SNP MEP Alyn Smith has reacted angrily to news that the UK
government has announced that it will not pass on hundreds of
millions of pounds in EU agriculture payments to Scotland; funds which only accrue to
the UK because of Scotland's unique agriculture.
The decision comes in the wake of a cross party call
from Scottish politicians at Holyrood, including the Labour, Tory and LibDem
parties as well as the Scottish government, for the payment to be passed on.
The decision sees Scottish farming losing out on €60 million a year to which they are objectively
entitled.
Mr Smith said: "I'm beyond angry at this remarkable decision, I had in my naivety taken it to be a foregone conclusion, especially after the very sensible cross party consensus at Holyrood united to fight Scotland's corner.
"This money only comes to the UK because of Scotland's poor CAP budget allocation, and to see the funds go elsewhere - a badger goalpost moving cull perhaps! - is an outrage.
"Scotland's farmers are entitled to this money. The EU allocated the budget to our member state government in order to rectify the situation we have in Scotland. It is being withheld, I'll do my utmost to reverse this dreadful decision and I call upon all of Scotland's politicians to continue our cross party efforts to fight Scotland's corner."
Mr Smith said: "I'm beyond angry at this remarkable decision, I had in my naivety taken it to be a foregone conclusion, especially after the very sensible cross party consensus at Holyrood united to fight Scotland's corner.
"This money only comes to the UK because of Scotland's poor CAP budget allocation, and to see the funds go elsewhere - a badger goalpost moving cull perhaps! - is an outrage.
"Scotland's farmers are entitled to this money. The EU allocated the budget to our member state government in order to rectify the situation we have in Scotland. It is being withheld, I'll do my utmost to reverse this dreadful decision and I call upon all of Scotland's politicians to continue our cross party efforts to fight Scotland's corner."
Who, I wonder, is going to be the beneficiary of this little windfall over the years between now and independence. maybe best give it to Iain Duncan Smith's Department for Work and Pensions. The way this idiot pours money down the drain he'll need every cent he can lay his hands on to pay his expenses. Or maybe Philip Hammond will need it to pay for his bells and whistles celebration of the first world war?
*******
You'll need to click on this to be able to read it.
 |
...and this
Jeremy Hunt, the English Health Secretary, is in line for a
windfall worth more than £15m from a company sale that would propel him to the
top of the Cabinet rich list.
Hotcourses, an education listings service set up by Hunt 17
years ago, is in detailed negotiations about being sold to Inflexion Private
Equity, an investment firm, for about £35m.
Mr Hunt is understood to own 49% of Hotcourses, meaning that
his shareholding would be worth just over £17m if the takeover is completed.
Not bad going for a total thicko!
|
**********
Analysis of the UK government's fat cats reveals they are worth tens of millions of pounds between them. If Jeremy Hunt does net £17million from the Hotcourses deal, he would easily become the richest person at the Cabinet table. The current value of the 10 wealthiest cabinet ministers is:
1. Philip Hammond £8.2m
2. William Hague £4.8m
3. Jeremy Hunt £4.8m
4. George Osborne £4.5m
5. David Cameron £3.8m
6. Francis Maude £3.2m
7. Dominic Grieve £2.9m
8. Nick Clegg £2m
9. Theresa May £1.8m
10. Owen Paterson £1.7m
Just shows, money can't buy you either looks or brains!
The only answer is to get out of the corrupt EU as soon as possible. It takes our money then gives some of it back to us. Or not. If London steps in the way. The EU is bankrupt and will do what it did in Cyprus...help itself to our private savings...before going down the plughole.
ReplyDeleteWell, of course the EU is corrupt, Monty. I imagine any set of government at any level is corrupt. Give people power and they will abuse it.
DeleteBut on this occasion the EU has given money to the UK for Scotland (it can't give it to Scotland itself) and the UK is keeping it for itself, doubtless to waste on the royals or the house of lords or some other London project.
It's a bit stupid because it's a relatively small sum by UK standards and in relation to UK debt levels, but it is meant for farmers in Scotland. I've always said it's not worth making yourself a thief for a tiny amount of money.... And this is money that should have come to OUR country and been spent here.
It is, like so much else that this cack-handed bunch of idiots do, an own goal. I imagine there is more than one Scottish farmer thinking carefully about whether he really wants to stay in a country that steals money destined for him.
And the EU itself must be thinking that it is not best served by Westminster.
Sounds like Iain Duncan Smith influenced the decision. Hard to think of anyone else quite that stupid.
Independence could have been an excellent chance to rid us of the corruption of the EU and London tris.
DeleteImagine...
Our own fishing grounds returned....no more dumping of fish, scrapping of the Scottish fleet, desolation of the former ports and the hoovering up of £400Bn of fish from our waters.
No more corrupt CAP and the extra food bills.
No more unelected Baroness Ashton stirring things up in Syria on our behalf.
No more 'green taxes' for the man made global warming scam.
The ability to make and deliver on our own laws rather being subservient to Europe
The list is endless.
Independence in Europe is really just an oxymoron.
But we'll agree to disagree for harmony ;)
1 to to you 2 to me
ReplyDelete1 to you 3 to me
1 to you 4 to me
Yes, except it's NONE to you and ALL to me.
DeleteIt may interest you Monty and Tris that there is a head of steam building up in Brittany about trying to unlock themselves from the French unitary state and join the EU separately. The movement dress in red bonnets, which harks back to a much earlier tax revolt and needless to say there is a heavy element of tax revolt against Paris. Cue Paris bricking it, suspending a new eco tax being imposed to raise money for a new TGV investment.
DeleteMinisters are lining up to visit Brittany to assuage the Bretons.
The Bretons see Scotland's progress to independence and Catalyna's attempts to engineer the same.
Remember teh hexagon of France comprises of various ancient languages and territories pinched from different peoples.
vis
Ch'ti in N W France
Breton in Brittany
Basque in the SW France
Langue d'Oc in the SW of France
Catalan next door to the Oc (sister languages with more in common to each other than French)
Italian in Mediterranean NE France
German in Alsace & Lorraine.
A Europe of regions anybody?
I forgot to say that Paris sent in the CRS to control the protests, ended up teargassing them and seriously injuring two, otherwise peaceful demonstrators.
DeleteAfter this the CRS was withdrawn and returned to their barracks after the Min of the Interior shit himself.
That's interesting BTP.
DeleteI wondered how long it would take before France started to fragment, especially given the overbearing control exercised by Paris. "Tout passe par Paris".
Of course when the French revolt against something they mean business, and they tend not to be particularly cowed by authority, but the CRS... scary lot.
I commend the French ministres for going up there. That always works... just like having that fool Hammond or rich boy Osborne here.
Oh yes!
I imagine we shall see some changes.
hi ibsu....Brittany still sound keen on the corrupt EU though so they won't have achieved anything. Leaving the bankrupt and corrupt France for the bankrupt and corrupt EU doesn't sound like a move forward to me.
DeleteLord Monty, at least they would have a seat at the table, and a vote.
DeleteRealpolitik.
Anyway, I am hopeful that a fragmentation of the EU, away from the hegemony of the big fat cat countries would be a step forward. A bit like the idea of a mosaic Scottish Parliament, as evolved in 5-10 years would be no bad thing.
In the Scandinavian style?
bit strange there monty boy, since when is the EU responsible for London taking a subsidy earned by Scottish farmers and duly provided,
ReplyDeletethe fault of the EU if London then decides to keep the subsidy for itself?
But the only corruption you want talk about is the EU's in spite of the obvious point about WESTMINSTER corruption being ignored
ReplyDeleteodd
or is you little aside "if London steps in the way" an effort to show how London saves us from those thieves and vagabonds in Europe?
hi John..I'm one of the disenfranchised. I want independence for Scotland outside of the EU so have no party to support at the moment. Hopefully this will change after independence.
DeleteI want us to use our money as we see fit. Not dependent on getting pocket money from the EU or the UK. Both of whom take money from us and give us less back. And make us grateful.
We have tweedle dee or tweedle dum running London and an unelected elite running the EU.
Oh forgot to say...I write regularly about the corruption in London and how we would quickly run out of lamp posts if the people ever woke up.
DeleteJohn... Monty and I profoundly disagree about the EU, but we manage to limp along by skirting round it. But a glance at his blog does, without doubt, show that he is anti Westminster too.
DeleteI fear though Monty you will obliged to vote for UKIP (or Scotip), , because even the Tories, apart from their BNP branch, continue to support membership.
It will be interesting when the referendum comes (if it comes...remember it's a promise from Cameron, and we know what that is worth) how the Tory papers like the Daily Mail will play it. Hopefully it will be foreign news for us by that time.
UKIP aren't an option tris as they're against independence for Scotland.
DeleteI need a party that's in favour independence, wants out of the EU, will scrap the windmill scam and the man made global warming scam and I'll be sorted :)
Try SDA.
DeleteCheers cynical. They would fit the bill. Not sure if they have any candidates yet though. Will have to investigate them further.
DeleteMonty
DeleteYou could always for a T Party type organisation with Subrosa
Well actually Monty; they are just against anything that isn't little England... and from some of what they say, even bits of England are not acceptable, like the unemployed.
DeleteSo yeah, I was pretty much joking about that bunch of right wing nuts.
SDA sounds interesting. I have always been pro EU because I have seen first hand (working for an organisation that got a fair bit of funding from them, just how much difference their money made.
Yes, the UK pays in more than it gets out, but Scotland got a lot of money from Brussels that it would never have got from London.
As a lefty I have pretty much always hated the London government, which seem only to be interested in rich Londoners. The Eu forced a lot of social legislation on them. They'd love to get rid of it, so they could make people work 100 hours a week; in dangerous conditions, with no security of employment.
Scotland would not need it nearly as much as the UK. Our own governments would be more in line with other European states, and less with the USA.
I'd be happy to look at the relevant costs of being out of the EU but in EEA/EFTA with other small rich countries, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Snotty... Would Sarah Palin come over?
Deleteibsu..me and subrosa sound like the ideal couple :)
DeleteWe would have nothing to argue about though and I enjoy a good argument.
tris....you would get all of your money if we were out of the EU/ UK so could do so much more. At the moment you get whatever is left after the Italian mafia etc have taken their share.
20 years and still no audit of the EU accounts. All whistleblowers sacked.
I am reliably informed that she like that quite well; and again and again.
DeleteDodgy Dave is only worth 3.8 million?
ReplyDeleteIs that his gross 'earnings' per year?
Same for the rest of the bastirts.
I doubt he tells us all he is worth. There's probably more in the BVI, then his wife has a lot too, and her old man is totally minted, as is Cameron's mother.
Deletesince Im here I might as well start here,
ReplyDeleteIt seems a certain Mr James Martin is determined to stir up the chippy Scots as in spite of me raising a complaint to the BBC of an inaccurate statement made in last weeks Saturday morning Kitchen where he (claimed Yorkshire was voted third best place in the world to visit after Brazil and Antarctica, I pointed out in fact the survey found it was actually Scotland, in spite of my complaint ha stated this falsehood again only minutes ago on this weeks (live ) show so the complaint goes from simply inaccuracy to deliberate falsehood, here is the complaint in full (btw don't hold back)
In spite of my and I have no doubt others complaining of James Martin falsely claiming the Yorkshire was voted the third best place in the world to visit as stated on last weeks Saturday morning kitchen, I was really quite angry to hear that same falsehood stated again this morning,
now it would seem from his demeanor he knows it to be false but insists on repeating it in a facile and childish attempt to bait Scottish people (see how many complaints we can get) Might I remind Mr Martin he has a good and loyal fan base (my own wife included) in Scotland who see his feeble attempts at drawing out the Scots as mean and spiteful and quite beneath him, this complaint has gone from one of being a desire for the BBC to correct an error to a complaint about a deliberate falsehood the complaint reference number I copied and pasted straight from your response to me dated 02/11/13 CAS-2391419-3V4S14 was rejected as incorrect
I would seem to me Mr Martin has a desire to see his name in independence websites in Scotland please assure him I am happy to oblige
It was indeed Scotland. It was alluded to in "Have I got news for you", by Kirsty Young.
DeleteI don't know who this fellow Martin is... but if you give me a link I'll chib him too.
The BBC...pffff. Almost as incompetent as Iain Duncan Smith...
(Am I becoming paranoid about SlapHead?)
tris
ReplyDeleteYou wanna shut yer big gob otherwise they will
take away the orders from the scots shipyards.
yeah but Money does buy you power especially
mummys and daddys and wid that you dont need
looks or brains.
Farmers you ever see one riding a bike both sides of the borders???
Trouble is that they can't Niko. The contracts are unbreakable and would cost them more to get out of that to keep..
DeleteNope you're right in general about farmers down here... They drive BMWs, but I think we're talking about the kind of farms that they have farther north. And these folk aren't rich.
However, killing badgers costs money, especially in the hands of incompetents (no I'm not gonna suggest IDS had something to do with it...or am I?), so I suppose that's more important than giving money to the crofters. They are only jocks.
Cameron is a typical example (and dare I say it IDS, although it's his father in law's money). He's only where he is because of Daddy's money and Mummy's influence at the palace.
In fairness, at least you can not say that about Lamont and Margrit. For all I denigrate them, they don't have influence at court, and the money they have isn't old money.
Niko, you never answered my question on a previous article.
ReplyDeleteYou stated that all nationalists are evil.
Pick any country that has gained independence from London rule.
Did the folk that worked for that independence stop being evil once they gained their independence?
Juteman
ReplyDeleteyour evil thats for sure
No Niko you and that disgusting party you used to support are the evil ones as you have to blame someone else for you own inadequacies whether in or out of power. You are a habitual moaner that everything in your own life is the fault of someone else and it pleases you no end that the blue Tories have taken over from the red Tories as it suits your one and only narrative hatred.
DeleteGo and get drunk as that might cheer you up and save us from your perpetual whining.
No need for insults, niko.
ReplyDeleteI'm genuinely trying to understand your point of view.
Do you think that wanting to run your own country is evil?
Is it simply a question of us having different opinions on what our country is?
To Niko the SNP are the scum of the earth is the level of his debating skills.
DeleteNiko. Please don't insult people. Taz doesn't like it.
DeleteSo what's wrong with answering the question; it's not unreasonable.
Are we really the scum of the earth? And if so why? What is wrong with wanting your our country to run your own affairs?
Or do you really think London does it better?
tris
DeleteBit sensitive there eh?? 'Evil ' whoo ! scary stuff !!
Juteman
Nationalist are evil history teaches us that time and time again
I could say Zimbabwe i could say when india was partitioned into Indian and Pakistani Nationalists slaughtered each other in the hundreds of thousands,
Israel became Independent how did that work out for the Palestinians ???
Uganda how many were murdered by Nationalists ????
and on and on the nationalists never run out of innocent blood
to spill all in the cause of the nation/people
The nation state today is as defunct as the city state became in ancient Greece. Even Alex accepts Scotland would have to be a full member of the E.U to survive in the world which in itself shows whatever imagined sovereignty was gained?? by a yes vote would only be cosmetic.
The problem with you lot is that you talk/waffle about the Scottish people but you really mean the snp. The rest are
traitors, all this piffle you spout about the scots as nation
falls apart in light of vitriolic hate you lot spit at all the other political parties. Its hard to comprehend how in snpland you can have a diverse Pluralist democracy.
Niko: I think you might be forgetting the Greens and the socialist and the Labour for indy people, not to mention a lot of trades unionists... postal, firemen... for example.
DeleteWhy? Because in teh Uk all you will ever get is right wing Iain Duncan Smith politics.
Anathema to Scotland.
You say scotland will ahve to be a part of the EU...
Do you think the Uk ahs to be a part of it?
Do you think Norway has done badly outside it... or Switzerland? What about Jersey and Guernsey where the retirement pension is nearly twice the UK pension...?
Are they doing OK?
Niko,
ReplyDeleteDon't do to call folk evil. We don't need no Witchfinder General in these here parts. Usually calling out Ian Davidson MP as a man who confuses his own upward trajectory to wealth and, well, wealth, whilst acting against his own electorate is enough of a synonym for the bad word.
________________________________
Please, never mention Sarah Palin again, it makes me all 'folksy'.
Well hot diggity, I was just thinkin' a how it would be in this great country of ours....
DeleteOh well...
Ian Davidson is a self serving, rude, coarse, uncouth, lying thick arse.
He may or may not be evil... on balance probably he is.
My my my there is a bit too many bad tempers from some of these comments!
DeleteThe central issue about the shipyards is that without the UK, we can guess fairly honestly that at least one of the Clyde yards would need to close down.
They benefit enormously from the UK being the 4th largest defence spender in the world. And withdrawing from the UK would mean none of those new ships to be commissioned after 2015/16...
Jobs, community and stability before risking over 11000 jobs for an adventure in nationalism.
As for Ian Davidson, he has always been a good spokesperson defending the Govan ship yards. That is why he routinely kicks SNP arses each election time in his constituency.
Dear Dean.
DeleteMy, my, what a load of tosh from your good self!
You open your mouth and say this:
"The central issue about the shipyards is that without the UK, we can guess fairly honestly that at least one of the Clyde yards would need to close down."
How do you know that?
It seems to be, that with either the need to support a Scottish Navy, build warships for countries we have traditionally built boats for, or diversification, we can do alright. You are just another naysayer. Do you have a clue about what you speak? There is no evidence that you do.
Ian Davidson would try to sue me for slander, libel, any other book in the bible if I told you exactly what I thought of the Philip Patek, gold watch wearing wanker.
If he is your hero, then you are a mug.
It seems odd that you would wish a future where your children, should you have any, would be beholden to the likes of Ian Davidson MP and arsehole.
Best wishes,
douglas clark
Dean's knowledge skills.
DeleteLet me get this straight, Dean.
ReplyDeleteAs a socialist, you take pride in being the 4th biggest 'defence' spender in the world?
The forth largest spend in teh world on killing people.
DeleteNow if we took that money and spent it on other things... we could use these skills to build any number of other engineered goods.
Norway built over 100 ships last year, albeit that they were small ones, but 100... How many did the UK need?
The Uk is broke. I';m not sure that there will be an ongoing demand for ships from them, and as they seem intent on stealing our share of the royal navy, we look like having to build some (smaller) ships ourselves.
Mr Davidson says that the orders for the ships that the Uk is making should be taken away (and given to whom?.. India and Turkey have been mentioned) if we vote yes.
Seems to me he is more interested in HIS job than theirs.
The advice of these two unions (aka Better Together activists), which are supposed to represent the best interests of the employees of the Clyde shipbuilding industry, is to continue to doff your cap to the sole customer and therefore master of the industry.
DeleteNothing to say about improving the industry or making it more diverse or competitive?
The industry is dying on its feet. How do they explain that? They don't. They just dumbly use it as a political football.
It seems to me that Dean is trapped in a historical vacuum. Yes we built dods of aircraft carrier(s) with no guarantee that the US would build the planes we need to fly off them, even if we could afford them. No, we have no alternative strategy. Ahem, we can't actually afford both of them, so we'll have to sell one off, perhaps below cost?
ReplyDeleteThat is Dean's world. A country that couldn't organise a........
He appears to love a completely incompetent, nay stupid, government.
He is hoping we are all stupid enough to buy into Westminsters' utter incompetence.
Best wishes Dean.
I don't know why. This MoD is even more wasteful for buying utter rubbish that the DWP...
DeleteAnd we are back to spending more money than any other reasonable country on killing machines...
Why?
tris,
ReplyDeleteBecause aircraft carriers are pretty powerful symbols of virility. It is an utter embarrassment in some circles that the bloody French have one, especially one named the Charles de Gaulle. Nuclear powered even!
How embarrasing is that at NATO meetings for one of our numerous admirals!
An aircraft carrier battle fleet, that includes submarines and all sorts of defensive support vessels designed to protect it, is a projection of sovereignty wherever you place it / them, and hell mend the United Nations.
The last time we used one in anger was the Falklands and that is now protected by a flight of (4) Typhoons stationed just outside Port Stanley and a RN presence. Had the UK shown that presence of mind before Argentina attacked then the attack may well never have happened.
The Yanks love em - back to aircraft carriers again - so by a process of admiring your big brother, so do the Admiralty. It is just a shame that we seem incapable of providing planes for them. Which would seem a bit odd had our glorious politicians not indulged their usual desire for vandalism by selling of our complete collection of Harriers to the US Marines. Y'know, planes capable of flying off carriers.
That vandalism is only exceeded by scrapping, like your local car breaker does, our entire fleet of air defence NIMROD aircraft.
But heck, we little people shouldn't care about any of this wasteful stuff.
It is our position in life to starve, freeze and die prematurely, perhaps especially if we were in an army that fights wars it is ill-equipped for, such as in land-locked Afghanistan. The withdrawal from Iraq, after much huffing and puffing from our political leadership was perhaps the last hurrah of the Hoorah Henries.
Perhaps not.
Lets hope so.
Well, yes, I can see that Douglas. But don't they get it that it's a tad embarrassing to have an aircraft carrier and no aircraft?
DeleteIt's a bit fur coat and no knickers.
But in a situation where you know you will have to take the fur coat off... and everyone will see your lack of undergarments...