Salmond and Sturgeon Want the English Fish for More Fat Subsidies

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Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

That would be an excellent title. The only way we will know whether Scotland would float or sink would be either independence of FFA, ie with no money coming from the rest of the UK. I know where my bet would be though.

It's very tempting to suggest giving the SNP FFA but I really would not want to do that. Leaving aside the practical impossibility of still being responsible for a over-borrowing SNP Government's Strugeonomics, I would not want the Scots to suffer such deprivation. Don't forget it would not affect just the SNP but all Scots.

Thrugelmir

Shakethedisease wrote: »

No, it wasn't pulled apart. And it's still policy for the SNP. It wasn't spin and it was vote winning ( where people were able to vote for a party standing on an anti-austerity platform ).

In case you've forgotten. As I said spin for the electorate.

When the SNP launched its manifesto earlier this week it was with a demand to for the next UK government to "end austerity". But the rhetoric does not match the reality. The IFS has today published its assessment of the main parties' fiscal plans, concluding that the gap between the SNP and its rivals, Labour and the Lib Dems, is far smaller than suggested.

It found that while the SNP would increase total public spending in real terms each year (by 0.5 per cent) "departmental spending would be broadly frozen between 2014–15 and 2019–20, and departmental spending outside of the NHS and aid could be facing a cut of 4.3 per cent". Real-terms cuts to all departments between 2010-11 and 2019-20 would amount to 9.1 per cent under the SNP, 12.1 per cent under the Conservatives, 5.9 per cent under the Lib Dems and 4.6 per cent under Labour. In the case of unprotected areas (everything excluding international development, the NHS and education), the SNP is forecast to cut by 22.2 per cent, the Tories by 27.6 per cent, the Lib Dems by 18.3 per cent and Labour by 13 per cent.

"Their stated plans do not necessarily match their anti-austerity rhetoric," the IFS concludes of the SNP. Indeed, as the graph below shows, Labour could be outspending the party by 2018-19 with the Lib Dems surpassing them in 2019-20. While the SNP's plans "imply a slower pace of austerity than those of the other three parties", they ultimately mean "a longer period" too. The nationalists' commitment to ensure that the deficit and the national debt fall "in every year as a share of national income" means that they have less room for manoeuvre than commonly assumed.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/04/snps-anti-austerity-rhetoric-does-not-reflect-its-plans-says-ifs

ruggedtoast

Apparently the snp supporters were absolutely beastly to poor Charles Kennedy before he died.

elantan

Sigh ........

[Deleted User]

Well now - if this story comes true, there will be a chance for Westminster to show that all parts of the UK will be treated equally -

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-could-host-us-cruise-missiles-as-tensions-with-russia-rise-says-foreign-secretary-10303038.html

After all, fair's fair - I'm sure HMG would relish the opportunity to site nucelar missiles, say, 25 miles from England's largest city?

WR

Tromking

Wild_Rover wrote: »

Well now - if this story comes true, there will be a chance for Westminster to show that all parts of the UK will be treated equally -

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-could-host-us-cruise-missiles-as-tensions-with-russia-rise-says-foreign-secretary-10303038.html

After all, fair's fair - I'm sure HMG would relish the opportunity to site nucelar missiles, say, 25 miles from England's largest city?

WR

How silly is that post? ....and it's the UK's largest city!

[Deleted User]

Tromking wrote: »

How silly is that post? ....and it's the UK's largest city!

Well, fair's fair. If the nukes at Faslane are 25 miles from Scotland's biggest city...:)

Mind you I can well understand the population of London not wanting them around.

WR

Tromking

Wild_Rover wrote: »

Well, fair's fair. If the nukes at Faslane are 25 miles from Scotland's biggest city...:)

Mind you I can well understand the population of London not wanting them around.

WR

Are you suggesting that any nuclear strike on London is dependent on there being nukes stationed nearby?
I think the good people of London would think they'd be a target anyway, it being the centre of government and all.

Shakethedisease

Thrugelmir wrote: »

In case you've forgotten. As I said spin for the electorate.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/04/snps-anti-austerity-rhetoric-does-not-reflect-its-plans-says-ifs

See this is where I'm at a disadvantage. Because I could only post a countering argument from a pro-SNP website or blog. Which would be instantly dismissed as 'SNP propaganda'.

Suffice to say that most of the voting electorate 'got' the fact that anti-austerity, in this case, meant the deficit still coming down. But more money invested into public spending and less in the way of cuts.

And I said earlier on in the thread a few pages back that the SNP and Labour's plan's weren't that dissimilar. The Tories are on another level altogether with their debt/deficit plans. Which some view as unnecessarily harsh in some sectors. = SNP/Green/Plaid - Anti-austerity...as in nothing like the Tories are going to do.

The SNP went to great pains to say that the deficit would still be coming down over the course of this parliament ( well where they got coverage in Scotland anyway ). They made no claims that it wouldn't. Nor that everything would be reversed and they )and Labour) would simply ignore the debt/deficit if they were in power. The newstatesman's/IFS take was nothing we didn't already know.

Nicola Sturgeon called it a 'modest increase in public spending' every time she was asked. Isn't HS2/Crossrail the same thing anyway ? Seems there's austerity, then there's billions about for capital projects/job creation when it suits.

The transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said: “When the first trains start running through these tunnels from 2018, Crossrail, together with the billions of pounds we are investing in the Thameslink programme, will transform travel across London and the south east. It will also play a vital role in driving forward our long-term economic plan by boosting business and creating thousands of new jobs.”

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/04/david-cameron-hails-london-crossrail-engineering-triumph

Generali

Greenham Commom was only 50 odd miles from London.