Salmond and Sturgeon Want the English Fish for More Fat Subsidies

Tromking

.string. wrote: »

I see that Sturgeon has stated she will "represent UK interests". I don't believe a word of it. She is not going to be an MP so she can mind her own business. Talk about trying to pull strings from afar. She represents only the SNP in Scotland.

It may well be part of the plan, but I can`t help but think that Sturgeon is over playing her hand somewhat. As a mostly Labour voter and a local trade union branch official she is not any type of progressive I recognise.

Thrugelmir

Tromking wrote: »

but I can`t help but think that Sturgeon is over playing her hand somewhat.

What hand? Anti austerity is all fluffy words. In the real world ones actions will meet with a response. Then we'll see her mettle under pressure.

Shakethedisease

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

In other words, now you are quite keen to keep the £7bn a year subsidy from the rUK taxpayers, that you used to claim didn't exist.

I don't claim it doesn't exist. I said many don't trust the figures ( can you hear the sound of shredding machines firing up at the Treasury right now ? ). They're full of guessimates. Plus now, isn't 3, 5 or 10 years from now. And no-one knows where Scotland/UK will be in a few years compared to now, politically or economically.

As for myself being 'quite keen' on anything. I didn't know what was going to be in the manifesto today. I've also never claimed that 2015-2016 FFA was anything more than a 'scare' campaign tactic from Scottish Labour. Which it most certainly was.. and I say 'was' because the Tory party, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Piers Morgan and several big newspapers.. seem to have totally and utterly lost the plot today in terms of negative campaigning. Jim Murphy and Kezia could never hope to compete with that.

However, it does seem that Full Fiscal Responsibility rather than Autonomy is what the SNP refer to throughout the Smith Commission. So it looks like it was FFR all along..



And what about some of those more leafy Edinburgh No voting districts.. what's on earth is happening to them ?

( Ashcroft today ) Edinburgh North & Leith :
SNP 43% (+33)
Labour 29% (-9)
Conservatives 14% (-1)
Liberal Democrats 6% (-28)


Edinburgh South :
SNP 37% (+29)
Labour 34% (-1)
Conservatives 16% (-6)
Liberal Democrats 8% (-26)

Very unexpected polling for these. Most were expecting to see an SNP rise, but not the lead or at level pegging ( margin of error ). Those swings are HUGE. The Tories/Scottish Labour may want to consider leaving off all that demonising and badmouthing for a bit imo. It's only garnering more SNP support. And there's far too much conflation of 'Scots' with the SNP in the press/tv which is annoying a fair whack of No voters too from what I'm seeing.

.string.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What hand? Anti austerity is all fluffy words. In the real world ones actions will meet with a response. Then we'll see her mettle under pressure.

I wonder what part she expects to play, not being an MP.

I can imagine edicts coming from SNP Headquarters in Scotland with the Westminster NP MPs having no freedom to do anything but quote from SNP pamphlets. That will play well.

Froggitt

Shakethedisease wrote: »

So Barnett disappears? Will that be enough to pay for bailing out the Scottish banks next time they go t1ts up? What about all the other things that taxes pay for like the Armed Forces? Or should "someone else" be paying for things like that?

kabayiri

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What hand? Anti austerity is all fluffy words. In the real world ones actions will meet with a response. Then we'll see her mettle under pressure.

I notice that in the News tonight Sinn Fein; another party with an independence background; is seizing on the election as an opportunity to grab an additional £1.5bn.

It will be very difficult to satisfy all the demands from different interest groups whilst at the same time making inroads into the deficit.

kabayiri

Froggitt wrote: »

So Barnett disappears? Will that be enough to pay for bailing out the Scottish banks next time they go t1ts up? What about all the other things that taxes pay for like the Armed Forces? Or should "someone else" be paying for things like that?

I think it's reasonable that Scotland could 'buy' the required shared services from the UK. It would save on start up costs, and rUK could even try and make a profit on the deals.

Enterprise_1701C

Have you seen the ridiculous points in the SNP manifesto?

One of them is

EU referendum – proposal that there should be a double majority requirement, whereby each of the four constituent nations of the UK would have to vote for withdrawal before the UK as a whole could leave the EU.

We joined as one United Kingdom, we can't just decide that Scotland could stop us making whatever decision the UK makes as a whole - and they still seem to forget that they would not be allowed into the EU if they were independent, guessing that they have this in mind. It has to be the decision of the UK as a whole, whichever way it may go.

Oh, and another little wheeze, no HS2 unless it starts in Scotland :eek:

And they say they will have the interests of the UK at heart.

I have to say to the idiot that runs the party, we are not idiots, we know you intend to bankrupt the country to make the finances of Scotland look better when labour finally cut the ties. We are on to you and you will not win, even if you end up in government it will not be for long.

.string.

For them as may be interested, I recommend a glance through these documents which give the draft legislation which was conceived to be the enactment of the Smith Report to which all Scottish Parties signed up.

Of particular interest to our recent discussion are the Fiscal arrangements in the document "An Enduring Settlement" which gives some information on the Fiscal Restraints with which the Scottish Government would need to comply in the new Devolution Settlement. As I understand it, the result will not be a free-for-all spending spree by the SNP although no doubt its barrack-room lawyers will do their best.

I presume the document reflects the Coalition View but would form a starting point for a Labour Government should that be the party in Power.

kabayiri

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

Have you seen the ridiculous points in the SNP manifesto?
...
Oh, and another little wheeze, no HS2 unless it starts in Scotland :eek:
...

HS2 has had a lot of money spent already in the planning phase. There is no way the numbers will work serving a relatively sparse region like Scotland.

They should leave rail planning to the experts.