“The Scotland Bill is terrible. We are being given the power to top-up existing benefits, but not control of the benefits system. That means we don't save money by getting people into work, and we can't change the system to make it more humane or more efficient. Top up benefits will be expensive or in some cases impossible to administer.
“Oh and taxes - we are getting more power to vary taxes, but not power to define them. Rich people can choose to take their income through shares or capital gains, taxes not devolved, so we can tax the middle class more but we can't tax the rich. And the Tories will still be cutting the Scottish block grant every year. A well-constructed trap, all round.”
A truly disgraceful middle finger salute, to the people of Scotland.
ReplyDeleteI can hardly believe what they've done to us, and god knows I'm cynical about anything British.
DeleteIt's the very stuff we warned would happen, with a NO vote.
DeleteIndeed Jimnarlene, and we did say that it wouldn't just be us the YES voters who would be punished. When they talk about the Scots they mean everyone. They have little respect for those who voted NO, they would never have done so, so the NO voters can expect to feel the pain of the thing they caused.
DeleteSo angry but cannot say at all surprised.
But it hastens our Unilateral Declaration.
ReplyDeleteWe are most definately still leaving. They think they are being clever, and they are just driving us to a harder position. Idiots.
Saor Alba
I'd say you're right there. I noticed a few retweets last night from people saying that they voted no, but then that wee twerp kicked sand in their face.
DeleteHe's not really the kind of person you let kick sand in your face.
They seem to be totally unaware of how much resentment and even hatred they are brewing up here.
Interesting, I am having tea with a couple of no voting friends at the weekend, be interesting to hear what they have to say!
DeleteYou know, I think 'they' know exactly what they are doing. They want to cause resentment and hatred it suits their agenda. When I visited friends in NE England recently, I realised that the the balls have been set rolling for a possible attack should Scotland take things into their own hands, or just get a bit uppity at the way they are being treated. By that I mean that the comments I got, like, 'yous let the tories in', 'lost all respect for scots since they voted no', 'Scotland has no language or culture of its own', 'but you are English', 'Scotland is a one party state', Scotland will end being a fascist state' etc etc. Not to mention there comparison to our Independence quest becoming like the war in syria. The contempt cor Scotland, scared me. I wonder if the foundations are being laid to bring in the tanks should things get out a bit heated because we are going to be sufffering so badly when the barnett formula is removed and even the Scot parliament is compromised by westminster. In a way it already is compromised. Hmm, sounds far fetched, but I think we need to read between the lines, keep one step ahead, keep our heads and let the Scot gov proceed how they think is best for Scotland. We all know this is sham bill, as it stands.
Well, it will be interesting to find out what your friends think. Come back and let us know.
DeleteI trust Nicola and her team to do the best thing with this insult of a bill.
Albeit, probably unwittingly, the Tories have sewn this up nicely.
I was watching it last night ( on a friends TV ;) ) and my wife started taking an interest in it asking" what is this all about?"
ReplyDeleteI briefly told her and after a few minutes watching she declared " that's an absolute disgrace"
I don't do facebook but I asked her to put up a link to Wings which she did.
I also fired off a letter to the Local newspaper about the disgrace that is Labour.
AYe I can wait till May 2016 and then to 2017.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Nurse your wrath, and serve it up two fold; SNP/SNP
DeleteWell done Mrs Parker and to you Gerry.
DeleteIt's still unclear to me exactly what the situation is, apropos Tac Credits but, as I understand it from Nicola's tweet, while they won't stop Edinburgh taking some steps to mitigate its effect, labour actually voted against it being devolved.
I'm sick of them.
But I agree totally with Jim. SNP/SNP at May's election.
They may not be perfect but they are a sight better than these Britnats.
Macart says he is just waiting for the Labour red rosette to come round his door, where he will simply look and very slowly shut the door. I am with him there, the look of contempt they will get from me will turn milk sour.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that Joe Pike was saying is that Labour MPs in Scotland hadn't a clue how to canvas, or door knock. Most of them had never had to do it.
DeleteThey turned up at the count, got elected and carried on as before. It never occurred to them they could lose a seat.
I doubt anyone from the Labour Party will come near me, but if they do, they'll be left in no doubt that I'd rather vote for Fatty Air Miles than for them... and given how much I hate the royals that's saying something!
Nice picture of Mundell celebrating actually getting a complete sentence out without shaking, stammering or sounding like a complete arse.
ReplyDeleteCome on Colin. It wasn't a FULL sentence... just a phrase, made up of very small words and not making any sense, but at least he managed it.
DeleteMind you, it was spoiled by his laugh which made him look like a complete arse.
Designed by British Labour to have the powers of a parish council and in certain respects even less and continuing to be hobbled by HM government in London.
ReplyDeleteHobbled together.
LOL That could be their next slogan
DeleteHobbled Together.
I think their stinking union's coat is on a shoogly nail.
Tris
ReplyDeleteI watched some of the debate and just ended up angry at the contempt that was being shown. Graham Allen of Labour and Alberto Costa of the Tories were a disgrace and told everyone in Scotland what they needed to know. The fact that they were allowed to spout ill informed nonsense and borderline abuse was quiet unbelievable to watch, the contempt they showed to the SNP was a huge slap in the face to every voter in Scotland because basically the message was your vote doesn't matter, you voted to stay and this is what you get. The various speakers allowed the debate to be about England while the SNP were slapped down and ridiculed at every opportunity, I was actually shocked at what I saw and came away from the 2 hours I watched convinced that even as a Lib Dem the only answer is independence, we really live in a different country and the union is dead. My message to no voters is if this is how you want your country to be treated then maybe you really need to think about where you want to be, I know that's extreme but the non debate showed that in Westminster we are no better than dog shit, obviously no Liberals were in attendance due to Carmichael being in court, he should be ashamed. Mundell and Murray are both a joke as are the Labour Party. Corbyn and his supporters should leave and form a new party because that bunch of bastards are Tory to the core, what a joke.
So while I am angry in many ways I know that the only answer to our future is a yes vote. We are as worse off now and it will get worse, the Tories are set to form the government beyond 2020 and maybe even 2025, 25 years of the Tories, is that really what we want! No Tris, it was time to leave last year but now I feel it is even more vital that we leave now before it's just too late. If my fellow Scots in the 55% can't see that then the shame will be on us for generations to come and we will be remembered as badly as the scum who signed the declaration of union in the first place.
This UK really is a shit hole.
grumpyscottishman(Bruce)
Well yeah, I agree with that Bruce, except I don;t really think it's 55% now. :)
DeleteI'm sick of being treated like this and have the Scottish branch of the BBC tell me its OK.
I don;t know how Labour can look their voters in the face.
If they think that this is the way back.... pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
We'll get there Bruce and you and I will stand at the top of the Law and sing Flower of Scotland!
We may be being given the power, curtseys, cow tows, tugs forelock, to top-up existing benefits Tris but I don't know if you are aware that dear old Ozzy Osborne may very well be looking at ANY income from SG to top up tax CUTS as INCOME that can be taxed!!!
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/MhairiBlack/status/664097019628281858
Yes. That seems to be the problem. Labour can boast that it can be done.
DeleteWe can't pay tax credits but we can pay money... but how the English government sees that money will be a matter for them. They could charge the poor income tax on it and get most of it back.
Scottish government will have to set up a system, for paying it too. They won;t have the info that the IR has. More forms; huge bureaucracy, fabulously expensive.
Can't help thinking Union Jacket Man made a bit of an arse of them...
I watched some of the debate and agree it wasn't ideal. Too little time was allocated and some of the speeches were obviously obstructive and irrelevant to the debate.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think many people are really that interested to be honest, since views are still polarised and there is no middle ground - at least in public. Westminster say the SNP are bad, but the SNP are saying exactly the same about Westminster. We've had this for god knows how many years now. People will switch off.
It's obvious that Westminster would deliver what they want. So work with that and play the longer game. Show what can be done with limited means, rather than constant demands, as that what it appears to be at the moment.
On a lighter note, I see Mr Carmichael is digging himself into a rather large hole. Not a clue about the legal technicalities but entertaining none the less.
zog
I find it so insulting to be treated with such enormous disrespect, Zog.
DeleteIn truth the Tories are doing what Tories do. There's nothing much wrong with that where they were elected to do it. it is their objective to change the whole culture of Britain and make it look like a Republican USA.
There's not much wrong with that from the point of view of those who are either very successful or very rich in hereditary terms. Sharp elbows and rich parents and all that stuff. it's pretty crap for the rest of us, but a whole 37% of the UK voters voted for them so we have to suck it up.
If we criticise them for being Tories, we are wrong. Once upon a time where there was a better class of Conservative there was an element of Noblesse Oblige. People realised that if you look after the people way down there and treated them reasonably then they would be better at serving you. No point in having a parlour maid that faints from hunger when pouring your tea. But that disappeared a long time ago when the SPIVS took over. They are the kind of people who never actually had retainers. They just had a few staff. And they are incredibly greedy.
The SNP are first and foremost interested in t h e best deal for Scotland. They think that can be best achieved by being independent, but the will of the people was that they wanted Devo max, or, as their chosen spokesman promised Devo Super Max . Mr Brown said as near federal as is possible. Better Together appear to acknowledge that that is what swung it.
Well,we didn;t get any like that. I'm sure there are technicalities that will differentiate between German state, Canadian Provinces, Australian states, American state and those elsewhere... and the British countries. But the strongest devolved government in the world... Not a chance. The Spanish nationalities, the Russian republics and even the Moldavian minorities have better devolution than we do.
Labour are interested in nothing but Labour. They are terrified that they will end up with no power in Westminster and all the power in the poxy little dump in Edinburgh, which to most of them is beneath consideration. Jim Murphy on being beaten, losing his seat and being pushed into resignation said "At least I'll never have to come back here again!" They want to be big players with nuclear weapons and phone calls to important people. They want to be Tories.
In fairness to Kezia she tried to do something about Tax Credits. It was probably ill thought out and incompetent adn not costed, but she made an effort and at least she was thinking of the poorest people. But Union Jacket took the whip from his real boss in the big boys' parliament and voted against her plan.
Now she may be able to offer something, but when it is costed, as it will be by John Swinney, and doubtless many academics adn maybe even Iain Gray will cost it... it will be found to be incredibly expensive and undoable. And that is their fault.
As for the Liberals... I though that idiot was supposed to be a lawyer? What kind of law did he study? All I can imagine is that he believes his position and importance will save him. He cost us millions by lying and holding an inquiry. He lied about an ambassador of a close ally; he lied to the Cabinet, parliament, the public and ... he didn't own up till he was safely relected.
What a despicable little man he is. I hope they put him in the pokey, never mind take away his seat. He should be made to pay back what that inquiry cost.
Rant over :)
He gets his due in the Project Fear book. He only gets a couple of mentions, strange given he was the government's man in Scotland, but they leave him looking like a complete dick!
Surely,to even the most ardent unionist supporter in Scotland it must be absolutely clear that the "union" is being imposed on Scotland by English MPs whether we like it or not.
ReplyDeleteEngland's final frontier,where no democracy has gone before,nor ever will if Westminster has it's way.
Maybe they love it.
DeleteI'm sure there were African, Asian, Australian, Indo-Chinese, North American people who loved being ridden roughshod over by the Brits, becasue they are so superior to all the rest of us.