SNP are lying b******s as well !

[Ozyhibby]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

You have to admit constructing a new 100KM railway line that runs through central London is a bit more tricky than building two boats?

Opened the borders railway. Not sure how many £billions over budget it was.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[James310]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Opened the borders railway. Not sure how many £billions over budget it was.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's actually a good achievement and on time and on budget, but work started in 2012 and it was completed in 2015 so while Nicola Sturgeon was FM for 12 months when it opened it's not really one of her achievements as FM.

[He's here!]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Nicola Sturgeon becomes Scotland's longest serving FM tomorrow, what's her greatest achievement been?

Nothing 'great' springs to mind.

He might be reduced to carping from the sidelines these days but Salmond makes some valid points about her record here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/05/22/nicola-sturgeon-using-scottish-independence-political-shield/

She really just needs to keep her fingers crossed that Boris Johnson remains PM and her own lacklustre record will remain largely unchallenged at the ballot box.

In saying that I note that support for independence has actually reduced since he became PM so she's in a bit of a limbo situation.

[grunt]

Take your pick

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

1. Baby Box – Giving every baby born in Scotland the best start in life by providing families with a Baby Box, filled with essential items needed in the first six months of a child’s life.2. Childcare – All eligible children now benefit from at least 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare, saving families around £4,500 per child per year.
3. Free Tuition – Students in England face tuition fees up to £27,750 – Scottish students receive university tuition for free, and always will under the SNP.
4. Period Poverty – Scotland is the first in the world to make sanitary products available to all those who need them, free of charge.
5. Record high health funding – Our latest health and care portfolio spending exceeds £16 billion, with resource funding up by over 60% under the SNP.
6. Free prescriptions – Prescription charges abolished in Scotland – now £9.35 per item south of the border.
7. Free NHS dental care – We have already abolished NHS dental fees for all under-26 year olds, and we will deliver free dental care for everybody by the end of this Parliament.
8. Care For All – Free personal and nursing care extended to everyone who needs it, regardless of age – and we’re now taking steps towards a transformative National Care Service.
9. Free Bus Travel – Over one million Scots now enjoy free bus travel across the country, including over-60s and disabled people – and we’re now expanding it further to all young people under 22.
10. Scottish Child Payment – Our new benefit for families, the only one of its kind in the UK, has been called “game-changing” by anti-poverty campaigners, and will help lift around 30,000 children out of poverty.

[grunt]

a healthier scotland

• 25,000 more staff in scotland’s nhs, that’s over 20 per cent more under the snp.
• record high health funding – 2021/22 health portfolio spending will exceed £16 billion, with resource funding up over £6.4 billion under the snp.
• free nhs dental care for all young people under 26 – and expanding to everybody by the end of this parliament.
• scotland’s core a&e services are the best performing in the uk.
• for over five years, scotland has had the highest number of gps per head of population anywhere in the uk.
• we’ve expanded ivf to more families – making access in scotland the fairest and most generous in the uk.
• scotland is leading the world on alcohol pricing, being the first country to implement minimum unit pricing.
• we’ve protected free tuition for nursing and midwifery students – and their bursary rose to £10,000 in 2020.
• parking charges at all nhs-run hospitals scrapped – saving patients and staff over £42 million.
• nhs scotland staff continue to be significantly better paid than nhs staff in england – a healthcare assistant at the top of band 3, for example, earns over £2,211 more.

[grunt]

a smarter scotland

• scotland provides the best package of support for university students anywhere in the uk – with free tuition; low interest rates for student loan repayments; and a minimum income guarantee of £7,750 for the poorest students.
• since 2015/16, we have invested over £576 million in tackling the poverty related attainment gap. In 2021/22, we are investing a further £215 million – which includes over £147 million of pupil equity funding going direct to 97% of head teachers in scotland.
• over 167,000 pupils in primaries 1 to 3 now benefit from free school meals, and we’re expanding it to p4 and p5 – saving families around £400 per child per year.
• we have provided extra resources to local councils to increase education spending in real terms, and help tackle the attainment gap.
• over 950 schools upgraded under the snp, providing well-designed, accessible and inclusive learning environments for pupils.
• a record 260,490 students enrolled at our world-class scottish universities in 2019/20.
• we’ve introduced a national minimum school clothing grant of £100 to help more families afford school uniform costs.
• our £70 million young person’s guarantee provides vital opportunities of employment, training or education for young people.
• we’re providing our further education students with record levels of support. £138 million in 2020/21 – up 58% in real terms since 2006/07.
• we’re leading the way as the only nation in the uk to offer bursary supporttargeted specifically for care-experienced students.

[grunt]

a wealthier scotland

• we have delivered a new progressive income tax system, ensuring the majority of scottish taxpayers pay less than elsewhere in the uk – while strengthening our public services with extra investment, and protecting those on lower incomes.
• we’ve slashed or abolished business rates for over 117,000 premises – saving small businesses around £2 billion to date.
• in 2015, we became the first government in the uk to become an accredited real living wage employer.
• we have maintained funding for living wage scotland to continue promoting the payment of the real living wage in businesses across the country.
• in 2019, we published the fair work action plan to drive forward fair work becoming the norm in workplaces across scotland.
• scotland is the top destination in the uk, outside london, for foreign direct investment.
• we met our target to reduce youth unemployment by 40% in 2017 – four years early.
• business research and development spend in scotland increased by 6.4% in 2018 to reach a record £1.36 billion, compared to a uk increase of 3.9%.
• we launched a £25 million fund to help businesses enhance their digital capacity.
• we’ve set up the green jobs workforce academy, helping to re-skill people and create good, green jobs across scotland.
• scotland’s productivity is outperforming the uk as a whole. Since 2007, productivity in scotland has grown 10.3%, compared to growth of 2.9% in the uk.
• we have established the scottish national investment bank to invest in future generations and cutting-edge innovation for the common good.

[grunt]

a fairer scotland

• we have built a new social security system, with dignity and fairness at its heart, currently administering 11 benefits – 7 of which are new and unique to the uk.
• we have delivered over 100,000 affordable homes since 2007, with around 70% of them for social rent.
• unlike the uk government, we enshrined ambitious child poverty eradication targets into law, and published our first delivery plan outlining concrete actions – backed by a £50 million tackling child poverty fund.
• we are tackling child poverty head-on with the scottish child payment, which helps lift around 30,000 children out of poverty.
• our investment in carer’s allowance and the carer’s allowance supplement was around £358 million in 2020/21 – our supplement and extra covid payments provided eligible carers with an extra £690.30 last year, compared to carers south of the border.
• the first benefit of its kind in the uk, the young carer grant, started in october 2019, supporting eligible young carers with a payment of £305.10.
• we’re delivering the best start grant and best start foods payments, putting £46.9 million in the pockets of lower-income families to help with expenses during a child’s early years.
• we’re continuing to fully mitigate the callous tory bedroom tax, protecting over 70,000 scottish households from facing the charge.
• we introduced the first gender-balanced cabinet in the uk, one of only a handful of gender parity cabinets around the world.
• we have kept scottish water in public hands. Customers pay less for a better service in scotland – saving £46 on average compared to the privatised services south of the border.
• we’ve delivered free bus travel to over a million scots across the country, including over-60s and disabled people. We’re now expanding it further to all under-22s, making public transport more accessible than ever.

[grunt]

a safer scotland

• overall crime is down by 45% since 2008-09 – and police recorded crime is at one of the lowest levels seen since 1974.
• despite a decade of uk tory austerity, we have increased the policing budget for 2021/22 by £75 million – putting the police in a sustainable position.
• scotland has a higher number of police officers than at any time between 1999 and 2007 – over 1,000 more than march 2007. In england and wales, police numbers have dropped by over 16,000, or 11%, in the same period.
• automatic early release has been ended, meaning that long-term prisoners who pose an unacceptable risk to public safety will serve their sentence in full. The re-conviction rate is at its lowest level in 21 years.
• since 2008, we committed £110 million from the proceeds of crime to community projects for young people across scotland.
• we’ve introduced the world-leading domestic abuse act that makes psychological domestic abuse and controlling behaviour a crime.
• since 2012, we have invested record funding of £14.5 million to support anti-sectarian education in schools, prisons, workplaces and communities.
• the new scottish fire and rescue service has been created.
• we have made the sharing of so-called ‘revenge porn’ a specific criminal offence, carrying a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.
• scotland has the uk’s first national action plan on human rights, showing our ambition to be an example of how to realise human rights and tackle injustice at home and abroad.
• we established the delivering equally safe fund with additional funding to tackle violence against women and girls.

[Bristolhibby]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

You have to admit constructing a new 100KM railway line that runs through central London is a bit more tricky than building two boats?

Point was pretty much any government project coming in on time and on budget is rare.

J

[grunt]

a scotland fit for the future

• we delivered the £1.35 billion marvel on the forth – the queensferry crossing – under budget.
• we doubled the walking and cycling budget, increased to just over £100 million in 2020/21 – and we have committed to continuing funding at the record level for the next five years.
• we scrapped bridge tolls on the forth and tay crossings – saving individual commuters around £3,000 to date.
• over £9 billion invested in our rail infrastructure since 2007.
• we delivered the borders railway, the longest new domestic railway to be built in britain in over 100 years.
• the first section of our £3 billion project to dual the a9 from perth to invernesshas been completed.
• the £745 million aberdeen bypass opened in february 2019, producing savings in journey times and reductions in hgv traffic through aberdeen.
• we established a £50 million town centre fund to enable local authorities to regenerate scotland’s town centres.
• we have published an action plan to decarbonise scotland’s railway by 2035.
• we’ve invested £16.5 million in the net zero technology centre to focus on emissions reduction.

[grunt]

a greener scotland

• we were the first country in the uk to declare a climate emergency and have since passed legislation for the world’s most ambitious emissions reduction targets.
• we have already halved our greenhouse gases emissions since 1990 – statistically, we’re second only to sweden in western europe for emissions reductions.
• we are world renowned for having underpinned our net zero targets with a legislative commitment to a just transition – ensuring no one is left behind.
• we’ve appointed a minister for just transition.
• we have established the £62 million energy transition fund.
• we have been active on the world stage, leading the edinburgh process on biodiversity and publishing the edinburgh declaration calling for increased action to tackle biodiversity loss.
• since 2012, we have funded the restoration of over 25,000 hectares of degraded scottish peatland.
• no fracking or other onshore unconventional oil and gas activity can take place in scotland.
• we’ve passed legislation to establish an ambitious deposit return scheme for scotland – reducing waste and tackling greenhouse gas emissions.
• in 2019-20, we planted 11,050 hectares of new woodland – exceeding our annual 10,000 hectares target in the climate change plan.
• around 80% of all new woodland creation across the uk is in scotland – in 2019/2020 alone, we’ve planted over 22 million new trees.
• we have established the world first climate justice fund, providing funding for community climate projects in malawi, zambia and rwanda.
• we’ve announced pilot projects to offer free bicycles for school-age children who cannot afford one.

There's more, but you get the picture.

[James310]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Take your pick

I am specifically talking about the 8 years of Nicola Sturgeon as FM seeing as tomorrow she becomes the longest ever serving FM.

Most of the stuff on your list was in place before she started as FM and you could again argue things like "free" tuition and prescriptions etc. (nothing is free we pay taxes for it) is another example of devolution working, allowing Scotland to make different choices and have the funding to do so.

[archie]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Take your pick

Bit cheeky - many of these predate the SNP administration and period poverty policies arose from the campaigning of Monica Lennon.

[Stairway 2 7]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The opposition have been useless yes, and I am sure she is safe in her job until she decides she wants to quit. But her list of 'achievments' are not exactly overwhelming for 8 years at the top. Dare I suggest Alex Salmond delivered far more. (A referendum for one)

Salmond definitely more. Getting referendum, free tuition, free prescriptions

[Just Alf]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Bit cheeky - many of these predate the SNP administration and period poverty policies arose from the campaigning of Monica Lennon.

This one actually shows grown up politics... so often some politicians seem completely unable to even grudgingly support a good policy if put forward by someone from the opposition.

[ronaldo7]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Bit cheeky - many of these predate the SNP administration and period poverty policies arose from the campaigning of Monica Lennon.

I remember a British labour politician in Scotland demanding we means test most of the stuff we continue to get from the SNP/Green government. If she'd have had her way, we'd be just like England, paying for tuition, and prescription charges to name but two.

Blis just don't want Scotland to prosper.

[ronaldo7]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

a greener scotland



There's more, but you get the picture.

If only the Tories could put up their list of achievements.😂

[James310]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I remember a British labour politician in Scotland demanding we means test most of the stuff we continue to get from the SNP/Green government. If she'd have had her way, we'd be just like England, paying for tuition, and prescription charges to name but two.

Blis just don't want Scotland to prosper.

90% of prescriptions are free in England. You could argue why should people who can afford it not pay for it. Isn't it great Scotland can make different choices and pay for them under the current financial settlement, free prescriptions, free tuition, free bikes and laptops, free care, free bus travel etc. Devolution really working as it should be.

[Stairway 2 7]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

90% of prescriptions are free in England. You could argue why should people who can afford it not pay for it. Isn't it great Scotland can make different choices and pay for them under the current financial settlement, free prescriptions, free tuition, free bikes and laptops, free care, free bus travel etc. Devolution really working as it should be.

90% of prescriptions given are free, mostly because they were for over 60s. 40% of English are eligible to pay. How many don't bother because 1 item is almost a tenner a shot. My sister in law is a nurse down south and sometimes doesn't get her omeprozole because the price. My mum gives her her unused one, which they probably both know you shouldn't. But worked two years in covid wards so think most Scots tax payers wouldn't mind

[ronaldo7]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

90% of prescriptions are free in England. You could argue why should people who can afford it not pay for it. Isn't it great Scotland can make different choices and pay for them under the current financial settlement, free prescriptions, free tuition, free bikes and laptops, free care, free bus travel etc. Devolution really working as it should be.

Just imagine what we could do with powers over immigration, energy policy, defence policy, full control over social security, drugs policy, the constitution, broadcasting, the right to choose what we do here in Scotland, rather than having someone else doing it for us.

[ronaldo7]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

90% of prescriptions given are free, mostly because they were for over 60s. 40% of English are eligible to pay. How many don't bother because 1 item is almost a tenner a shot. My sister in law is a nurse down south and sometimes doesn't get her omeprozole because the price. My mum gives her her unused one, which they probably both know you shouldn't. But worked two years in covid wards so think most Scots tax payers wouldn't mind

Really sorry to read this. How many more are like this in England? Thousands going without just so long as the "I'm alright Jack's" and those who benefit/vote for them get to stay in power.

[greenginger]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

a greener scotland



There's more, but you get the picture.

Sure we get the picture , but where is all the money coming from that funds this spending extravaganza.

In England £ 13,166 per head of population is spent , in Scotland £14,842 per head is the figure.
Thats 12.5% more , or £ 9.22 billion more spent every year in Scotland, than an average per head would produce ( the Barnet Formula )

Doe anyone think spending would continue at the same level in an independent Scotland.

[Ozyhibby]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sure we get the picture , but where is all the money coming from that funds this spending extravaganza.

In England £ 13,166 per head of population is spent , in Scotland £14,842 per head is the figure.
Thats 12.5% more , or £ 9.22 billion more spent every year in Scotland, than an average per head would produce ( the Barnet Formula )

Doe anyone think spending would continue at the same level in an independent Scotland.

What an ambition for Scotland, begging of our neighbour for money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[James310]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What an ambition for Scotland, begging of our neighbour for money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Redistribution of money across the country is not begging. If you consider yourself left of centre then surely redistribution of wealth to those that need it is a good thing.

In an Indy Scotland would you class the Outer Hebrides as begging for money as they would be sharing and benefiting from the wealth and resources created by the central belt.

[grunt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sure we get the picture , but where is all the money coming from that funds this spending extravaganza.

How much have Scotland's taxpayers paid towards the Elizabeth line? Or HS2?

[James310]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

How much have Scotland's taxpayers paid towards the Elizabeth line? Or HS2?

https://fullfact.org/online/hs2-scotland/


Probably not as much as you think it is. It's funded wholly by the UK Government, of course which we pay some taxes to. But thanks to Barnett any spending on things like HS2 means Scotland gets more money. In effect, all money spent by Scotland on HS2 is returned through the Barnett formula.

"So for every £1 spent on HS2, Scotland receives 9.2p more funding (because HS2 is deemed to benefit England and Wales for the purpose of Barnett calculations and Scotland’s population as a percentage of England and Wales is about 9.2%). (Technically Barnett funding is not worked out on the spending on individual projects, but the change in spending at a departmental level, but this is, in effect, what happens)."

And believe it or not there are some things where all the expenditure is in Scotland but England gets some of the cost allocated to it.

[Ozyhibby]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Redistribution of money across the country is not begging. If you consider yourself left of centre then surely redistribution of wealth to those that need it is a good thing.

In an Indy Scotland would you class the Outer Hebrides as begging for money as they would be sharing and benefiting from the wealth and resources created by the central belt.

Is the current model the only way to run Scotland? Look at the difference between Scotland and Ireland economies now. Every year the gap grows bigger. How long do you want Scotland to be the poor cousins?

Ireland’s economy:-


And now look at Scotland’s:-


That is not a small gap.

Public spending in Scotland is only going one way with the Tories in London.
Don’t tell me there isn’t another way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Moulin Yarns]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sure we get the picture , but where is all the money coming from that funds this spending extravaganza.

In England £ 13,166 per head of population is spent , in Scotland £14,842 per head is the figure.
Thats 12.5% more , or £ 9.22 billion more spent every year in Scotland, than an average per head would produce ( the Barnet Formula )

Doe anyone think spending would continue at the same level in an independent Scotland.

If only England spent more there might be less poverty in England 🤔

[ronaldo7]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

https://fullfact.org/online/hs2-scotland/


Probably not as much as you think it is. It's funded wholly by the UK Government, of course which we pay some taxes to. But thanks to Barnett any spending on things like HS2 means Scotland gets more money. In effect, all money spent by Scotland on HS2 is returned through the Barnett formula.

"So for every £1 spent on HS2, Scotland receives 9.2p more funding (because HS2 is deemed to benefit England and Wales for the purpose of Barnett calculations and Scotland’s population as a percentage of England and Wales is about 9.2%). (Technically Barnett funding is not worked out on the spending on individual projects, but the change in spending at a departmental level, but this is, in effect, what happens)."

And believe it or not there are some things where all the expenditure is in Scotland but England gets some of the cost allocated to it.

How do the people of Wales benefit from HS2?

Since you're down the rabbit hole fighting the union case against Scotland, HS2 is partially paid for by welsh people, but doesn't go anywhere near their country.

Union dividend in action.