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Performance of SNP MPs in Westminster


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An SNP Victory at Holyrood, no matter how overwhelming, will not result in Scotland leaving the UK. Only the democratic will of the people expressed  in a referendum will do that and, as has been stated ad nauseum there are no such plans at present.

The SNP government are too busy concentrating on competently governing the country in the face of savage cuts unnecessarily imposed by George Obourne and his cohorts. So competently in fact that it looks very much as though the voters will hand them another outright majority in the Spring notwithstanding a voting system specifically designed to prevent such a thing.

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We cant leave the UK without another referendum and we cant hold a referendum as the temporary power allowing a Scottish Government to call one has expired and will not be included in new powers from WM.

Given that it's just over a year since you were told in no uncertain terms that the majority of the electorate is quite happy where it is and since then the oil price has gone t!tsup along with most of the SNP-run devolved public services .... I wouldn't worry too much about that!

However, it is quite clear what you chaps are after.... the facility to call a referendum every other week until you finally fluke one single result and then shut up shop for all time.

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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The SNP government are too busy concentrating on competently governing the country

:lol::lol: Just the kind of light relief needed to brighten up a dull Tuesday!:lol::lol:

As health, education and, with Police Scotland leading the charge, law and order continue to collapse about our ears, the only thing the SNP has ever concentrated on is the grievance-driven break up of the United Kingdom. In fact it probably doesn't matter that our public services are falling apart under their incompetent, part time stewardship if they can try to use this as a possible source of resentment of Westmonster.

On that subject, if the SNP think that Osborne isn't raising enough tax revenue to support public services, why don't they raise their own cash through the powers they already have such as variable tax rates? I have to have a laugh when the Nats blame the Tory/Westminster Axis of Evil for alleged inadequate funding of hospitals, councils and schools when they have made the conscious decision not to raise cash through charging university fees like other parts of the UK or for prescriptions. In addition they have tied the hands of local councils with regard to increasing council tax whilst claiming partly to offset this disadvantage by giving them money which would also be used elsewhere by any administration with an iota of nous or competence.

The mess which our devolved public services are in is quite simply the result of the already feckless SNP having a single and entirely different priority - plus their own misconceived means of allocating and raising what they get within the powers they have.

It's an interesting scam - make a complete hash of exercising your powers and funding your services and blame the people against whom you are ever- desperate to grievance-monger. The only problem is that there is a law of diminishing returns here because most of the people who are stupid enough to buy this kind of stuff have already, for the time being, been "converted" over the last year or so.

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That'll be the Scottish government who are building new schools. The government who built the only new hospital in UK in recent times and who are looking into a new hospital to replace the Belford in Fort William. The government who a couple of days ago announced that the £25 million left over from Commonwealth games would go to SNHS. The government who got rid of all the fat cat chief constables and their hangers on around the country and replaced them with policemen on the ground.

If the people of Scotland, who are not stupid and not blinded by lies and spin, decide that the current administration is not doing the best for the people of Scotland I'm quite sure they'll make it known come next May.

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No doubt we will have a Holyrood election thread in due course when the record of the SNP Government can be debated, but for the meantime - back on topic!

The latest antics from Angus and his rabble is to oppose a bill on extending the Sunday trading hours in England (and Wales I think?) to make them more broadly in line with the hours we enjoy in Scotland.  Their excuse for this unwarranted interference in an issue which is a devolved matter in Scotland is that if retailers extend hours in England they will put wages down in Scotland!  Now regardless of whether there is any truth in that (and it seems hard to see any logic in it) their petty interfering only serves to illustrate an argument against independence.

If they genuinely believe that decisions of trading hours in England will impact on pay rates in Scotland then they should reflect on the fact that the Scottish electorate will have absolutely no input into influencing these decisions should Scotland become independent.  If trading hours in England are so closely related to pay rates in Scotland then clearly the way forward must be to retain the Union and hand back to Westminster the powers around trading hours so that these issues can applied consistently UK wide.  The SNP is always bleating on about Scotland not being treated like an equal partner, so seeking to look at trading hours UK wide would be an opportunity for them, in turn, to treat the rest of the UK as equal partners.  It won't happen of course.  Instead, the SNP will continue to abuse it's privileged position in Westminster by interfering with things that are none of their business whilst at the same time fanning the flames of independence by finding something else to fuel a spurious sense of grievance in Scotland.

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On the advice of USDAW, the retail workers union, the SNP, Labour and 20 Tory rebels oppose the bill that would allow large retailers, Tesco, Asda, etc to open longer than 6 hours on a sunday. USDAW believe that the additional hours will be paid for by changes to wage structure for all staff across the UK.

From Angus Robertson:- "We're not opposed to Sunday trading, it is a good thing, but the Government should not do this on the back of workers. At the present time there is a premium for working on Sundays and if we were to see Sunday turning into just another day the large multiples would be tempted to try and squeeze the pay rates on a Sunday to bring it in line with the rest of the week.

From Labour:-

Bill Esterson, Labour’s shadow minister for small business, said: “We know that shopping habits are changing, not least with internet shopping, but we have been consistent in raising the concerns of small businesses, retail workers and families in speaking out against the Tories who are seeking to make sweeping changes to Sunday trading laws through legislative sleight of hand when there is little appetite for such a change and which was not in the Tory manifesto at the recent general election.

“We welcome that, after months of indecision and delay, the SNP have finally come to a firm position on this issue. This just goes to show that the best way to defend workers' rights and conditions is to maintain unity and work together across the UK."

Well done DD on your attempt to discredit the SNP on this but opposition to this bill is to safeguard wages across the country. My understanding is that the giant supermarkets, who are the ones wanting the extended hours intend to balance their books by making sunday working the same as any other day. i.e. No double time payments etc.

The full telegraph article containing above quotes can be read here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11985574/Sunday-trading-law-proposals-face-defeat-at-hands-of-SNP.html

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It is of note that extended Sunday opening in Scotland appears not to have created the problem feared in England, nor have the large retailers made Sunday the same as other days for the current Sunday opening hours South of the Border.  Presumably if this is what they are now considering is appropriate across the country then regardless of what happens South of the Border, they will move to this in Scotland in order to balance the books.  The real reason USDAW are involved is simply that the workers don't want the more unsocial hours regardless of whether they get paid more for them or not.

Of course, if prolonged Sunday opening impacts so much on workers rights that the SNP feel it their moral duty to defend workers across the UK, then we can expect the SNP Government to bring in reduced opening hours in Scotland to bring Scotland into parity with the rest of the UK.  The SNP have had nearly 8 years to defend workers rights and to limit the amount of Sunday working but have chosen not to do it. 

It is interesting you should quote the labour minister saying “We welcome that, after months of indecision and delay, the SNP have finally come to a firm position on this issue. This just goes to show that the best way to defend workers' rights and conditions is to maintain unity and work together across the UK."  Clearly the SNP would not be in a position to get involved in this issue if Scotland was an independent country.  It is good to see you have come round to the position that the best way of defending Scottish workers' rights is work together as part of a united state :smile:

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Of course, if prolonged Sunday opening impacts so much on workers rights that the SNP feel it their moral duty to defend workers across the UK, then we can expect the SNP Government to bring in reduced opening hours in Scotland to bring Scotland into parity with the rest of the UK.  The SNP have had nearly 8 years to defend workers rights and to limit the amount of Sunday working but have chosen not to do it. 

 

Yes but it's only since May that "the 55" have had the opportunity to use their mob handedness and mob tactics at Westminster to create a fuss for the sake of it - hence embarrassing much of the Scottish population with their loutish behaviour.

However what the SNP seem to be too obtuse to understand is that much of their cringeworthy, Anglophobic whining about matters English at Westminster is actually doing quite a fine job demonstrating just what an important and cohesive institution the Union is.

For instance, if English workers' pay and conditions are going to affect Scotland, that's a pretty good indicator of what a politically and socially cohesive unit this island is.

Then there was one of the more recent weekly helpings of disingenuous bollox which we get in the Courier from "Our Man In Westminster" Drew Hendry where he was having a whine at a third runway at Heathrow coming under EVEL (anything the English get, the SNP will of course bleat about.) Apparently Heathrow connectivity is so important to Scotland that is can't possibly be left to the English. Well if it's that important Drew, why do you dedicate your entire existence to attempting to place Heathrow in a foreign country? Indeed not only a foreign country but, if that were to be done through the EU referendum "trigger", a non-EU foreign country to which Scotland (if accepted) would be an EU appendage with all the frontier implications that would have.

Let's face it. "The 55" are principally a politically naïve rabble who have got very lucky indeed and, due to the bizarre circumstances of their election, would not darken the door of any other Parliament in the world. Their sole aim is to create trouble in pursuit of the one policy which is the sole aim of them all - well apart from that quintessential Scotswoman :blink:Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh :laugh:who is just glad that she has at last managed to attach herself to a party she can get elected for.

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Interesting article in The Times by Magnus Linklater regarding The Scotland Bill.  He writes,

"Full realisation of what all this entails came as an embarrassment to the SNP government last week, when it tried to argue that the bill would not let it reverse George Osborne's tax credit cuts, only to be forced to accept that it would.

"It was a revealing moment.  It suggested that ministers prefer sheltering behind excuses instead of determining how these fiscal powers can be used to best advantage.

"The time has come, surely, for the SNP government to stop the buck-passing and start using its new powers.  What, then, is holding it back?  Could it be that taking on more powers means shouldering more of the blame when things go wrong?  That taxes might have to rise and benefits cut?  That UK ministers are not the only ones blamed for austerity?  Maybe the view beyond the union umbrella is not as enticing as it once seemed."

Linklater may only just have twigged what the SNP's game is but some of us twigged it a long time ago.  In the coming months I am confident that many others will realise that the SNP are all about blaming others for their own shortcomings.

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Interesting article in The Times by Magnus Linklater regarding The Scotland Bill.  He writes,

"Full realisation of what all this entails came as an embarrassment to the SNP government last week, when it tried to argue that the bill would not let it reverse George Osborne's tax credit cuts, only to be forced to accept that it would.

"It was a revealing moment.  It suggested that ministers prefer sheltering behind excuses instead of determining how these fiscal powers can be used to best advantage.

"The time has come, surely, for the SNP government to stop the buck-passing and start using its new powers.  What, then, is holding it back?  Could it be that taking on more powers means shouldering more of the blame when things go wrong?  That taxes might have to rise and benefits cut?  That UK ministers are not the only ones blamed for austerity?  Maybe the view beyond the union umbrella is not as enticing as it once seemed."

Linklater may only just have twigged what the SNP's game is but some of us twigged it a long time ago.  In the coming months I am confident that many others will realise that the SNP are all about blaming others for their own shortcomings.

If you are correct that will, of course, be reflected in major reversals for the SNP in the Holyrood elections in my and replacement by an administration run by Unionist minded parties.

Happily for the people of Scotland, you are wide of the mark and sufficient of what may just now be the most energised and politically aware electorate in Western Europe will be astute enough to recognise the truth and hand our current competent and compassionate administration another well merited term in office.

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If we're bandying quotes around then I prefer this one taken from the facebook page of Alan Bissett, Playwriter from Falkirk

 

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Never heard of the guy any more than I've heard of most of "the 55", but he seems as desperate at Nicola Sturgeon has been for the Tories to stay in power as fuel for the grievance machine. The trouble with most of these people is that they are so parochial and narrow minded that they can only see the world in terms of Scotland. It's almost as if they are reincarnations of the apocryphal P and J headline writers - "Buchan Man Drowned" when the Titanic went down and "Giant Neep Found At Turriff" the day after WW2 was declared - whose world picture struggled to escape the orbit of Bothy Nichts in the same suffocatingly restrictive manner as now adopted by The National.

Scottish Nationalism really is so pathetically parochial and inward as well as backward looking. People like that totally fail to understand or accept (or both) that the significant majority of the Scottish electorate, at the invitation of the SNP, are perfectly happy with the status quo - and that the backside has since fallen totally out of any flimsy case they may have had then. The Scottish Poeple's biggest political grievance is in fact a lot closer to home - it's the massive extent to which Scots have been criminally disempowered by an SNP who have hijacked previously locally exercised powers and centralised them so they can have absolute control over the increasing hash they are making of them.

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the most energised and politically aware electorate in Western Europe will be astute enough

You must have gleaned that one from the same Fairy Storybook as "competently governing the country" (and "$103 a barrel")! Good use of the principle that, however fantastic it is, there are always people around who are stupid enough to believe it if you assert it often enough. (By the way that's "fantastic" in its proper meaning of the stuff of fantasy rather than the dumbed down use of the word repeated ad nauseam by Nicola Sturgeon)

I somehow don't think the quoted statement fits too well with the uninformed ballot box fodder which hugely topped the Nats up to "the 45" last September and "the 55" in May.

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Interesting article in The Times by Magnus Linklater regarding The Scotland Bill.  He writes,

"Full realisation of what all this entails came as an embarrassment to the SNP government last week, when it tried to argue that the bill would not let it reverse George Osborne's tax credit cuts, only to be forced to accept that it would.

Yes, I'm sure the SNP were deeply disappointed that this was another opportunity for grievance-mongering which they were being denied. I mean sod the plebs on tax credits (as long as they continue to vote YesNP). Their value as a political football has been seriously reduced here!

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There's none more narrow minded than Mr Bannerman. Charles are you responsible for the educating of Kezia Dugdale. She's another who cant talk about future or party manifesto cos she's too busy slagging of the party who are doing a very good job of running the Scottish Parliament. The same party who'll run it for another four years at least.

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There's none more narrow minded than Mr Bannerman. Charles are you responsible for the educating of Kezia Dugdale. She's another who cant talk about future or party manifesto cos she's too busy slagging of the party who are doing a very good job of running the Scottish Parliament. The same party who'll run it for another four years at least.

So let me get this straight. Labour are obsessed to the exclusion of all else with criticising the SNP, whose sole priority of running our public services with ruthless efficiency means that they wouldn't dream of saying a single bad word about Westminster, the Tories or the English?:clapoverhead: The problem with the SNP is that they are so preoccupied with dishing it out that when they get some back.... "they don't like it up 'em Captain Mainwaring.... they do not like it up 'em!"

Does the SNP have some centralised (sic:lol:) database of vacuous assertions for keeping its credulous supporters believing it is a) interested in and b) competent at running our services and from which you and Kingsmills borrow extensively in order to post on here?

In "1984", Winston Smith very quickly rumbled the likes of "war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength". Unfortunately among supporters of the SNP there don't seem to be too many Winston Smiths with respect to North British equivalents such as "our devolved public services are wonderful, oil means infinite wealth, Westminster the Tories and the English are all pants".

 The capacity of the SNP to invent random statements without a word of justification and hope people will believe them is indeed formidable. However these have been fairly effective in bringing on board (for the time being) the kind of poor uncritical souls who have been flocking to the black noose on the yellow background in recent years.

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One of the things that really irritates me about the SNP is the way it constantly rubbishes the United Kingdom in order to convince the voter that Scotland would be better off going it's own way.  It is therefore rather telling that on Armistice Day, when we pause to reflect on the sacrifices men and women have made to defend our freedoms, more economic news was released demonstrating how well the UK is doing in recovering from the global recession.  Unemployment in the UK has now fallen to a 7 year low despite further massive immigration of people from other EU states seeking work. 

Whilst the SNP continues to peddle their negative message of gloom and doom, people from the rest of Europe want to be part of the UK and flock here to seize the opportunities available in this great country of ours.  It is high time people stopped listening to the incessant whingeing and woke up to the fact being part of the UK is a pretty good thing to be.

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Wow!!! DD doesn't follow the Tory line that say's immigrant's are sponging of our society and only coming here for the freebies. The SNP has known that for years and fights for the rights and freedom of all within EEC who choose to settle in our country. And we dont peddle doom and gloom. We know our country is great and prosperous but we also know it could be greater and more prosperous is we had control over our own health and wellbeing.

Charles doesn't think we can cope financially because he see's only the price of oil as our income. Did you know that the computer game Grand Theft Auto generated more income for Scotland in the last few years than oil has done at its highest price. We are a country that exports a hell of a lot more than oil and which generates a vast income for the UK treasury. That's the only reason they want to cling on to us.

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It's hardly a surprise that I would not follow the Tory line!  They might be getting more right than the SNP at the moment, but that is not difficult and it doesn't mean that I'll vote for them.  With regard to prosperity, you may recall that in the referendum the "Yes" vote was massively boosted by a campaign which targeted the poorest in our society and told them the only way they had any hope of escaping their miserable existence was to vote "Yes".  They were told that in an independent Scotland a caring SNP Government would give them more money to give them a better life.  I fully accept that Scotland has a diverse economy, but the leadership of the SNP clearly did not think it to be diverse enough or strong enough to pay for the bribes it offered the electorate.  Instead, the SNP leadership told the electorate that their economic program would primarily be funded by oil revenues and borrowing.  The level of oil revenues was predicted based on a price and a volume of production which were utterly fanciful whilst the level of borrowing suggested was such as to risk us going into spiraling debt (if anyone was ever foolish enough to lend on that scale).  If Scotland's wider economy was strong enough for an independent Scotland to be more prosperous outside of the Union than within it, then the SNP would not have had to resort to such desperate measures in order to fund it's promises.

I am also far from convinced that the Tory Government does want to cling on to Scotland.  Of course they have to say they want Scotland to stay, but Cameron appears hell bent on making policy in a way which seems designed to alienate the Scottish electorate as much as possible. He seems determined to give the whingers plenty to whinge about.  The way many Tories see it is that rUK would be economically better off without Scotland and would also be more likely to regularly return a Tory government.  Cameron also  completely played into the SNP's hands with the way he allowed the independence movement to determine the terms of the referendum and in the completely inept way the Tories then campaigned for Scotland to stay in the union. Just as it suits Sturgeon to have a Tory government at Westminster, so it would suit Cameron if Scotland became independent.  It is just that both know that to admit it would be political suicide - and so the political silly games continue.

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Did you know that the computer game Grand Theft Auto generated more income for Scotland in the last few years than oil has done at its highest price.

I'd be interested to see the source of that.

 

Yup.... "citation required" as the Wikifolks say (and preferably not the delusional ramblings of the Reverend Whinge). On the other hand the Nats normally tend not to do supportive evidence for bald assertions.

Interesting too the way they're now doing a faster retreat on the oil myth than Mussolini's army ever did on spotting a couple of unarmed British squaddies in the desert:laugh:

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