The UK - Vote for our independence from Scotland

[Slab]

What a sad post to read

Without a doubt the sad post was the one that started this thread

 

[Adi2Dassler]

That is to be discussed. From what I have heard they will put restrictions on certain items so that they can not undermine the rest of the UK, eg having a lower rate of VAT or corporation tax. They may be able to increase the key taxes and keep the extra revenue but they will not be able to reduce them. What comes out in the final mix is still to be seen though.

Interesting. The reason I ask is primarily down to VAT. It's never been analysed as far as I know? Never been split as companies can't be arsed with the additional work it entails.So VAT has never, as far as I know, been a factor.It's quite a chunk of cash.

And as pretty much generally agreed last year by folk who we hope would know, GDP in Scotland excluding NS revs is approx 98% of England/Wales.But that excludes VAT?

So there will be a deficit, as there is with The UK, but Scotland could address that deficit in a different way than Westminster decides to treat theirs?

I'm not for undercutting btw, think it leads to a whole load of trouble all round.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

They may want to increase taxes for higher earners, bankers tax, mansion tax, those types of things to plug the gap. The SNP are fairly left wing so they will tax accordingly.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Pass the hankies, Phil's havin a moment

Seems the respect the will of the Scottish people is getting less and less each day

Forget destroying the relationship between England and Scotland the way the pro independent are acting they are going to destroy inside their own country as well

 

[Paul_Stewart]

A week is a long time in politics. Right now, Sturgeon and the SNP are flavour of the month but they have no real power in Parliament. David Cameron and the Conservative majority Government can just ignore them no matter how many times she jumps up and down and stamps her feet. Then as other people have suggested on this thread, devolve some of the financial powers and take away their safety net. Their left-wing "let's spend everyone else's money" policy will soon fall over and their day in the sun will be over. They had their referendum on independence and lost.

 

[Adi2Dassler]

Seems the respect the will of the Scottish people is getting less and less each day

Forget destroying the relationship between England and Scotland the way the pro independent are acting they are going to destroy inside their own country as well

Good times!

Sage words, Phil Kissinger, sage words.

 

[MarkA]

Perhaps you don't and using the term "coffin dodgers" was just light hearted, but it chimes with some pretty nasty stuff from nats.

Anyway, as I said, the youngsters will grow up and many of them will change their minds. I also reckon that plenty of middle aged folk who voted "yes" this time might have a different perspective when they are pensioners and will be considering different issues when making their minds up, so I think you might be disappointed; it's not just this batch of pensioners that would vote "no".

I also think this is the SNP's peak. They've manipulated the electorate in quite a masterful style but they'll never keep all their MPs "on message" and will soon be leaking support...... At least, that's what I hope!

You'll get a much better picture at the next General Election. The SNP have rode the wave of Nationalism to achieve a fantastic result for them . But whether they can deliver the Scottish Electorate's expectations is another thing entirely. Not being funny but to pick just one glaring example can you really expect a 20 year old student to deliver a constituency what it needs from an MP when you have no life experience?

 

[Adi2Dassler]

A week is a long time in politics. Right now, Sturgeon and the SNP are flavour of the month but they have no real power in Parliament. David Cameron and the Conservative majority Government can just ignore them no matter how many times she jumps up and down and stamps her feet. Then as other people have suggested on this thread, devolve some of the financial powers and take away their safety net. Their left-wing "let's spend everyone else's money" policy will soon fall over and their day in the sun will be over. They had their referendum on independence and lost.

Just so I can be clear on your suggestion:

devolve some of the financial powers and take away their safety net.

What would you bequeath to Scotland, and what's the safety net? You are obviously really clued up on this given past contribution and insights, so I'm looking forward to your guidance.

 

[Hobbit]

Interesting. The reason I ask is primarily down to VAT. It's never been analysed as far as I know? Never been split as companies can't be arsed with the additional work it entails.So VAT has never, as far as I know, been a factor.It's quite a chunk of cash.

And as pretty much generally agreed last year by folk who we hope would know, GDP in Scotland excluding NS revs is approx 98% of England/Wales.But that excludes VAT?

So there will be a deficit, as there is with The UK, but Scotland could address that deficit in a different way than Westminster decides to treat theirs?

I'm not for undercutting btw, think it leads to a whole load of trouble all round.

If the figures are accurate, and Scotland's budget deficit is £7 billion, I wonder how big a % that is compared to the UK's deficit. It may well that Scotland has budgeted better, I genuinely don't know. But if it isn't, can Scotland actually afford a £7bill deficit, or are they expecting the safety net of the rest of the UK to cover that?

 

[Adi2Dassler]

If the figures are accurate, and Scotland's budget deficit is £7 billion, I wonder how big a % that is compared to the UK's deficit. It may well that Scotland has budgeted better, I genuinely don't know. But if it isn't, can Scotland actually afford a £7bill deficit, or are they expecting the safety net of the rest of the UK to cover that?

A quick scan of the internet suggests UK debt deficit/population is £76 billion-64 million compared to the predicted Scotland of £7 billion to 5 million, so not much in it?

But it brings me back to things like VAT/Excise duty...I'm firmly of the belief that both of those sources are higher than the % share, but it's nothing more than a gut thing.

Sturgeon has her own ideas of how to tackle the deficit, it's different to the tory one or even Labour.


And here's another thing about Full Fiscal Autonomy.

Scotland would ( rightly) be obliged to help fund the armed services on a % basis of population.We're about 9 % of the population so 9% of the DoD funds.But what about Trident? Would Scotland be obliged to pick up 9% of that? We've just elected ( over 50% of us) a party opposed, so no chance that would be accepted.What if we get into another war?

Also, full fiscal autonomy requires borrowing.What do we borrow against? Do we get 9% of the gold reserves?

 

[DCB]

I'll give you an example of how impotent the opposition benches make an MP. We had a major issue with an existing landfill which was coming to the end of it's life cycle. Suddenly an extension was requested and an application to extend the size of the place was also submitted. Granted, planning is a local matter, but as this was contentious site to start with, letters to MPs and meetings with MPs at their local surgery were all high on our to do list. Bottom line was that there was nothing our local MP could do.

Run forward a year and a change of Government and guess what, a change of bench to the Government benches meant all the difference. Same MP, same constituency, different benches.

PS.we did beat the landfill in the end

 

[Doon frae Troon]

If the figures are accurate, and Scotland's budget deficit is £7 billion, I wonder how big a % that is compared to the UK's deficit. It may well that Scotland has budgeted better, I genuinely don't know. But if it isn't, can Scotland actually afford a £7bill deficit, or are they expecting the safety net of the rest of the UK to cover that?

I do not think there is much in it TBH.

The SNP have run a very tight ship on the economy for the last 7 years, even been accused of underspending on some budgets.
Major projects like third Forth bridge and Commonwealth Games etc seem to be delivered on time and under budget.
[Trams were Edinburgh Cooncil disaster.]

The only local issue I would complain about is the state of our roads, very happy with everything else.
Any cuts imposed seem to have been sympathetic/sensible.
Where I live we seem to be thriving, lots of new expensive property being built, even our local town high street seems to be doing better than most.

 

[FairwayDodger]

[Trams were Edinburgh Cooncil disaster.]

Several of the responsible cooncilers are now SNP MPs.....

 

[Adi2Dassler]

Several of the responsible cooncilers are now SNP MPs.....

Which ones?

You'll know that The SNPs manifesto in 2007 included binning the whole tram proposal but couldn't get it passed as a minority govt...

 

[Adi2Dassler]

And to add:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/city-chiefs-give-go-ahead-to-163-498m-tram-line-1-1345855

 

[FairwayDodger]

Which ones?

You'll know that The SNPs manifesto in 2007 included binning the whole tram proposal but couldn't get it passed as a minority govt...

Deirdre Brock is my MP. Don't know the name or constituency, but a guy I golfed with said his new MP was one as well.

Yeah, I do remember that now you mention it.

 

[FairwayDodger]

And to add:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/city-chiefs-give-go-ahead-to-163-498m-tram-line-1-1345855

I stand corrected, having lumped all edinburgh councillors in together. Plenty of other debacles to blame them for though!

 

[Adi2Dassler]

I stand corrected, having lumped all edinburgh councillors in together. Plenty of other debacles to blame them for though!

With regards to The SNP in govt, there's really not that much. Police Scotland and named adult for children are insane, but them apart, not many 'debacles' spring to mind?

With regard to Edinburgh council, something must happen to them once they're elected.A more useless collective you'll never find.

 

[FairwayDodger]

With regards to The SNP in govt, there's really not that much. Police Scotland and named adult for children are insane, but them apart, not many 'debacles' spring to mind?

With regard to Edinburgh council, something must happen to them once they're elected.A more useless collective you'll never find.

Yeah, it was council debacles I was referring to!

I feel slightly better about my new MP, thanks to you. Found an article she wrote in the Evening News about the trams. OK, it was when the SNP were u-turning and supporting taking them to York Place instead of finishing at Haymarket... but I agreed with that decision at the time. If we were forced to get the trams there was no point if they didn't come all the way into town.

Now just need to find her stance on the property conservation department and 20 mph speed limits.....

 

[Adi2Dassler]

Yeah, it was council debacles I was referring to!

I feel slightly better about my new MP, thanks to you. Found an article she wrote in the Evening News about the trams. OK, it was when the SNP were u-turning and supporting taking them to York Place instead of finishing at Haymarket... but I agreed with that decision at the time. If we were forced to get the trams there was no point if they didn't come all the way into town.

Now just need to find her stance on the property conservation department and 20 mph speed limits.....

Mark Lazarowicz is a decent man with good morals and has served Leith well.He's a gentleman and worse folk will still be heading to Westminster.But he got caught out by simply being a Labour MP, a toxic brand, especially in Leith nowadays.