There is always another way, but is it the right way?
I think we have done Ireland to death on here, has good points and bad points.
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If only there was a plan that said Scotland is here in 2022 and to be like Ireland/Denmark/Norway (delete as appropriate) then we need to do X, Y and Z and it will take X number of years.
Until then it's a useless slogan. I think it was Mark Blythe the economic adviser to the SNP who ridiculed the whole lets be like Denmark etc. slogan.
"The problem that I’ve seen so far is the complete lack of specificity as to ‘here is what the Scottish business model is now, here is where we want to be, this is how we’re going to get from here to here by doing this’,” he said in an online interview.
“Instead of that what we’ve got is ‘Denmark is awesome, we should be like Denmark, if we were independent we would be Denmark’. No, you wouldn’t be Denmark. Denmark took 600 years to become Denmark."
600 years.[emoji23]
Both countries were poorer than Scotland when I was a kid. Scotland is more than capable of matching either of them without copying either model. What we definitely can’t do is match them while operating as part of the UK.
You say there should be a plan? That’s the one thing that is missing right now within the UK. There is zero plan at all to improve Scotland’s economy. None. Not even a pretend plan. They don’t care one little bit so don’t even bother to kid on there is a plan. We are just expected to just keep trundling along.
You want the SNP to produce a plan for powers they don’t have but are just as happy to have zero plan from London when they have all the levers over the economy?
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I’m sure there will be but I’m also sure it will be up for change every five years of the election cycle.
What I’m also sure of just now is that Scotland is massively underperforming and Labour and the Tories seem to be just fine with that and actually celebrate it every year when GERS is published.
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Here is Denmark’s economy. Totally different from Irelands economy, showing that there is no set way of doing things. We could copy either or do our own thing.
What they do have in common is that they are both smashing Scotland out the park.
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We could yes, nobody is saying we can't.
But as I say just saying we can be Ireland/Norway/Denmark is all good and well, but it's meaningless.
Denmark for example have really high income tax rate, would people in Scotland be willing to pay significantly more tax to be like Denmark? Some will some won't.
Maybe, but the changes you are suggesting are quite radical and the SNP are not exactly known for radical change. Their policy for Indy up to now is very much don't rock the boat, keep things as close to they are today, for example, keep the pound, stay in NATO, join the EU, keep the Queen even.
And yes maybe 5 or 10 years after Indy a party may emerge that offers this but again it would be radical and the people of Scotland are actually pretty conservative (with a small c!)
On the Ireland comparison they have a corporation tax rate of 12.5%, one of the lowest in Europe. That's why they get Facebook, Google and Apple etc locating there. A while back this place was critical of the Chancellor when he was refusing to raise corporation tax! Are we saying an independent Scotland would slash corporation tax to be like Ireland?
So it's a bit all over the place, Ireland is basically a tax haven with low corporation tax yet if the chancellor cut corporation tax you would have most of the same people moaning about how the tax cut helps the fat cat Tory's etc
And of course Ireland has no NHS to fund.
I can see the merit in either approach... and would be perfectly comfortable with either of the two, just as long as the decision to go with either approach was made in Edinburgh, for the benefit of the Scottish people as a whole and with the absolute accountability for making a success of it.
The direction of travel within this union is not good, even if once served us well.
We could mirror some of the other small countries in Europe that do spend similar amounts on healthcare, like Belgium, Holland and Denmark.
Norway also do but not a great example as unlike Scotland they managed to use their oil to create a fund for these sort of things rather than to finance the infrastructure of a neighbouring countries capital city.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1...36236e83d39b4d
"Nicola Sturgeon has failed to achieve the SNP’s main objective of boosting support for Scottish independence over her record seven years as first minister, a poll has found.
Having occupied Bute House for a total of seven years, six months and five days, Sturgeon has overtaken her predecessor Alex Salmond — who quit after the 2014 independence referendum — to become the longest-serving first minister today. However, research by YouGov for The Times shows that voters are no more inclined to break up the UK in 2022 than they were when Sturgeon came into office.
When “don’t knows” are excluded from the latest poll, 55 per cent continue to back the Union while 45 per cent favour Scottish independence — the same result as the 2014 referendum."
Actually only 38% of people were on the day the poll was asked willing to say they would vote for Independence.
When you say it's a success of devolution. Do you mean the devolution we were given in 1999, or the devolution as it stands now?
We know it's evolved over the last 20 years but it seems to be going into reverse, with tory ministers from London dabbling in devolved areas of responsibility, and taking control from Scottish ministers.
Lord hope of craighead, former first deputy of the Supreme Court, speaking on the internal market bill.
"The devolved powers are rendered worthless by this new system. UK ministers are given powers to do things which contravene the devolution settlements without consultation let alone consent".
In other words, we're not getting more powers, the Tories are taking them away.
Not sure how old this is but backs it up, think it's about a year old.
https://www.beltramiandcompany.co.uk...ful-urban-area
https://news.stv.tv/scotland/over-11...sing-last-year
Back to the success of the Scottish Government (at least partially)
Maybe we should compare the tenure of the longest serving first minister with the longest serving prime minister?
Guess who? 🙄