#toysootthepram #biggestcrisissincetheabdication #projectfear2 and all that stuff. Its now the big day!

Well here we are again on the day of a UK General Election.

So much has changed, but so much stays the same.

One of the things that has marked out this campaign, is the coverage that Scotland has been getting. The BBC has been showing Reporting North Britain (known by the BBC as Reporting Scotland), and North Britain 2015 with Sarah Smith (known by the BBC as Scotland 2015) on the BBC Parliament channel so it has been available to everyone in the UK. No other BBC ‘local’ news programme or political programme is shown on this channel on a daily basis. Nicola Sturgeon has been getting coverage and the ability to state the SNPs case outside Scotland during UK wide news and leaders debates. 

Nobody can deny that the SNP’s position in the polls has not considerably raised Scotland’s profile.

What has stayed the same is the British Establishment’s reaction to the SNP. However now it looks as though the SNP and therefore Scotland might actually have the possibility of getting something out of a UK General Election, the barbs have been getting somewhat stronger although have not been to the standard we have come to expect after the Scottish Independence Referendum campaign in the months and years leading up to September 2014.

There were murmurs of #ProjectFear2 but when a twitter storm started from disgruntled Yes supporters this very quickly seemed to peter out , although it may be resurrected at the polling stations by Labour representatives mirroring what occurred at the polling stations at the Independence Referendum.

We then had the #biggestcrisissincetheabdication from Theresa May the UK Home Secretary. True she was referring to a constitutional crisis stating that English voters would question the legitimacy of a UK Government where the SNP held sway over taxation and spending powers that would not affect their own country. She was obviously forgetting the fact that Scotland too is part of the UK (quite a common problem for those in Westminster, even for many of those elected from Scottish constituencies once they are in the Westminster bubble), the SNP are a UK political party legitimately standing for election to the UK parliament to represent Scotland, and that Scotland had to put up the same thing in the opposite direction for just under 300 years up to the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999. After all when Scotland had 72 seats to England’s 550 there was not a great deal Scotland could do about anything as it didn’t really matter how it voted. Scotland’s views only ever mattered when they coincided with what England wanted, and that remains largely the case since 1999 in matters reserved to Westminster.

This was quickly followed by #toysootthepram Milliband, who was so harassed by the ‘impartial’ UK media, indicated that he wouldn’t even talk to the SNP if they won lots of Westminster seats in the House of Commons inferring strongly that he would therefore prefer a Tory Government rather than a left wing coalition if this coalition required the SNP to function. This indicated a lack of political maturity on his part (hence the ‘toys oot the pram’ line), but also part of the arrogance and the sense of entitlement that has come to be associated with Labour in Scotland i.e. they don’t care how people voted as everyone is going to have what Labour wants.

According to the opinion polls Scotland could be on the cusp of something historic. I can’t say as I am surprised given the infamous vow which promised the maxiest devolution but ended up a mish mash which will be a nightmare to administer and gives Scotland complete control of road signs but very little else. Everything else seems to be qualified by the requirement for a Scottish decision to be approved by Westminster which largely defeats the point unless I am missing something.

The opinion polls have been showing the SNP polling amazing numbers since late 2014 and I remain in a state of disbelief over them. If the SNP win anything above 11 seats then the result will be historic (NB: When these 11 seats were achieved in November 1974 Scotland had 72 Westminster seats). If the party gets more than 30 as looks likely then Scotland is much less likely to be ignored in future as it gives the SNP real clout. If the SNP win over 50 seats out of the possible 59 Scottish seats then I may need to call an ambulance for the shock. I have wanted the SNP to get a majority of seats in Scotland since 1978, and I honestly thought I would never be alive to see the day. However if I end up in hospital I don’t think I shall get seen very quickly because of the queue of ousted Labour MPs in front of me. If anyone reading this knows me and wonders where I am on Friday when I am not contactable I shall send you my ward number in due course.

However Scotland’s position even if the unlikely event of the SNP gaining 59 out of the available 59 seats was to actually occur then it needs to be remembered that although an amazing political statement will have been made, because Scotland remains part of the UK this will still only be a small part of the 650 seats in the House of Commons in Westminster. This is the actuality of Scotland’s position in the UK, and nobody in Scotland should forget it. It is only the fact that both major UK parties are virtually neck and neck in the rest of the UK that Scotland can have clout on this occasion.  Onwards and upwards.

Dear Willie...

Letter sent to Willie Bain our beloved MP in Glasgow North East

Hello William,

I have just read your leaflet, as delivered to my household on 11/4/15. I have numerous questions arising from this, and would like to seek some answers from you. I hope you can take the time to answer.

The first thing that is brought to my attention is that our NHS is in "crisis". Can you please tell me why your party denied this pre-referendum?

It then says that "our families" are £1600 per year worse off under the Tories and that your Party will fight against this. May I point out that Labour voted WITH the Tories on further austerity? May I also point out that Labour have had the GNE seat for in excess of 80 years, and that it's one of the poorest constituencies in the country. I mean, the Tories haven't always been in charge....can I have your thoughts on this?

The next thing that is brought to my attention is that Labour will increase the minimum wage to £8. Other Parties have quoted £8.70 and £10 respectively, so why does £8 make you the better choice? Also, may I ask why Labour voted against the other proposed rises in favour of a lower proposal?

I then see that Labour plan to abolish "exploitative" Zero-hour contracts. It is a well known fact that in excess of 500 staff-members are employed by Labour on such contracts. Does this mean that you are admitting that your Party currently exploits people? Also, can you please explain why, after Tony Blair promised the same thing in 1995, we are still no further forward 20 years later?

The leaflet also mentions the mansion tax that your Party proposes. How many homes in Britain are worth £2m plus? I can't imagine that such tax will cover much. Can you please explain just how much this tax will cover?

I also see that you say that if we don't vote Labour, the Tories will get in. I'd like to point out that Scotland voted Labour in 1951, 1955, 1959, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992 and 2010 and got Tory anyway? That's a staggering 10 from the last 15, so kind of disproves your notion. Can I ask why you still think that voting Labour beats the Tories?

We have here an opportunity to have a Labour/SNP government, going by the polls. Do you not think that Labour not working with the SNP would allow the Tories in? Given that your printed assertion is wrong?

I note you also mention that you are anti-austerity. May I then ask why your Party voted FOR the cuts alongside the Tories? And why Ed Balls has said he won't change any of the current Tory plans?

Moving on to the 50p tax for £150,000 plus earners. Well, there aren't many of them in the UK. In fact, the Prime Minister doesn't even earn that. So....how much will this cover?

Finally, may I ask why your leaflet does not offer any advice on what YOU will do for us? You've been my MP for 6 years, and you do not say one thing that YOU will do for GNE.

I know that's a lot of questions. But they're the questions that immediately run through my head upon reading your promotional leaflet. I hope you can answer my concerns, and convince me it is not just the "same old".

Thanks,

James Gilchrist

reproduced with the kind permission of the author.

Gains of Yes: 3: Media Bias

 I am for YES because I want Scotland to have a mainstream media that actually promotes the interests of Scotland to the Scots and not the exact opposite as has been the case so far throughout the Scottish Independence Referendum, and long before. 

This is generally insidious and on many occasions subliminal but there have been many more obvious cases. 

The one that sticks in my mind at this moment as it was such a whopper was the Independence March and Rally on 21.09.2013. As I wasn't there due to illness and lack of money I thought I would watch live coverage on the BBC News Channel. Nothing was mentioned not then or in later UK wide bulletins, the latter applying also to ITV News and Sky News. It was only when I got to the RT news channel (yes the one based in Moscow, Russia) that there was live coverage from the event. 

It is a sad day when no UK broadcaster is showed an event occurring in their own country involving between 20000 and 30000 of their own citizens. I am sure if this number marched through London it would have received blanket coverage.

A YES vote is the only way to change this.

Gains of Yes: 2 : Westminster has lost touch with its People

I am for YES because the London political parties have offered Scotland very little since the end of the 1970s. 

There is very little difference between the Self-servatives, Lavender Labour and the Fib Dems on so many policies – i.e. all their platforms are based on a neo-liberal agenda that seems alien to many Scots even if many of them go out and vote for these parties in the hope that they may offer something different. 

 At least in Scotland we have the SNP Government who have done what they can, with the few powers they actually have, and have offered more than Waste-monster has in years…

1. Free Prescriptions
2. Abolition of tuition fees for further and higher education
3. Council tax freeze
4. Balanced budget (how different from the UK as a whole)
5. Preservation of free personal care despite budget cuts from Westminster
6. Public sector NHS wherever possible 
7. Abolition of bridge tolls (including Forth, Tay, Erskine and Skye)
8. Improved capital spending to help the economy
9. Protection from some of the worst ravages of the austerity programme, and cuts in the welfare system being foisted on Scotland by a Government it did not vote for. I am very aware that this cannot go on forever (another reason to vote YES).
10. And there are many more.

Vote YES to continue this work. Vote NO to stall it and perhaps have it all destroyed due to Westminster austerity cuts.

WHAT POLITICAL PARTY CHOICES ARE THERE?

In England and in the UK as whole (because of the imbalance in parliamentary seats between the constituent countries) there are only 3 parties ever likely to be part of a UK Government at the present time.

These are …

1. Conservatives
2. Labour
3. Liberal Democrats

CON: The price of everything and the value of nothing.

The Conservatives know the price of everything and the value of nothing. They run the country like UK plc screwing down the workforce to the lower pay values possible. They believe in business and money, freedom, and the rights of the individual (if they are successful in monetary terms) to choose. They remove rights and laws protecting those at the bottom of society and by inference or direct statement blame the most vulnerable for being a drain on the country. They are not in hock to the Unions but are instead the bedfellows of big business and the rich and are funded by them. Traditionally they are also the party of the landed gentry and the hereditary principle. The usual colour they are represented by is blue.

LAB:  should change its colour from Red to an increasingly bluish lavender

The Labour Party was once a party of principle who believed in sorting societies ills to make a better future for all the people of the UK. They believed that all essential industries and utilities should be owned by the people and run for their benefit. They set up the National Health Service offering health care free, to be available as required rather than on the ability to pay. They carried through and enhanced the Beveridge Liberal vision of a welfare state. They are still in a large part funded by the Unions who are themselves funded by a large proportion of the UK population. However the post Thatcherite Labour Party is a shadow if it’s former self and should change its colour from red to an increasingly bluish lavender. It has accepted most of the 1980s Conservative ideology meaning there isn’t much to distinguish it from the Tories, except you can expect them to be a bit less concerned about the price of everything and more likely to know the value of something, although recently they have gained the notoriety of being in charge during the 2008 financial crisis. I believe they actually did the right things (as compared to the Conservatives who would have let the banks go to the wall at the time) but got no thanks from the electorate due to the preceding years of profligacy.

There was a remarkable similarity between the two UK conference sets recently of the Conservatives and Labour party. Both had a blue background and both included the Union flag. Similar in design and similar in basic ideology with slightly more social minded policies from Labour.

LIB DEM:  They are represented by a golden yellow colour (that sums them up!)

The once mighty Liberal Party now the Liberal Democrats who came up with the majority of the welfare state is now likely to only get into Government as bedfellow to either one or other of the big two mentioned above and has been in this position since World War 2. They claimed to be principled prior to the 2010 election spouting ‘an end to broken promises’, fairer student funding, a fairer UK electoral system, and Mr ‘read my lips’ Clegg stated that he would never go into coalition with the Conservatives as they were not progressive in their hopes for a better society. They are represented by a golden yellow colour (that sums them up!). However all that got ditched in 2010 and now they are no different to either of the above. Indeed it could be argued that they are worse. At least you know that you are going to get brutalised by the Conservatives and incompetence from Labour. After 2010 you could anything at all from the Liberal Democrats!?*!

Danny Alexander in shock as he is told he is not a Conservative but a Liberal Democrat MP.

There must be something better, surely! Anyone?

If you want to pick a party that is likely to get into power in a UK General Election then (barring in one English Constituency i.e. Brighton Pavilion where the Green Party of England and Wales got its first representative) you are completely bereft of a choice that offers any moral, just, principled argument based on anything but how much everything costs in monetary terms. I do not believe the English people are so mercenary. There must be something better, surely! Anyone?

Fortunately in Scotland there is the SNP

Fortunately in Scotland there is a fourth realistic choice the SNP. The SNP in its first majority Government within the Scottish Parliament has done things that Labour should be fighting for i.e. free prescriptions for all, free university tuition fees, the return of at least a partial student grant, keeping the NHS from being privatised, etc. Unfortunately they are never going to have a majority in the Westminster Parliament as they only stand in Scottish constituencies.

It is about time Scotland learned that it could have a new future away from the above UK ‘choice’ (is it really a choice?). Only by voting YES in the forthcoming Scottish Independence Referendum can they have a new start. Will they chose this? I hope so.