Question to Unionists about the EU was met with waffle
IWAS at an interesting hustings on Thursday evening in St Andrews. Four of the candidates have never really had to find the money for everything they said should be done/they would do, nor taken the actions necessary, however three of them represented parties that limited the Scottish Government’s powers and revenues through the Scotland Act, Sewell Convention, Barnett formula and refusing all tax powers except for a minor percentage of income tax.
On independence and the
EU, it was quite a sick joke for Willie Rennie to come to a university town with an audience of students and staff with a message of “independence would be hard”, and effectively saying to strivers, “you didn’t quite succeed the first time so must never try again! In fact, I won’t allow you to try again. Don’t try anything that I find difficult.”
He repeatedly used the word “pragmatic”, but that was just a euphemism for doing nothing.
He doesn’t want to see that the EU is a group of independent countries working together.
The “don’t try” argument was the same from the Labour candidate – “you can’t keep having referendums til you get the result you want”.
I would like to see the reaction if they went to Northern Ireland and refused a vote on reunification.
We know the position of the SNP and the Greens on the EU, but when the question was asked on how does Scotland get back into the EU, the Labour, Tory and LibDem candidates waffled, diverted and didn’t answer.
They shouldn’t use Scottish in their party titles. It’s a lie – they are English parties, their bosses are in London.
Brian Powell
St Andrews
A LABOUR candidate is reported as saying in a letter to voters in his constituency: “As a father of daughters unlike the SNP and Green candidates, I am also unequivocal in supporting women’s rights to single-sex spaces. This includes saying loudly and clearly that biological males should not be in women-only prisons and spaces.” How, in the name of common sense, is this “a misogynistic attack on female candidates”?
The SNP and Green candidates in this constituency are most assuredly not fathers of daughters – whether or not they are mothers of daughters I have no idea – but by what stretch of the imagination is it “misogynistic” to make a simple statement of necessary fact? And what is “outrageous” or “shameful” – words reportedly used about the Labour candidate’s letter – about the idea of women’s rights to singlesex spaces?
All right, I am not a woman, trans or otherwise, and I have never been in prison: I do not presume to speak on behalf of female convicts. Nor do I dispute the statement that “trans rights are human rights”. But I consider that the ridiculously immoderate language to which some people resort whenever this topic is raised neither illuminates the issue to any degree nor reflects any credit on them or on the Scottish political scene.
Derrick McClure Aberdeen
I NEVER thought I would say it, but I do worry a little about how few Conservative MSPs will be elected
to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday. If recent opinion polls are to be believed, the Conservatives will probably lose half of their seats, taking their numbers down from 31 to around 15. It appears the main beneficiaries of the Conservatives’ decline will be Reform UK.
Any government needs meaningful, able and informed opposition, especially as a referendum could now be far in the future. Reform UK appear to be very long on headlines but very short on experience and practical policies. However, in recent weeks their “Scottish” leader has gone from being relatively unknown to being at the forefront of the campaign. His performance in the recent TV debate in contrast to Ross Greer of the Greens has certainly done him no real harm.
Having often watched the parliament at work on Parliament TV over the years, I was often impressed by some of the contributions made
We need folk with ambition for the Scotland of the future
by individual Conservative MSPs. I will miss, for example, Edward Mountain and his experience in business and finance.
Time will tell, but the arrival of an increased group of Green MSPs fills me with trepidation and even just a little fear. Based on the experience of recent years, I worry about their potential lack of real-world experience outside of organised protesting. We need people who have lived a life beyond school, university and working for friendly politicians. Simply calling for bans on everything from homework to horse racing and increasing the availability of “free stuff” will not solve the fundamental financial problems the Scottish Parliament will have to face in the coming years.
We need folk with ambition for the Scotland of the future, not folk consumed with jealousy for others and a desire to level us all down to something approaching average.