Salmond and Sturgeon Want the English Fish for More Fat Subsidies

.string.

Shakethedisease wrote: »

I don't believe it was her that brought the subject up.. did you notice ?

It was a clumsy faux "threat", but I'm sure you noticed that.

elantan

Moby wrote: »

I think being accused of lying is something every politician has to accept....not least Alex Salmond.

Murphy however really took to it the last two nights, he could do it for a living

And personally speaking I would welcome FFA ... And I am sick to the back teeth of the neverendum stories, it really seems to annoy the unionists so much they just can't seem to shut up about it ... Atleast the SNP have accepted the result unlike many unionists

Shakethedisease

.string. wrote: »

It was a clumsy faux "threat", but I'm sure you noticed that.

No, I didn't. The ITV format was better, because although less in the way of questions were asked. Everyone got a fair chance to answer them without interruptions. The last two Scottish ones just seemed to be shouting matches and people constantly talking/shouting over each other.

The polls are likely to start changing now as more people engage, I suspect Labour will start pulling back a bit of ground ( in Scotland ).. which is why I personally was more interested in how Murphy performed. Nicola Sturgeon talking about FFA or independence referendum's, in any context, is hardly something potential SNP voters are going to be afraid of hearing. And is extremely unlikely to lose her any support at this point.

Murphy however, is desperately in need of something with which to up his game for the next few weeks. I don't think the debates provided much in the way of that for him. That's my own view. But it does still seem that everyone is much more focused ( as the above posts/newspapers today show ) on Nicola Sturgeon for good or for bad. Which at least show's she's still by far making the most impact. Murphy still a bit of an irrelevance it seems.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Shakethedisease wrote: »

Hmmmm.. let me think... If at the moment Scotland raises about 53.8 billion in revenues, and get's back about 20-27 billion ( to be cut and figures hard to pin down) in a block grant for devolved areas with the rest distributed throughout the UK.

Do you not think a potential 27-34 billion Treasury black hole overnight if FFA wasn't phased in gradually might cause a bit of a shock to the UK system too ? Call me Mrs Thicky..

Eh???

What on earth are you on about....

Next year Scotland is forecast to spend £68.8bn and raise £53.7bn from onshore tax revenue. Offshore tax revenue is likely to be no more than a billion.

The Treasury would be instantly better off to the tune of £14.1 bn a year if it wasn't having to shovel that money into the Scotland Subsidy.

Scotland however would have to cut 20% of government spending in order to plug that black hole....

.string.

Shakethedisease wrote: »

No, I didn't. The ITV format was better, because although less in the way of questions were asked. Everyone got a fair chance to answer them without interruptions. The last two Scottish ones just seemed to be shouting matches and people constantly talking/shouting over each other.

The polls are likely to start changing now as more people engage, I suspect Labour will start pulling back a bit of ground ( in Scotland ).. which is why I personally was more interested in how Murphy performed. Nicola Sturgeon talking about FFA or independence referendum's, in any context, is hardly something potential SNP voters are going to be afraid of hearing. And is extremely unlikely to lose her any support at this point.

Murphy however, is desperately in need of something with which to up his game for the next few weeks. I don't think the debates provided much in the way of that for him. That's my own view. But it does still seem that everyone is much more focused ( as the above posts/newspapers today show ) on Nicola Sturgeon for good or for bad. Which at least show's she's still by far making the most impact. Murphy still a bit of an irrelevance it seems.

I agree the format is better. Contrary to what was said a few pages ago (I forget by whom) i thought the moderator did a reasonable job though it was a bit like controlling a bunch of fleas some of the time.

I loved his question to the Greens (who are close to communism although they would never admit to that dirty word) when he asked if they were against capitalism. Funny that.

The main point on the FFA thing, Shakey, is that as the case for FFA is damaged it also damages Sturgeon's case for negotiating more out of the Devolution arrangement. Having a clearly daft alternative means that her opposite numbers know that she is not taking her own supposedly point of view seriously, and that is an elementary mistake in negotiation. So I hope she keeps harping on about FFA, and keeps shooting herself in the foot.

Mind you, the Devolution settlement has already been discussed with the parties in Scotland, as according to the Vow. The Vow did not envisage a cosy one-on-one with the SNP alone; to do such would be to insult the Scottish referendum outcome.

.string.

The news that Oil discovery near Gatwick airport 'significant' comes at a good time with the downturn in North Sea supplies.

Now here's a novel idea, instead of claiming all revenues for England, why don't we use the proceeds for the benefit of all of the UK.

Someone will have to explain that concept to the SNP.

elantan

I saw this and do you know why instantly went through my head ?

YES independence here we come.... Although maybe we should stay and share the bounty ... Tis only fair after all

Enterprise_1701C

One thing that got me is the statement Sturgeon previously made, that if the Europe referendum went ahead, and the UK as a whole voted to leave but Scotland voted to stay, then she would block it.

She obviously does not believe in democracy.

The SNP also seemed to believe that they would still be part of the EU if they had voted for independence.

They obviously can be a little bit on the silly side.

IF the SNP get any power through siding with labour then they will gain independence whether the Scots as a whole want it or not, they will be out of Europe, NATO and everything else that being part of the UK entitles them to. The Greatest result of this would be that it would be a long time before Labour had any chance to utterly ruin the rest of the UK again.

All I can say is that if Scotland get independence I hope they enjoy being in a dictatorship.

Oh, and if Scotland want to hang around and share the bounty of the new oil find then they are welcome to, we Brits are nice like that.

Leanne1812

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

One thing that got me is the statement Sturgeon previously made, that if the Europe referendum went ahead, and the UK as a whole voted to leave but Scotland voted to stay, then she would block it.

She obviously does not believe in democracy.

The SNP also seemed to believe that they would still be part of the EU if they had voted for independence.

They obviously can be a little bit on the silly side.

IF the SNP get any power through siding with labour then they will gain independence whether the Scots as a whole want it or not, they will be out of Europe, NATO and everything else that being part of the UK entitles them to. The Greatest result of this would be that it would be a long time before Labour had any chance to utterly ruin the rest of the UK again.

All I can say is that if Scotland get independence I hope they enjoy being in a dictatorship.

Oh, and if Scotland want to hang around and share the bounty of the new oil find then they are welcome to, we Brits are nice like that.

You'll have to link the statement where Nicola said she will block it. How on earth could she block it? Does she have the power to block it? Per chance are some media outlets exaggerating?

Had Scotland chosen independence the situation would have been unprecedented - we all had our take on what would happen in the case of the EU - the truth is no one could state with any certainty what would have happened.

A democratically elected dictatorship, how does that work?

Enterprise_1701C

Leanne1812 wrote: »

You'll have to link the statement where Nicola said she will block it. How on earth could she block it? Does she have the power to block it? Per chance are some media outlets exaggerating?

Had Scotland chosen independence the situation would have been unprecedented - we all had our take on what would happen in the case of the EU - the truth is no one could state with any certainty what would have happened.

A democratically elected dictatorship, how does that work?

I can't link it, I heard it, pretty sure it was an excerpt of the seven way debate. Not the media, came out of her own mouth, no idea how she could block it but I did hear her say it.