Find our contact information and learn more about us View our terms and conditions for use of our web site and view our privacy policy The Home Page of Electric Scotland
A comprehensive accommodation index of Scotland Beth Gay produces this regular publication on genealogy and Scottish events Loads of book to read about all things Scottish All about Robert Burns, Scotland's National Poet Learn a bit about Scottish Business here. View and Add Scottish events around the world Learn all about the clans and families of Scotland and Ireland Learn about thousands of famous Scots The weekly publication telling you about the culture of Scotland and the Politcal fight for Independence Lots of recipes to read and visit our recipe database Lots of wee Scottish and other games to play This is a 6 volume gazetteer of Scotland Loads of genealogy advice and information Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the site and the content Our menu for the huge amount of Scottish history that is on the site Lots of great fun for Kids including over 800 children's stories Lots of information on Scottish culture and Lifestyle including information on our Haggis, Music, Scots Language and lots more Learn about nature in Scotland and Scottish wildlife This is where you can read old issues of our weekly newsletter Thousands of pictures of Scotland to enjoy Lots of Poetry and Stories to enjoy and many of these sent in by our visitors This is where you can learn about Scots all over ther world in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and elsewhere Learn about the Scots-Irish Our web search engine for all things Scottish Get up to date Scottish news here and find Scottish news sources This is where we offer various services like out Article Service, Recipe database, Postcards and more where you can interact with out site Use our Tartan Search Engine to find your tartan Going for a holiday to Scotland then this section will help Lots of interesting wee videos on Scottish themes Find on what we've added to the site today! This is Alastair's personal site where he records his travels
 The Aois Community brings you message forums and lots of community services Electric Scotland's Article Service where you can add your own stories and articles Send a postcard from our ScotCards service
A comprehensive holiday accommodation Index for ScotlandEdinburgh and Scotland Accommodation, Bed & Breakfast, Self Catering, Guest Houses, Inns, Holiday Tourist AccommodationA Free to Air Web TV Channel all about ScotlandHoliday in Scotland. An amazing collection of unique holiday cottages, castles and apartments, all over Scotland in truly amazing locations.
STV (Scottish Television, SMG), Scotland's Premier TV Station with up to date news from Scotland and around the world.House of Tartan brings you kilts, tartans and gifts from Scotland. Find your tartan in our clan tartan database.Holiday Cottages Scotland. Self Catering and Holiday Homes.The All Celtic Music Store. Scottish, Irish and Celtic Music CD's. Buy and download single tracks or complete CD's
Results per page:
Match: any search words all search words
Scenes of Scotland

Click here to get a Printer Friendly Page
Scots Place Names
Scottish Food Overseas
wedding cakes scotland Advertise on all 1000+ pages of the Flag in the Wind
Strathblane Country House
Handmade Gifts

 

Scots Independent

The Flag in the Wind
A weekly online newspaper bringing you information on the political scene in Scotland: part of the monthly Scots Independent.

 Scottish Flag

Home | About Us | Subscriptions | Archives | Ad Rates | FeaturesLinks  |  Shopping Mall

Take out a newspaper subscription to the Scots Independent newspaper

CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926)
"Promoting all that is best in Scottish Nationalism and all that is best in Scotland."
Content of the Flag in the Wind Web Site is the copyright of the Scots Independent Newspaper.

[ Issue 407 - 21st March 2008]


Compiled by Richard Thomson


Lots of great information to read and enjoy under our Features Section:
Scots Language | Scottish Food | Dates in History |
Scot Wit and lots more


 

A Glimpse Of The Future?

 

 

It was the afternoon of Friday 7 May 2010. Following some nail-biting recounts, the final results of the UK General Election were in. After months of polls showing a Conservative lead, a collapse in the Lib Dem vote allied to a last minute swing to Labour had resulted in the first hung parliament at Westminster since 1974.
 

Election CountThe Tories had a majority of votes and seats in England. Labour, despite suffering heavy losses at the hands of the SNP, still returned 25 MPs from Scotland. There were bitter scenes at election counts, as Labour candidates, victorious and vanquished, vented splenetic attacks on the ‘nats’ and the ‘numpties’ in the Holyrood Labour group, whom they blamed for their predicament. Despite this, those 25 seats were enough to keep alive the hope that they could remain in office.

 

The Lib Dems, smarting from a halving of their representation, repeated their demands for PR. However, there was no appetite amongst either Labour or Conservative to comply and after what was being seen as a disastrous result, a consensus developed quickly that the Lib Dems were in no position to play for such stakes. As in the aftermath of the Scottish elections, a feeling began to emerge that the Lib Dems weren’t really serious and would rather slink away to lick their wounds.

 

All manner of previously unthinkable permutations began to be mooted in a bid to break the deadlock. Slowly, attention turned to the sizeable group of SNP MPs. Unthinkably, the arithmetic had fallen in such a way that the SNP could either return Labour to power, or stand aside to allow the Conservatives to form a minority administration, from whom they could then pull the rug at any time.


Days passed. After copious quantities of caffeine and nicotine, rumours began to circulate of a breakthrough. With Labour emissary Douglas Alexander insisting that the SNP take the Labour whip on English-only matters as the price of any deal, and offering only a Commission without timescale on funding arrangements for Holyrood, SNP negotiators found it easier than expected to walk away and let events run their course.


Correspondents filed excited reports from College Green. Gordon Brown, nails bitten down to the quick, was urged by the loyalists in the last ditch to try and form a ‘national’ government. Receiving bad advice from a fatigued inner circle and with willingness to accept Realpolitik in short supply, it fell in the end to Jack Straw and the Cabinet Secretary to break it to the Prime Minister that his time was up.

 

Buckingham Palace
 

Things began to move quickly. The Government Jaguar and Special Branch Range Rover whisked David Cameron to Buckingham Palace. As ever, the honeyed tones of a Dimbleby captured the moment for the benefit of an expectant nation. And there, blinking in the sunlight, Britain had its first Conservative Prime Minister in 13 years, albeit one leading a minority administration.

 

First Minister Salmond was amongst the first to offer his congratulations, even extending an invitation to meet at an early date at Bute House in Edinburgh. Later that afternoon, a grinning Angus Robertson was spotted walking along Downing Street to hold preliminary talks with Cameron, his Chancellor George Osbourne and the new Scottish Secretary.

 

Despite feverish speculation, in the end it turned out that no deal had been struck. Without the interference of the SNP, the Conservatives were – just - able to legislate in England. However, the SNP presence was enough to secure early concessions on Council Tax benefit, allowing their Local Income Tax policy to be introduced before the 2011 Holyrood elections. Attendance allowance, withheld in a fit of pique after the introduction of Free Personal Care in Scotland, was also subject to a swift rethink.

 

Downing StreetIt couldn’t last, though. English commentators on both left and right began to fulminate about this ‘Scotsgelt’ and demands to scrap the Barnett formula reached a crescendo. The SNP response was simple – their MPs would vote to end Barnett, but only in exchange for greater financial powers at Holyrood. Faced with the prospect of a new election, Tory backbenchers fell swiftly into line with a policy which many of their senior figures had secretly been favourable towards for quite some time.

 

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government, still riding high in the polls, was looking forward to the 2011 election. Having won fiscal freedom from Westminster, the so-called ‘Wendy Commission’ had been completely outflanked and had collapsed in recrimination. Holyrood’s unionist majority had still voted down the referendum bill, but despite protestations to the contrary, no-one seriously believed that was the end of the matter. For one thing, even if no referendum deal was possible in Edinburgh post 2011, there was now an avenue which could be used to deliver at Westminster.

 

David Cameron really hadn’t wanted to go down in history as the PM who ‘lost’ Scotland, but eventually, it just seemed like the best option for everyone. With a popular SNP administration in Edinburgh and the party holding the balance of power in London, public opinion had swung against the union on both sides of the border. There seemed little point in delaying the inevitable and by getting rid of Scotland’s MPs, he could get the Westminster majority he craved. In any case, the Tories had opposed devolution all along, and could hardly be blamed for what they had long said would be the inevitable outcome of John Smith’s ‘unfinished business’.

 

Countries come and countries go, he reasoned through the bottom of a glass of Jura. As it burned on its way down, he reflected that maybe Alex Salmond had been right all along - the Scots would make better neighbours than they had lodgers.

 

 

The LIT Hits The Fan

 

SNP plans for a Local Income Tax (LIT) seems to have become the target of choice for the opposition now that the budget and council tax freeze have gone through. As if on cue, out is being wheeled by Labour and others the archetypal hard-working, 2-income family, whom we are being invited to believe will under LIT be left subsidising pensioners in big houses who live off bloated share portfolios.

 

First things first - comparatively few people are in a position to live off their investments, but presenting a more balanced picture wouldn’t have the desired effect in terms of trying to whip up opposition to LIT. However, as a strong supporter of LIT, I thought I’d throw two very real examples into the mix, which have resulted from my own domestic arrangements over the past few years, which help explain my complete disdain for the council tax.

 

Telegraph HillI own a tenement flat in Edinburgh, which when I lived there first, I shared with my partner of the time. As a band ‘B’ property, the combined water and council tax bill came to about £1,200, or £600 each. However, after we split up, even with a 25% single person’s discount my bill shot up to £900 – or about 5% of my household income at the time.

 

Now, I hadn’t become any wealthier in the intervening period and made no more demands of local services than I had previously. However, purely as a result of a change in my personal circumstances my Council Tax increased overnight by 50%, while the bills of my neighbours remained completely static.

 

Fast forward a few years to the present. As work for the moment requires that I have somewhere to live in London, I rent a room in a 4 bedroom semi-detached house in the south-east of the city. Nice as that particular bit of town is, fashionable Notting Hill or Hampstead it most certainly isn’t. Some of the houses are in need of TLC, but creeping private ownership and renovations are putting the area on its way back to past glories. All of this has resulted in a very diverse ethnic mix, with a high proportion of young families.

 

There’s also a large number of homes of multiple occupancy, including mine. There are 5 of us living together in the house – myself; an IT consultant; a banker who shares a room with his parliamentary Jerningham Roadresearcher fiancée; and another banker. Fortunately, we all get on very well, although this may be helped by our different work start times and the fact we have a big kitchen and 2 bathrooms, so it isn’t quite as cosy as it sounds.

 

Based on salary alone, the five of us probably have a combined annual income of between £250,000 - £300,000 (myself and the other researcher lag quite some distance behind the rest!). However, as a band ‘E’ property, the bill for us all comes to just over £1,500 – or £300 a skull if we split it 5 ways – just 0.5% of the total household income.

 

So, £900 for living on my own in Edinburgh, but just £300 for renting in an HMO in London. A tax which is supposed to be based on wealth means I now pay 66% less than I did in Edinburgh for living in a house which is probably worth 5 times more! It’s an obscenity when you consider the couple with two pre-school kids over the road who have to pay an identical bill out of just one income rather than our five.

 

And that in the end is my beef. No matter how you slice and dice it, council tax hits households with low incomes disproportionately. Since it is based on the value of the house, there is little correlation between this and one’s ability to pay. Worst of all, the eventual bill you end up paying hits those who live on their own the hardest.

 

New Cross BusWhile being young, professional and childless means we don’t make huge demands of the services of Lewisham Council, on balance, we’re happy that we’re making a contribution towards policing, parks, adult education, libraries, schools, trading standards, refuse collection, the fire brigade, social services etc in the area. Splitting the bill 5 ways makes us better off financially, but I don’t think any of us would object seriously to being asked to make a bigger contribution given that we’d all be more than capable of so doing.

 

There will be winners and there will be losers in any change to a tax system – something which those calling for council tax revaluations and extra bandings and additional rebates would be wise to remember. Instead of conjuring up grotesque, false spectres of families being downtrodden by the supposedly idle rich, Labour and the Conservatives should be honest enough to explain why they believe that the rich man in his castle should pay a lower marginal rate of tax than the poor man at his gate.

 


Christina McKelvie MSP
Read Christina McKelvie MSP's Weekly Diary


SYNOPSIS

 

SNP and Plaid Cymru Mark Fifth Anniversary of Iraq War

 

SNP and Plaid Cymru Members of Parliament have marked the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war by unveiling a stark poster outside the House of Commons highlighting the toll of the conflict.

 

SNP Westminster leader, Angus Robertson MP, also renewed calls for a full inquiry into the legality of the war and the circumstances that led the UK into the conflict.

 

Angus Robertson MPMr Robertson said:

 

“It has been five years since the invasion of Iraq, when Tony Blair dragged us into an illegal war on the basis of false information.

 

“By every measurement this has been the biggest foreign policy disaster in modern times, and those responsible for it have never answered the most fundamental questions about why we were led into this war.

 

“The claim that the war was about weapons of mass destruction was a blatant lie, a mere cover story unsupported by the facts, which has cost the lives of thousands of civilians and hundreds of our brave soldiers.

 

”The Iraq war was a diversion from the campaign against international terrorism, and has certainly increased the terrorist threat to our country – as the Government were warned by the former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.

 

“As an MP representing a military constituency, nobody supports our brave forces more than I do. Our military have done us proud, and it is no wonder that a poll just this week showed that our troops themselves are much more popular than the wars they are fighting.

 

“However, the Government that put our troops in the face of danger must not be above question, and today, the families of those who have paid with their lives, those people who protested, and all of us who are paying for it, still demand and deserve answers.”
 



Scottish Government's Popularity Soars

 

Commenting on a poll by MRUK which puts the SNP 8% ahead of Labour on the constituency vote and 10% on the regional list vote, and has Alex Salmond on a +53% approval rating Deputy First Minister and SNP Depute Leader Ms Nicola Sturgeon MSP has said the poll shows the SNP's fast pace of delivery continues to gain the trust of the people.

 

The MRUK Cello poll published in the Sunday Times shows that:

 

    * The SNP's lead over Labour has soared to 8% on the constituency vote and 10% on the regional list vote

    * The SNP are projected to win 57 seats – 13 more than Labour

    * Alex Salmond's ratings are +53%

    * Wendy Alexander's ratings are -22%

    * Among Labour voters, 66% say Alex Salmond is doing a good job, compared with 39% who believe Wendy Alexander is doing well

    * Three times as many Scots trust Salmond over Alexander to deal with all the main areas of devolved government

    * 40% of Scots are less likely to vote Labour as a result of Wendy Alexander's illegal donation problems

    * A quarter believe they are serious enough to warrant her resignation, while a further 15% think she should quit for other reasons

    * Two-thirds of Scots say that they would vote for independence in certain circumstances.

 

"There is no good news for Wendy in this poll," says Ivor Knox, of MRUK Cello.  "The first 10 months of SNP government has clearly strengthened its support...on the key issues of the economy, education, health and law and order, far more voters trust Salmond rather than Alexander to look after their interests."

 

Nicola Sturgeon MSPDeputy First Minister and SNP Depute Leader Ms Nicola Sturgeon MSP said:

 

"These are fantastic poll ratings for the SNP and the Scottish Government.  As we approach the anniversary of our first year in office, the poll shows that our fast pace of delivery continues to gain the trust of the people with sky high approval ratings under the leadership of Alex Salmond.

 

"Alex Salmond's +53% rating demonstrates his outstanding leadership of the Scottish Government.  By contrast, Wendy Alexander's leadership is in deep crisis.

 

"Next month sees a swathe of government measures take effect – including policies that will freeze the Council Tax to help hard pressed householders; cut the burden of business rates on small businesses across Scotland; restore free education in Scotland by scrapping the graduate endowment; and start the phased elimination of prescription charges in this the 60th anniversary year of the National Health Service.

 

"These measures will bring real and tangible benefits to communities across Scotland and the wider Scottish economy, and make a lasting difference to people's lives.

 

"Labour, meanwhile, have got every single aspect of opposition wrong. Wendy Alexander has been tarnished by her donation scandal, and has failed to set out any credible policies or leadership.

 

"In a staggering error of judgement, Labour have attacked the government on issues, such as local income tax, where we have overwhelming public support.  In a bizarre re-run of Labour's failed election campaign, Ms Alexander has joined with the Tories to defend the deeply unpopular Council Tax.  Labour have become obsessed with issues such as Trump and Aviemore, where every piece of evidence shows that the government acted entirely properly and in the public interest.

 

"And it is clear that Wendy Alexander's illegal campaign donation, and incompetent handling of the issue, has done massive damage to her leadership and the standing of Labour in Scotland.

 

"The Labour Party's celebration that Ms Alexander was not referred to prosecutors by the Electoral Commission despite her admitted illegality is premature – the true test of public opinion is much more important and overwhelming."

 

Notes to editors:

 

The poll's findings showed that:

 

Scottish Parliament constituency vote:

SNP     39%     6

Lab      31%     -1

Con      15%     -2

Lib       12%     -4

Oth      3%       1

 

Scottish Parliament regional vote:

SNP     40%     9

Lab      30%     1

Con      13%     -1

Lib       11%     0

Oth      5%       -10

 

Projected seats:

 

SNP     57

Lab      44

Con      16

Lib       12

 

How is Alex Salmond doing as leader of the Scottish Government

Well     70%

Badly   17%

Don't know      13%

 

POSITIVE RATING: +53

 

How is Wendy Alexander doing as leader of the Scottish Labour Party

Well     30%

Badly   52%

Don't know      18%

 

NEGATIVE RATING: -22

 

MRUK Cello interviewed 1,028 adults across Scotland between 29 February and 9 March.