"We all know how the SNP Government picks endless fights with London - it's all the party exists for."
So says Richard Thomson the SNP PPC for Gordon, if that is all the party exists for then they really are not a political party but a prize boxer.
Update Richard then went on to justify that this was not the position of the SNP by looking at The Scottish Affairs Select Committee report on co-operation and communication. The following unchaged is what I wrote to look at the above statement more closely, i.e. is there not some element of truth in that statement. (Bear in mind that from 1999 I was working in a newly devolved Northern Irish Department and therefore experienced communication with Whitehall first hand). End
I entered politics to make a positive change for the people around me. I entered politics to bring fairness to all. I believe in proportional voting systems which means that you cannot fight all the time but you would most often have to work together with others to achieve your goals.
The fact that the SNP candidate against Liberal Democrat Malcolm Bruce has been so candid shows that the SNP just do not get it. They are ignoring the economic hole that we all find ourselves in and instead of looking at how we all need to pull together to get out of it, are refusing to make any concessions.
Malcolm Bruce along with myself and all the Liberal Democrat candidates are standing on a manifesto that does not set aside out principles. It is still putting fairness front and centre, still putting sustainability and our environment at its heart. But we've admitted that some aspirations cannot be met while we are crippled by Labour's debt. Meanwhile in Bute House Alex Salmond is prepared to fiddle while the economy of Scotland burns, as he attempts to hold Westminster to ransom.
That is why the people of Gordon deserve Malcolm Bruce as their MP once again. He has served their best interests for 27 years. He stands up for them when he has to but also know when he needs to work with other parties to get things done. That is the art of politics, it more that just picking endless fights, it's also the way you occasionally win.
Did you actually read his post beyond that first line or are you just happy to use a quote out of any context for point-scoring against your political opponents?
ReplyDeleteEr, Stephen... You *do* realise that I was ridiculing the people who claim, falsely, that the SNP in any way 'picks fights', don't you?
ReplyDeleteI mean, I even go on to give you the summary of the select committee report which confirms as much...
"It's certainly what a monstrous clamjamfry of lazy journos, intellectually moribund talking heads and shrilling unionist pols in search of a decent argument would have you believe."
ReplyDeleteIs how he describes that quote you have supplied, its about time Lib Dems started to wake up and realise that the people of Scotland deserve honesty and not trying to smear the SNP at every opportunity for their own petty gain.
Steven, do you not understand irony?
ReplyDeleteAh'm no guan tae pick a fight wi' ye ower this Stephen - ah like tae save ma fightin' fer London, but could the wee soul no have been talkin' ironically? It's no easy tae get that across sometimes.
ReplyDeleteMibbe you're bein' ironic an' ah'm jist glaikit, fer which ah apologise.
Sorry folks I was out all day, that was the reason comments are on pre-mod just now.
ReplyDeleteRichard sadly the opening line seems to sum up just the SNP position at the moment. They are picking a fight for the sake of it, not facing up to the reality of the current situation.
May I ask all of the Nats here a simple question. The recent change of position from no cuts in Scotland to "more Nats, less cuts" anyone willing to tell me and the people of Scotland what the SNP are willing to see cuts in.
Westminster, Trident, ID Cards all the quangos set up up by nuLabour to increase the size of government. As an aside why did the LD's vote against an inquiry into GCC as there was no evidence.
ReplyDelete"absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"
Richard sadly the opening line seems to sum up just the SNP position at the moment.
ReplyDeleteOnly in your own head, Stephen. Did you read the conclusions of the Select Committee report which I helpfully included in my original post?
Anyways, now you've had your error pointed out to you by more than just me, how about showing you're big enough to admit a mistake, and demonstrating some good grace by offering the courtesy of a retraction for trying to pretend that my views are other than they are?
May I ask all of the Nats here a simple question. The recent change of position from no cuts in Scotland to "more Nats, less cuts" anyone willing to tell me and the people of Scotland what the SNP are willing to see cuts in.
ID Cards, the Scotland Office, the House of Lords, deep level nuclear storeage, Trident...
OK Richard and Cynical, I agree with both of you that ID Cards and Trident are just part of the cuts that need to be take.
ReplyDeleteI also take note that both are reserved spending.
You've both both mentioned independence in your own ways. The debt per head in Scotland would actually be higher than the debt per head for the UK as a whole, after the bailing out of all but one of our major financial institutions. So how are you going to fund that even higher level of debt to be repaid?
Cynical you mention the quangos set up, so you get a gold star. But I'm going to take it away again as you fail to notice that some quangos have been set up by the SNP that have done practically nothing.
Also we have acknowledged that there is also room in also room for efficiency savings in some of the devolved areas of responsibility. Yet not one of you now Alex and his team have been prepared to look into that. So what are the SNP going to do with what they can influence to help out on getting us through this?
ReplyDeleteDespite the attempt at diversion, Stephen, I see you've still failed to acknowledge that you have been trying to present my views here as being other than they are.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't bring yourself to do something as simple as that, it will say quite a lot about the essential nature of your political character - little of it favourable, I regret to say.
I thought you were a bit better than that. Show me that you are.
Richard you may think it diversionary but I think it is more the crux of why that statement holds some truth to it.
ReplyDeleteSince 2007 all we have heard from the SNP Government is how London are with holding this money or that. Yes even before the banks fell like a house of cards in late 2008. Now we are still hearing the same thing from a different perspective.
I think my blog post was looking at the irony in that that statement actually is seen by some as somewhat true. However, I have added a paragraph to clarify the fact that this statement wasn't you intent and to try and clarify what I was aiming at.
Thank you, Stephen.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read the Mcrone report? If nothing else it tells one that Westminster lies through its back teeth to get what it wants at whatever cost to the UK citizen. Have you ever seen an independent audit of the accounts from UK treasury , no that is because they also fiddle the figures to satisfy Westminster.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone alter the previous quarters figures to make the next results fit the chancellors figures, HM treasury.
Brown's Banking Losses Not in 2009 Accounts
The short of it is for better or worse we will become a more equal society outwith the power grasping Westminster Loyalists.
ps re your apology for delay in moderating these comments its funny that you were able to post comments elsewhere 4.25hrs prior responding here!