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For me it'll be SNP.
From what I can see they are the only party that will stand up for Scottish issues. And I feel the other parties may well cut back on promises made only 6 months ago!
Trident is the other big issue for me, every other party is committed to wasting money on it, whereas SNP oppose it.
To me it's the biggest waste of cash!
All the leaders say we need it as a deterant, but would any of them actually authorise the pressing of the button???
NO- because as soon as they did they'd be up on a war crime for using a weapon of mass destruction and indiscriminate killing!
Also they bleet on about how our biggest threat to security is from terrorists / ISIS. A nuclear weapon is not what is needed to defeat these groups!
I'm not a tree hugger by any means, but that is one of the biggest issues for me in this election, and one that's not really been discussed much other than by the SNP
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On Trident, it's a delusion of grandeur to think that the UK needs nuclear deterrents anymore. We're not the international powerhouse anymore that most of our country seem to think it is. If there was a nuclear war, we would be nowhere near the forefront of it. In the middle perhaps, but not at the forefront. Let the US and Russia flex their muscles at each other and at North Korea, Iran etc., we don't need to. A country of our size could spend that money on far more relevant things.
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Well, that's the election done and dusted. Quite a surprising evening all round.
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It was all a bit mental.
Three leaders resigning. SNP winning 56 out of 59 seats. A Tory majority. Record-breaking swings. Al Murray. And Alex Salmond giving the most concise answers in the history of politics.
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The dust is still settling but I am not too concerned about that outcome. Scotland will have a strong voice in Westminster but without any mandate for independence.
It will be interesting to see if Nicola allows Cameron to call her bluff on fiscal autonomy, and how the Sturgeon/Salmond dynamic develops.
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05-08-2015, 07:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2015, 07:25 PM {2} by staggie2509.)
(05-08-2015, 04:30 PM)Wicky Wrote: The dust is still settling but I am not too concerned about that outcome. Scotland will have a strong voice in Westminster but without any mandate for independence.
It will be interesting to see if Nicola allows Cameron to call her bluff on fiscal autonomy, and how the Sturgeon/Salmond dynamic develops.
Agreed, think it's important that folk remember that 50% of the Scottish electorate didn't vote SNP yesterday and part of the huge SNP vote probably included a fair amount of NO voters from last September who do not want another referendum.
It's important that we allow Nicola and the rest to do their best for Scotland over the next five years and make the situation work. I can only see good things from having a strong voice for Scotland in Westminster!
But I do think the nationalistic chest beating and flag waving needs to be tempered and we need to use our brains as a nation and move forward and not stay stuck in the past - that only switches potential SNP voters off!
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What would happen if Cameron was truely radical & offered an SNP MP a cabinet ministers post, say for Scottish affairs. How woukd the SNP react, damed if they do by being associated wit the Torys, damed if they dont for not taking the opportunity to represent Scotland & influance policy at the heart of Westminster. Wont happen but just for arguments sake what would the reaction be?
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The only way we'll know for sure if we can do this on our own is to get full fiscal autonomy and when pushed on this on the Andrew Marr show Nicola looked nervous and said it would take years to implement - don't think during the next five years the SNP want to raise taxes and make already struggling families struggle even more.
It's a tricky situation - a lot of NO voters from last Sept voted SNP this time round to end Austerity - if the Tories test the SNP by offering full fiscal autonomy in two years we could be in for a very rough ride! The SNP are promising an increase in public spending - not sure how we'd balance the books and keep the Scottish national debt down - only increasing tax heavily would we be able to do this with 5m people - it's a tough ask!?
Thoughts?
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The irony is that ending austerity (in the timescale the SNP proposes) is only possible because Scotland is in the UK.
