To whom they owe favours.
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£295 million extra in the Scottish budget following the UK budget according to BBC.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/bu...uJIF7ppV8UkRZI
Confirmed that Scotland is a net contributer to the UK treasury.
Does it? Would be interesting to understand your logic here as I must admit I’m at least a little bit confused by the term ‘tax contributions to the U.K.’
It then goes on to list a number of taxes (not least income tax) which are fully devolved so my confusion doesn’t go away the more I read it! [emoji12]
It then fails to acknowledge that inflation has been over 30% in that time so if it’s just taking straight line numbers (again not clear) then this ‘contribution’ appears to actually be lower than a decade ago if adjusted for inflation.
But even taking the 8% of contributions figure it’s hard to see how that beats a barnet formula based percentage for the block grant.
And that’s before you even begin to wonder if a near 200% rise in property transactions or 70% increases in people’s employment taxation are even something to be celebrated or not!
30% inflation??????
The core CPIH annual inflation rate was 4.8% in February 2024, which was the lowest rate since February 2022. It is down from 5.1% in January 2024 and from a recent high of 6.5% in May 2023, which was the highest rate since November 1991, when it was also 6.5% in the constructed historical series.
The numbers are compared to ‘increase in the last decade’ hence why I stated it was unclear if the author had inflation adjusted these ‘increases’ or not.for that period.
To be clear that’s inflation over the last DECADE not the current rate of inflation. Hope that stops yer sides hurting.
Anyway any chance you can share your arithmetic that brought you to your initial conclusion now that we have cleared that little mis understanding up?
Deary me, it's just another article that stokes up division as is showing in this thread already, although it's probably not what the author intended and that's coming from an Independence supporter. The Union supporters will rightly point out the inaccuracies in the article and the "Nationalists" will lap it up because it attempts to show that the narrative of Scotland is too wee and too poor is wrong. Bipolar Scotland, you gorra love it.
I'm no economist, far far from it, tax receipts do not show how viable a country is to run its own affairs. A country that issues its own currency cannot run out of money, that's a fact.
The sooner people realise that statements like "balancing the books" and "maxed out the credit card" is simply gaslighting, the sooner we can all get down to debating what's best for the country we all live in.
UK government internal market bill used to stop more Scottish legislation, the ban on the sale of snares and glue traps, the use of which is illegal in England and Wales.
https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/...utional-clash/
In essence, something illegal to use can still be bought legally because Westminster has stopped Scotland going further.
https://www.gov.scot/news/ban-on-the-sale-and-possession-of-rodent-glue-traps/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/glue-traps-sales-ban-letter-uk-government/
The UK Government does not consider that the evidence presented demonstrates that a ban on the sale of glue traps would be substantially more effective than a ban focused on their use and possession. The UK Government therefore does not believe that the case has been made that an exclusion under the UKIM Act is necessary to deliver the policy aims of restricting the use of these traps in Scotland.
is it really the UK Government’s position that a product already subject to a ban on its use and possession cannot also be banned from sale due to the “need to avoid barriers to trade wherever possible”?
It is for the Scottish Parliament, not UK Government ministers, to reach a view on whether the evidence presented by the Scottish Government merits a given policy approach in devolved matters. The relevant measure was passed with the support of every party in the Scottish Parliament – including the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party – on 19 March. I am afraid the UK Government’s view on the advisability or necessity of law passed entirely within devolved competence by the Scottish Parliament is irrelevant, and certainly does not provide justification for undermining the expressed – and unanimous – will of the Scottish Parliament.
https://x.com/redfieldwilton/status/...dxJXScFNwz8V4A
Not usually a polling company favourable to Indy.
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Redfield has yes ahead for the first time in over a year, yougov today has no leading. Both have Holyrood neck and neck. Both have Labour leading in the Westminster race. The most significant figure out of all of them probably is yougov have Labour leading the SNP in the Westminster race for the first time before the independence referendum, would seem unthinkable in 2021 when SNP had a massive lead it's slowly fell. I think it should rise in the months before the election
I’m not so sure. Humza doesn’t appear able to say why people should vote SNP again. There no longer appears to be a project. And the constant culture war stuff is turning people away. I think he will lose this election and hopefully it leads to him standing down and someone like Flynn steps up.
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I think Flynn is clearly the best leader at Westminster and hope he would take a seat up here as he's great. It's a pity Forbes has the views she has on some subjects as I honestly believe we'd get independence with someone fresh like her or Flynn who can easily sidestep the baggage of the past. Independence is inevitable due to demographics but it would be preferable before we follow England down the plughole
I remember you saying early on in his tenure that one of his strengths may be that he wouldn’t be as bad as people thought he would be. It made me laugh at the time. :greengrin
You were wrong though, he’s performed pretty much as expected, he will be gone after the next election. I feel a certain amount of sympathy for him, a thoroughly decent man set up to take the fall for the long term failure of others.
He wasn’t set up to take any fall. He inherited a tricky situation with the police investigation and the tail end of 14 years of austerity that has everyone fed up. The SNP have run Scotland better than any part of the UK but there is only so much can be done within the austerity we have faced. He has made things worse for himself by not having any new ideas for taking party and country forward and carrying on with NS’s social issues.
What’s needed are some hard nosed economic reforms and he isn’t up for that in the way Forbes was. I think Flynn understands that as well.
He wasn’t set up by anyone. He is a grown man who knew what he was getting himself into. He is falling short.
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Sorry mate but he's an absolute patsy in a party that's lost its way. Engineered to carry on the continuity of his predecessors for whatever reasons I don't get although I kinda do. The SNP are meant to be the political wing of the Independence movement, someone needs to remind them of that sharpish. Margo MacDonald he aint.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/...gn=Social_Flow
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Indy march yesterday,
https://twitter.com/IndyTom3/status/...F4suPwqKg&s=19
Keep your eyes on the left!!!
Apparently greens wouldn't share a stage with Alba, culture wars nonsense.
I don't like both of them. I personally think the greens should be neutral on independence so they take votes of both sides not just independents, it's too important a cause as well. With our structure we defo need a second party, the nutters in Alba aren't it though
Well folks, we're now officially an enemy of the British State, a "danger that threatens our country".
According to Sunak, that is. Speech, this morning (see last sentence):
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNdKbOYX...jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNdKbORX...jpg&name=large
Just as in the middle east, England has every right to defend itself against Flynn's quips/terrorist attacks in the House of Commons. Look out for electricity and water supplies from south of the border to be cut off, and then targeted bombing of SNP voters, and only SNP voters, to begin shortly after that. Is it Cameron who believes Sunak to be an 'intellectual giant'? :crazy:
Interesting findings from Scotland's Census 2022:
People identifying themselves as ...
- ‘Scottish only’ increased since 2011 to 65.5%.
- ‘British only’ increased to 13.9%.
- ‘Scottish and British’ fell from 18.3% to 8.2%.
keep up the good work :agree:
https://scontent.fman1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...wg&oe=66666E16
https://x.com/Political_AlanS/status...20452345794812
Quote:
Keir Starmer says there’ll be no negotiations with the Scottish Government on independence - even if a majority of SNP MPs are elected on July 4th
SNP need to take them at their word and admit there will be no Indy negotiations allowed. It will get rid of the dogs dinner of a line that they are trying to hold. Make clear the party will always pursue Indy but be honest that we have no democratic route to it and we are not willing to engage in violence for it.
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As I’m getting older (maybe wiser), I’m even more independence minded than ever.
I saw a twitter post saying that the act of union between Scotlandand England is voluntary and therefore is easily revocable.
I respect .net’s opinion and wisdom more than anything.
Is it *ish??
If the majority of Scots wanted to leave then it would become inevitable. That is however further away from being reality today than it had been for over a well over a decade .
Personally I’ve swayed towards it for the first time in my life (despite voting yes in the 2014 referendum despite not being sure).
Yup, and to make matters worse, the SNP previously gained a majority with negotiating for a referendum as part of their manifesto, they go to the UK Government and get refused.... but in some folks eyes the blame lies with the SNP for not delivering a manifesto promise.
The beginning of the end of devolution?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GVQOX1uX...jpg&name=large
10 years ago we bottled it. Where are we now a decade later. Probably a similar place with just a slight no lead. I'd thought demographics would have saved us but obviously people are turning no as they age so far. I can't see anything pre the next GE but we should be able to build from a good result there. I'd doubt there will be anything much before but I'm confident we will get another chance in about adecade
Scottish Currency Group Conference Part 1 with Prof Thiebault Laurentjoye. This is the bloke commissioned by the Welsh Senedd by Plaid Cymru in cooperation with Welsh Labour (yup, this is how the grown ups behave) to do a study on whether Wales should use its own currency if it became independent. It also includes a talk with Robin McAlpine. Introduction is by Douglas Chapman for around 10mins. Not everyone's cup of tea but I found it very interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWejbjhl304
Part 2 with Prof Danny Blanchflower who sat on the BoE Monetary Policy Committee, this one is interesting in giving you an idea of the system and people who decide monetary policy and interest rates in the UK.
Also Dr Jón Egilsson who was the former Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Icelandic Central Bank brought in after the Icelandic banking crash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sW9...RIeWvg&index=1
There's more if you're interested, just subscribe to the channel and view playlists. Craig Dalzell and Rory Hamilton go into the Commonweal Green New Energy policy, Lesley Riddoch, Prof Richard Murphy and many more with some of these still to be uploaded.
For anyone interested.... Award winning documentary "Finding the Money" with Prof Stephanie Kelton a prominent US economist, supporter of MMT and probably the leading expert on it. Also the author of "The Deficit Myth" a USA best seller.
https://findingthemoney.vhx.tv/produ...ding-the-money
Scotonomics will be doing a twitter feed at 8pm with some economics experts along with the film showing answering questions etc at #FindingTheMoneyUK.
So basically rent the film for £2.99, start the film at 8pm and join #FindingTheMoneyUK on Twitter by 8pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JpZZcD8C4M
Alex Salmond has died whatever your views he was determined on Scottish independence
Wow! 69 is no age.
What ever your views he was a Colossus in Politics.
RIP
J
Shocked. Sorry to hear this.
Sad to hear this. By no means a supporter of his politics or independence but he was one of the best politicians of his generation IMO.
No words. He might have been a divisive figure lately but nobody can deny the influence he had on Scottish politics.
I wish Salmond had stayed on after the referendum, he had the mandate to do so imo.
For all it was a broad church he was the driver of the campaign, a campaign that came close to doubling support from start to end. Divisive certainly but concise and clear on what he stood for. What has followed has been a stagnation and I don't think that would have been the case with him.
He wasn't without his personal failings, many he admitted to, but as a politician he was formidable.
Devastated to hear this. Another giant of the independence movement that hasn't lived to see Scotland become an independent nation. Remarkable achievements as a politician taking SNP into power for first time, winning a historic majority, securing the referendum and taking us so close to winning. Rip
Wasn't everyone's cup of tea but was such a force in Scotland at the time, just a pity things turned out they way they did for him, politics wise. Sad to here of his loss and was one of the main reasons I voted SNP back in the day, thoughts are with his family.
He'll not get his vindication against Liz Lloyd or Sturgeon, will any court case against them/scot gov collapse without him, I assume so?
I think Salmond's most significant decision was backing devolution in 1997. That would have been unthinkable a generation before with a mantra of 'independence or nothing' and a lifetime on the fringes preferable to any compromise.
He saw the sense in using Holyrood to prove Scotland could be governed competently from within and for many years he succeeded in doing that. He threw the weight of the SNP behind devolution and in turn that got believers in independence onside even if the end result (at the time) was short of what they really wanted. It's the kind of bold political move that seems so lacking now; everyone seems to want to prescribe to a consensus. Had he urged a boycott of that referendum then there is every chance devolution would have been dead for another quarter of a century.
I never particularly liked the man but I voted for him a fair few times. He wasn't someone constantly 'clarifying' or backtracking. He said what he thought and if people didn't like it then tough. It's all too rare in front bench politicians nowadays and it was something I respected even if I didn't always agree.
Salmond at his most formidable in the Great Debate between Devolution or Independence with George Robertson in 1995. It's uncanny in the sense of how many questions are still pertinent today, I had to chuckle when one member of the audience asks Robertson, who's supporting Devo, "aren't you taking on the responsibility and also taking on the blame, in the sense that you'll get the blame with everything that goes wrong without having any real power from that Parliament because at the moment that comes from Westminster and you wont get a say in how much money you get to spend?". There's very few politicians now sadly if any that have the political skills Salmond had. It's a sad day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if-2A47U5PQ&t=2s
SNP not given seat on Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24...irs-committee/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=_adtJ...ature=youtu.be
Found this very good.
It’s a new Scotland channel on YouTube.
I’m not a history buff so can’t comment on it but I found it interesting
There's a number of good youtube channels out there now and they're growing.
Freedom for Scotland, various info films and a weekly show created by Indy car Gordon Ross https://www.youtube.com/@indy-biker-stevie
Freedom for Scotland......When oil came to town, a really interesting documentary by BBC Alba on Aberdeen when oil was discovered up to the current day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV0slIlkw-E
Independence Live...A group of channels including Scotonomics where William Thomson and Kieran Vandervene interview guests on economic policies and basically finances from a Scottish perspective usually through an MMT lense every Monday. The TNT Show where John Drummond of ex BBC fame interviews guests in their chosen fields, guests have included people like Stephen Flynn and Joanna Cherry https://www.youtube.com/@IndependenceLive
The two Davies, A daily show where Davy McGuiness gives his opinion on the days headlines and sometimes does an afternoon show with his mate on Scottish current affairs, sometimes not factually correct but you can't dismiss the guys passion. I find his rants hilarious. https://www.youtube.com/@TheTwoDavies
Through a Scottish Prism, Roddy hosts a usual panel of Eva Comrie, Phil Bosswell ex SNP, local Hibby and ex SNP Lloyd Quinan every Sunday. I'm not so sure of their views on Ukraine but its informative and there's also some quality rants. https://www.youtube.com/@ThroughAScottishPrism
Labour had 202 seats at Westminster in 2019. What don't you understand about Westminster committees? It's totally about elected members. With 1.38% of seats the SNP are not entitled to a seat at the table.
Edit: front bench members are excluded from committee, and all 9 SNP mps are on the front bench.
A wee bit condescending there naw? If you're going down that route you'd better be really sure of the facts my old ma used to say. Labour had 202 seats as you stated yet only had one seat on the committee, LDs had two and SNP had three including the chair so it's "totally" not about elected numbers.
I don't know why there's all this whoo haaa anyway, big Jack Rankin, Tory MP for Windsor will surely battle for the Scottish peoples rights on this committee?
Apparently it's all a big mix up and Labour left a vacant position after seeing SNP had no seats which correlates with the vacant position left on the UK Gov website listings. This would suggest Hoyle left the SNP out which is weird considering Plaid have two seats on the Welsh committee. Stephen Flynn is taking the seat.
We've been talking (I've been talking) about newspapers (The Times) making up poll results for a headline
This is today's Herald, another once-respected newspaper now reduced to an anti-Scottish mouthpiece for its overseas owners.
The report shows a 37% figure for the poll question about trust in the Scottish Government. This gets rounded up to 40% (two-fifths) for the body of the article, and then magically becomes two-thirds (67%) for the headline. I'm sure when eventually called out on it they'll claim it was a typo. By then of course, the headline will have been read by loads of people who will believe it to be true.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GbnJSG7X...pg&name=medium
Haven't read the article so don't know whether that's a typo or something else, but the headline also appears to have truncated the picture's caption to distort its meaning.
"I don't trust the Scottish Government to be able to deliver sunlit uplands outside the EU" would be a very different thing to "I don't trust the Scottish Government".
Headline change
More than one in three Scots no longer trust Scottish Government
AND THE SURVEY IS DATED MAY 2024!!!!
On the political front, this year’s polling found widespread distrust in the UK’s political systems and institutions. *
The survey work – conducted in May 2024, at the point that John Swinney was appointed First Minister - found that almost three quarters (77%) of people in Scotland feel that they cannot influence decisions that affect the UK, while about three fifths (63%) disagree that they can influence decisions affecting Scotland.**
*
Three fifths (60%) of the Scottish public in 2024 have low levels of trust in the UK Government, according to the research, while two fifths (37%) have low levels of trust in the Scottish Government and about a third (31%) have low levels of trust in local authorities.*
Professor John Curtice,*Professor of Practice*Politics*at the University of Strathclyde, said: “Across the UK levels of trust and confidence in how we are governed are as low as they have ever been.* *
“And although those at Holyrood come out better than those at Westminster, there are still questions to be asked about how successful the devolution project has been in helping to improve people’s sense of involvement in their political process. *
“Our politicians not only have to address the many policy challenges that face the country, but also persuade voters that they have its best interests at heart.”*
well done all (3) BMA Scotland on X: " CONSULTANTS IN SCOTLAND have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the pay offer achieved in negotiations with the Scot Gov. 95.8% voted to accept, with a turnout of 70.9%. Read all the details of the offer and next steps from @alanjrobertson. https://t.co/cV7gOQD7eq" / X
somewhere sarwar and baillie will be gutted
Really interesting discussion on Revive, the upcoming conference (Sunday 10th) on land reform in Scotland with Robin McAlpine, Lesley Riddoch and hosted by John Drummond. Also talks on the Trump election and SNPs lack of awareness when it comes to UK Government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXoER_TZBzM
I’ve noticed when watching YouTube and stuff on Instagram I keep getting a ton of ads for Scottish Labour, well I say ads - propaganda with misinformation disguised as ads.
This is a trick those for independence are missing. They should be all over this, firstly calling out these bull****, misleading advertisements and secondly, they should be all over the social media platforms promoting facts on independence.
Perhaps it’s a budget thing, but it’s absolutely missing and will have an impact on the next generations views.
It's a 100% a budget thing, Internet ads are just the new TV adds and leaflets through the letterbox, it all costs money. SNP membership numbers plummeted off a cliff two years ago they also lost alot of money from going down to 9 MPs and donations have dried up, they will be outgunned going into 2026.
I'd like to know the dodgy channels reform are getting money as their online presence is huge for a small party
There's a few degrees of separation thing with Reform and let's just say, other countries but I'm sure you know who I mean. Bots, troll farms, influencers, straight up grifters etc make up a huge number of the online presence - a tactic that Trump has used successfully over the years and now he has Musk on side..
I meant disinformation apologies - which of course is a different thing. It was too early this morning :greengrin
In terms of specific examples, not something that I've taken notes on but I'll be sure next time one of their ads is forced upon me that I'll take notes.
I'm not talking about the SNP specifically here so I'm not sure why you have raised that point.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Musk, Putin and Farage etc are all supportive of one another and their propoganda reaches far more people than it represents.
Unfortunately social media is an echo chamber and particularly x is a breeding ground for these types of views.
I can’t believe Farage’s partner in crime is talking about being the kingmaker at the next scottish election.
Reform must be stealing conservative votes. It’ll be a sad day when a number of reform politicians take their seats in Holyrood.
I only hope it make all independence supporters wake up, put their differences aside and vote in the best interests of independence