Scottish Independence... What are your thoughts?

[squern]

Latest news is that those who registered to vote for the referendum may now be liable for Poll Tax they avoided, (by not being on the electoral roll).

Apparently, local authorities are intent on going back years and trying to reclaim millions.

An unintended consequence of the referendum.

[tonyreddevil]

good point

[peterpunto08]

I know its a different arm of government......but it'd be better to go after ebay, Amazon, and the other big tax avoiders.

[tonyreddevil]

try the banks,they should pay more

[westlondoncarparts]

The figures shown in the table on this BBC News webpage are truly terrible and a reflection of how UK national Government policies have failed the electorate.

There has to be a better way of running our national affairs than this.

No doubt this was a contributory influence on the Yes Vote.

And no doubt that an independent Scotland would have started to address this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-west-29618050

[squern]

A shocking reflection of our society. But I wonder about the definition of "child poverty", and don't believe it is only about money.

The amount of money is less important than how it is spent. And is £250 a week, AFTER housing costs, really as meagre as the article makes it sound ?

[westlondoncarparts]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...itics-29765415

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ur-leader.html

The fall out from the Referendum will be far and wide.

Very sad that Johann Lamont feels that stepping down is the best way to make her voice heard.

Even more sad is that none of the long established UK national political parties is seen as having any relevance for ordinary working people in Scotland – not that there are so many ordinary working people in Scotland these days after the great de-industrialisation of the 1980s.

It is a sign of the times that the former Labour strongholds on Clydeside voted for independence because they no longer have a national Labour party to support them and so felt that they would be better off by going it alone.

The remoteness and relevance of the Westminster Parliament to vast sections of the British electorate who feel that it no longer serves them and that they have been disenfranchised as stakeholders in the UK were contributory factors to the Scottish situation but are not specific to Scotland only.

Frustration with Westminster will result in the breaking down of established political structures across the UK in the near future.

The opinion polls are predicting a Medway UKIP win next month. If that happens, more English MPs will come out of the closet and join UKIP resulting in more by elections.

And David Cameron has to get his awkward squad to sign up to further devolution for Scotland, without which there will be serious trouble from north of the Border next May if he cannot deliver what he promised to Scotland.

Alex Salmond back as a Westminster MP next May will be a force to be reckoned with if Westminster fails to deliver on further Scottish devolution.

[MPS16]

.....
Frustration with Westminster will result in the breaking down of established political structures across the UK in the near future.

The opinion polls are predicting a Medway UKIP win next month. If that happens, more English MPs will come out of the closet and join UKIP resulting in more by elections. ......

Actually the convention is that byelections are not held if there is less than 6 months left until the next General Election date.

[PetBazaar]

It's the referendum that just keeps on giving.

Maybe this thread will reach 1000 posts after all.

Labour in Scotland really is in deep trouble. They've never really come to terms with losing to the SNP at Holyrood in 2007, then losing again even more heavily in 2011. They've always regarded Scotland as a bit of a fiefdom, they feel that they have a right to be in power here and it seems to be slowly slipping away.

Every time they lose they promise to listen and learn, but they never do. Their main, in fact only Scottish policy seems to be blanket opposition of the SNP. Labour good, SNP bad, more or less sums it up. You could see their arrogance in the run up to the referendum, complete refusal to even recognise the existence of a splinter group Labour for Independence. Complete denial that 30-40% of labour voters might chose "Yes". All of their pre referendum debates were behind closed doors with specially invited labour voting audiences. No meeting the public for these guys. Now as "The Party of Devolution" they're the party that wants to devolve the fewest powers. It seems that their goal is the preservation of Labour rather than the Union.

Johann Lamont seemed sincere enough but she really was out of her depth as leader, even if she was hamstrung by UK labour at every turn. Problem is, there is absolutely no labour MSP that I could look at and say, with a straight face, there's first minister material. My guess is that Jim Murphy or Gordon Brown are going to be parachuted in from Westminster. Personally I hope it's Murphy, he's such a sleaze, it should be real car crash TV politics. But I doubt that will stop the revolving door of Scottish leaders. To go through 7 of them in 15 years suggests that something is badly wrong and needs more than a bit of tinkering around the edges.

Short of actually winning the referendum, I doubt that the SNP could be more happy with the outcome.

We should keep this thread going... We might need it again in a few years.

[suesjools]

Wow, Pets, I learn so much from you, it's amazing. You should teach poli-sci at a university, you really seem to have a knack for it; (I'd say you should run for office, but you strike me as far too honest to be politician material, here or there).

Best wishes for many sales to all,