The Cowboy
Player Valuation: £60m
Wasn't it widely exclaimed recently that the oil tax revenues are/will be only about 10% of what the Yes campaign claimed?
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The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )
- Thread starter rascal
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Wasn't it widely exclaimed recently that the oil tax revenues are/will be only about 10% of what the Yes campaign claimed?
true Clegg will do anything to stay at the top table, not on his own a Lib was on tv yesterday and was asked given a choice of either joining a lab/or tory pact he said without missing a beat tory.
a lot of this election will be how there vote goes in seats were they are the first or second to the tory party, like in the south , if people desert them it gives the tory party about 11 extra seats down there.
If i were Labour and they came calling i would say bin Clegg before you even think about it
SpurtingLesbian
Ken Dodd Nagasaki
nowhere near that low, and that was before the huge field off Shetland was announced. Cameron flew up there for a secret meeting with oil officials three weeks before the vote, the find (conveniently) wasn't made public until a week after the vote.
The SNP was also not claiming that the whe whole of the Scottish economy was based in Oil. Scotland's population is about on par with Denmark's but Scotland has a lot more natural resource (even discounting oil)
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Facts
daylightrobber
Player Valuation: £15m
Agreed. Hopefully the people of Sheffield Hallam will decapitate the Lib Dems and scupper the chances of a Liberal/Tory coalition.
They probably wish, in hindsight, that they'd given him a safer seat. Doncaster or Witney for instance.
Milk
Udderly delicious
For once, I think Dave has it right. You cannot have a nationalist party holding the rest of the UK over a barrel as will happen if SNP enter into any sort of agreement with Labour to form a Government.
For an example, SNP are virulently anti Trident so will not agree to Defence spending plans until Labour abandon Trident. Ergo, troops don't get paid, weapons don't get up graded and UK gets royally rogered.
Sure Sturgeon is very good on TV and comes over as all sincere but then it's an easy card to play and I'm sure I could get up on a hustling and promise Jam today and Jam tomorrow.
No, the only sensible recourse is to VOTE LOONY.
Re the SNP and the claims they make in their manifesto about the NHS, it's worth remembering that England already spends 2% more of the state budget on health than the devolved Scottish government, whilst life expectancy in England is three years higher for men and two years higher for women.
What's more, this report from the Nuffield Health Trust suggests that despite the bluster around particular policies, there is actually very little indication that those policies are making much difference to patient outcomes.
http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/sit...r_countries_health_systems_summary_report.pdf
"Overall, this research suggests that despite hotly contested policy differences between the UK health systems since devolution on structure, competition, patient choice and the use of non-NHS providers, there is no evidence linking these policy differences to a matching divergence of performance, at least on the measures available across the four UK countries"
What's more, this report from the Nuffield Health Trust suggests that despite the bluster around particular policies, there is actually very little indication that those policies are making much difference to patient outcomes.
http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/sit...r_countries_health_systems_summary_report.pdf
"Overall, this research suggests that despite hotly contested policy differences between the UK health systems since devolution on structure, competition, patient choice and the use of non-NHS providers, there is no evidence linking these policy differences to a matching divergence of performance, at least on the measures available across the four UK countries"
Meanwhile free tuition fees in Scotland have actually harmed the poorest.
http://www.theguardian.com/educatio...tland-benefits-wealthiest-students-most-study
"The research by Lucy Hunter Blackburn, a former civil servant with the Scottish government, estimates that free university tuition and the cuts in grants to lower-earning students means middle-class families and students will be £20m a year better.
She estimates that the overall costs to lower-income families, including thousands of students at further education colleges, have gone up by at least £32m a year after the grant cuts forced them to take out larger loans.
"Free tuition in Scotland is the perfect middle-class, feel-good policy," Hunter Blackburn said. "It's superficially universal, but in fact it benefits the better-off most, and is funded by pushing the poorest students further and further into debt."
Populism must be harder than it appears to pull off.
http://www.theguardian.com/educatio...tland-benefits-wealthiest-students-most-study
"The research by Lucy Hunter Blackburn, a former civil servant with the Scottish government, estimates that free university tuition and the cuts in grants to lower-earning students means middle-class families and students will be £20m a year better.
She estimates that the overall costs to lower-income families, including thousands of students at further education colleges, have gone up by at least £32m a year after the grant cuts forced them to take out larger loans.
"Free tuition in Scotland is the perfect middle-class, feel-good policy," Hunter Blackburn said. "It's superficially universal, but in fact it benefits the better-off most, and is funded by pushing the poorest students further and further into debt."
Populism must be harder than it appears to pull off.
The SNP have set out their policies, prior to the election like with all parties they'll make a hardline stance on them. Clearly they have one eye on events post May 7th so anything they do now will be aimed are giving them as much bargaining power as possible. Will they make concessions after polling day? Of course they will.
My two bobs worth on trident is that they will agree to it being renewed but scaled down. So possibly just the 3 subs instead of the current 4 may be the route we take. Both sides come out of it ok and £20 billion saved.
hallamblue
Player Valuation: £40m
The SNP want the Tories to win, and the Tories want the SNP to win, it's a marriage of convenience. If the SNP demolish Labour in Scotland, The Tories will form a government and get us out of Europe. If the Tories get into government the SNP can play on it, say the country is being removed from Europe against the will of the Scottish people, and play on how much the Scots hate the Tories, and Scotland will gain independence.
roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
Blue 1
Player Valuation: £70m
The Tories will vote Trident through anyway, won't they, so talk of the SNP holding Labour to ransom over it is pretty much scaremongering, isn't it? Or have I misunderstood something?
I think they will. It plugs the massive blackhole in their (SNP) manifesto budget and saves face. They can claim their influence has led to a reduction in trident - then they'll go on record and say their goal is to eventually scrap it altogether. Also worth pointing out the main base for the subs is in Scotland and it provides 100s of well skilled jobs so keeping it open is of benefit to the locals there.
Labour will need SNP support on almost every other issue in the House of Commons so pissing them off like that will also be pulling the rug from under their own feet. It would surely result in a vote of no confidence and another election.
Blue 1
Player Valuation: £70m
Which would probably result in a Tory win. You think the SNP want that?
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