Why the Tories Won

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

Well for a start he nationalised vast swathes of industry. That's pretty hard left.

Coal, steel, and the railways. I'd say that was a chunk not a swathe.

But Attlee wasn't hard left. He was quite opposed to any notion of 'class war' for one thing. He liked cricket and the Times crossword, and didn't like communism.

Generali

antrobus wrote: »

Coal, steel, and the railways. I'd say that was a chunk not a swathe.

But Attlee wasn't hard left. He was quite opposed to any notion of 'class war' for one thing. He liked cricket and the Times crossword, and didn't like communism.

I guess that reinforces my point: the British have never voted for a hard left PM.

kabayiri

I think the Tories are being clever in pushing ahead with more regional powers for the Northern cities. This is evident in Manchester, which is getting more control of spending in specific areas.

This is the way things should go. Budgets devolved to a regional level free from National overtones. The needs of Leeds ; Manchester ; Edinburgh ; Glasgow ; Aberdeen. They can all be different, and require support at different times.

kabayiri

CLAPTON wrote: »

MPs from Scotland are welcome in London
...

They've always been welcome. We have had recent PMs and chancellors from Scotland. There can be no accusation that English MPs were favoured.

IveSeenTheLight

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Fully costed spending plans are just spin and bullsh1t as well because no party has any idea what tax revenues are going to be, how much revenue their changes to the tax system will raise, how much their spending pledges will actually cost etc.

Why can this not be challenged?

I know exactly what a budget and forecasting is and fully appreciate that the levels of revenue etc can be fluid.

Any business set's those forecasts and works on targets set by them.

It would provide a means of evaluating against how they projected and take an overall view of whether they achieved those targets or articulate reasons why they failed to achieve the expected targets.

We've let government after government get away with not being clear, specific and accountable for too long.

Why can't it change?

IveSeenTheLight

wotsthat wrote: »

They've never had 56 MP's before - that's going to be difficult to manage and not helped by the party leader not having a seat herself. That's new territory.

Angus Robertson is the SNP Leader at Westminster

Angus Robertson confirmed as Westminster leader

Mr Robertson has been the SNP Group Leader at Westminster since 2007, and his appointment today was supported by SNP Depute Stewart Hosie MP and former SNP Leader and First Minister Alex Salmond MP.

Your still hoping and looking for disharmony where it is not prevalent

IveSeenTheLight

Generali wrote: »

Do you really believe that the value of 56 SNP MPs returned from Scotland is greater than 56 Conservative MPs returned from the South East of England?

Your varying from your point that the 56 SNP MP's were meaningless.
Which I disagreed with.

I made no comparison or value comparing to 56 Conservative MP's from the South East

michaels

kabayiri wrote: »

I think the Tories are being clever in pushing ahead with more regional powers for the Northern cities. This is evident in Manchester, which is getting more control of spending in specific areas.

This is the way things should go. Budgets devolved to a regional level free from National overtones. The needs of Leeds ; Manchester ; Edinburgh ; Glasgow ; Aberdeen. They can all be different, and require support at different times.

But the more transparent regional finances are made the more those who lose out will look to reduce the level of transfers so it is likely to drive a federalization of the UK.

CLAPTON

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Why can this not be challenged?

I know exactly what a budget and forecasting is and fully appreciate that the levels of revenue etc can be fluid.

Any business set's those forecasts and works on targets set by them.

It would provide a means of evaluating against how they projected and take an overall view of whether they achieved those targets or articulate reasons why they failed to achieve the expected targets.

We've let government after government get away with not being clear, specific and accountable for too long.

Why can't it change?

government publishes detail revenue and spending forecast

OBR vets them all.

they are discussed in detail in newspapers, magazines, parliament etc

monthly updates (outturns) are published (although often need to be corrected)

I believe even the Scottish government does the same

what exactly do you want thats missing

wotsthat

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Angus Robertson is the SNP Leader at Westminster

Angus Robertson confirmed as Westminster leader

Your still hoping and looking for disharmony where it is not prevalent

I knew that. Do you think Alex Salmond really had no designs on being the Westminster leader?

Is there no potential for someone who has managed to win a parliamentary seat getting just a little bit resentful at having their strings pulled by a distant puppet mistress?

We all know the SNP have a single end game in mind and that's to progress towards Scottish independence but to expect 5 years of harmony and agreement about how that is best achieved is naive.