As for devolution, I repeat

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

They have put devolution in place.
It's independence they need to start. Even a referendum to ask the people if they want this.

Devolution - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devolution

Independence - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence

stephen163

Oh yeah, sorry, when I said devolution, I really meant independence.

arcalis

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Have you considered why Westminster wants to hold on to Scotland when for a long time independence has been requested by many.
Their concession, to give devolution while still keeping the overall control at Westminster.
The government wont even hold a referendum to ask the question once and for all

Devolution has been one of the more successful ventures of the UK government but any talk of independance for any country is ludicrous. Not only are the majority against it but together the union is stronger.

Originally Posted by chris spackman
£34k on postage, £700 per month on a taxi, a TV License put through as an expense. In all the figures for the last tax year work out at an average of £135,600 per MP on top of a basic wage of over £60,000 and a total of over £87m in expenses, nice when we have to face higher tax bills and less money in our pocket. Matthew Elliott, head of pressure group the TaxPayers' Alliance, said while families struggled to pay higher tax bills, MPs were spending "more and more of our money on themselves each year".

So when the public are looking at job cuts, loosing homes etc MP's are fitting theirs out etc with OUR money.

Does that not bother you? Just think what it could do for the NHS,Schools and our pockets!

The need for expenses is justified and the possible mis-use of them bya minority is a risk worth taking in order to have a variety and cross section of society.

How are we going to attract the likes of say an ex-nurse with 2 kids to become an MP. To do her job properly she'd have to be willing to sacrifice a massive amount of family time, do enormous amounts of travel, live for large amounts of time in one of the most expensive cities in the world all whilst putting her constituency first.
Her added expenses are going to be huge and complex. She would need a flat to rent and it would have to be kitted out such that she could live and work there comfortably. Otherwise the scrifices she is making wouldn't be worthwhile and the only people who'd be attracted to coming MPs would be career politicians and rich toffs.

IveSeenTheLight

arcalis wrote: »

Devolution has been one of the more successful ventures of the UK government but any talk of independance for any country is ludicrous. Not only are the majority against it but together the union is stronger.

A) If there was a vote for independence, I would vote yes.

The SNP have sampained for many years ofor Independence and now they are the major party in Scotland

This link shows that the support for independence is growing
http://www.snp.org/node/14456

stephen163

Interesting article on how government expenditure is allocated throughout the regions of the UK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_formula

Interesting to see that London receives more tax per person than Wales!