>£100m a year in EU structural funds, directed through @scotgov, is going. Being replaced by Shared Prosperity Fund - details unclear, until yesterday, when @SteveBarclay wrote to @KateForbesMSP, saying it will be a UK fund, effectively by-passing Holyrood, Cardiff, Stormont 1/
— Douglas Fraser✒️🎥🎙 (@BBCDouglasF) January 16, 2021
A grabbing of funds from the Scottish Parliament rather than maintaining the status quo and replicating EU funding for Scotland. This is a power grab pure and simple. Time for the people of Scotland to give their answer to Westminster, time for independence. https://t.co/KT1VZjUslE
— Ian Blackford (@Ianblackford_MP) January 16, 2021
Just a reminder of the text of "The Vow", as signed by David Cameron on behalf of the Conservative Party in September 2014 -So for "bonanza of new powers", read less powers than before, thus breaching The Vow.https://t.co/nD5A0o45nw
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) January 16, 2021
"WE ARE AGREED THAT
The Scottish Parliament is permanent and extensive new powers for the Parliament will be delivered by the process and to the timetable agreed and announced by our three parties..."
No reasonable person would interpret the words "permanent" and "extensive new powers" as meaning that powers already held by the Scottish Parliament in 2014 could be stripped away by the UK Government at any time.
New UK Shared Prosperity Fund to bypass Holyrood https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-55687977
ReplyDeleteJust took 90% of an Optimum poll but abandoned it when at the end they asked me to choose between several double choices which were all unacceptable. E.g. You can accept the current UK/EU arrangement or rejoin EU but forget independence. Not a chance!
ReplyDeleteEh? you cant rejoin the EU if you are not independent
DeleteYes I did that poll too. I did complete it, though I thought that was an odd question. There was a standard independence question earlier on though.
DeleteThe cost of voting No in 2014. The cost of the SNP doing SFA to promote Indy and have another Indy Referendum the last 6 years. Chickens coming home to roost.
ReplyDeleteScots were against indy until January 2020 and it's only really in the past 6 months where we can conclude, outside of MoE, that it's what they want now.
DeleteThe tories tactics make me more and more angry that we are tied to this so called union. We need a referendum ASAP and we need to regain our independence before the tories cause any more damage to our country.
ReplyDeleteThese are deliberate ploys by the tories to weaken our economy and we will have enough problems to tackle with covid's impact. Enough is enough and it is time for the SNP and the wider Yes movement to ramp up the campaigning.
Dae ye mind whit befell the Sheriff o Lanark?
ReplyDeleteSeems we're turning the clock back to the days of English oppression.
Nae respect. Nae democratic rights.
Scotland is being treated like a colonial possession of England.
Luckily, we're still allowed to vote.
Taking back control is it?
Two can play at that game.
Don't let anyone claim they weren't warned.This was visible on the horizon ten years ago. In fact, it became inevitable in 2011 when, having had a wee fright in 2007 when they lost control of the Scottish Parliament, the Voters broke the system designed to ensure no majority government and made a referendum a certainty.
ReplyDeleteWhen the referendum came, England-as-Britain got a third fright when it came close to losing its most prized possession - the annexed territory of Scotland. The Scottish Parliament became the threat to the Union British Nationalists were assured it couldn't be. Without that assurance devolution would never have been permitted.
Part of that assurance came in the form of Section 30 of the Scotland Act - which is little more than an affirmation of the power over Scotland that England-as-Britain is afforded by the Union.
It may already be too late to get Scotland out from under the British Nationalist heel. If it is then blame for that falls on the shoulders of the First Minister who walked into the Section 30 trap. But Nicola Sturgeon does not bear that burden alone. Those who blindly followed her while turning a deaf ear to the warnings also must accept their share of responsibility.
It was obvious several years ago that the Section 30 process could not possibly lead to a free and fair referendum. It was always insane to commit to a process which was critically dependent on the goodwill, good grace and good faith of the very people most fervently opposed to the restoration of Scotland's independence.
We may consider ourselves fortunate that having dithered and procrastinated for six years we get one more chance to save Scotland from the real and imminent threat of British Nationalists determined to dismantle our democratic institutions and subsume Scotland into a 'Greater England-as-Britain'. From this, there will be no escape.
Saving Scotland from such an unspeakable fate requires bold, decisive action by the Scottish Government. This time, we dare not shirk our duty as citizens of Scotland to 'persuade' our political leaders to renounce the Section 30 process and create a new democratic process by which the people of Scotland might exercise our inalienable right of self-determination.
The SNP must renounce the Section 30 process and adopt a #ManifestoForIndependence before the 2021 Holyrood election. Or face the wrath of the people they have betrayed.
Well said Peter.
Delete" Those who blindly followed her while turning a deaf ear to the warnings also must accept their share of the responsibility." A perfect example on this site is Smearer Skier.
Scotland's royally scr**ed now. With pro indy folk demanding some in the SNP go to prison, with no trial it seems, then with Brexit taking a wrecking ball to Scotland's economy, the EngGov IM Bill, and the power grab, some prominent politicians in the SNP saying if no indy ref in 2021, the election in 2026 will be fine and dandy for such a notion, wave bye bye to Scotland, say hello to North UK. That's what the English Met Office call Scotland on some of their pages online.
ReplyDeleteFreedom?
The future could be very bleak indeed, with the newly named Northern UK shackled, with a ball and chain for a very long time to come.
"With pro indy folk demanding some in the SNP go to prison, with no trial"
DeleteThese trail by online comment / English blog people are not pro-indy.
The SNP/SG talk more talk. It is action that's required. If britnat Westminster is by-passing Holyrood then Holyrood must by-pass the senior britnat civil servants appointed by Westminister who still reside in Holyrood.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile elsewhere...
ReplyDeleteBrexit: End to Gibraltar land border prompts joy and trepidation https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55674148
Most Scots, not just SNP members are running out of patience. Scottish sovereignty doesn't lie in the palm of any English politician.
ReplyDeleteThis 2026 idea is a non-runner as it would divide the YES movement.
Listening to what London will concede while the frustration of ordinary Scots grows is a disastrous plan.
Time for some tough talking within the SNP before we throw away this opportunity.
2026 is what Smearer Skier punts. Just grin and bear 5 more year of the Tories making life miserable and rolling back devolution just to make sure people are well pissed off enough to vote yes overwhelmingly. Madness.
DeleteWhat's the difference between a corrupt Scottish government and a corrupt Westminster government some people postulate.
ReplyDeleteI will vote for a corrupt Scotgov because Scots can always vote out a corrupt Scottish government with independence. Scots cannot vote out a corrupt Westminster government if there is no independence.
As per my letter printed in The National last Wednesday: https://www.thenational.scot/politics/19006147.tories-plotting-condemning-non-covid-discussion/ I think the control of public funding in Scotland through the UK Prosperity Fund is only going to be one example of Westminster money grab from funds which should be managed through Holyrood and the Scottish Government. It is worth reviewing the UK and Scottish Tory manifestos for the last UK general election - there are many references to investment and development across the UK (i.e. bypassing the devolved governments – a lot of this post brexit power and money grab has been a long time in the planning and will involve direct UK funding local authorities, education providers, technological, agricultural and fishing interests and companies manufacturing, all bandaged with the union flag. It may also be referenced in the Dunlop Report – perhaps one of the reasons that report has not been published.
ReplyDelete