Official General Election Thread 2015

[TestMangler]

TIA !!!

My son is going to Uni next year. I need you to pay for his education and his prescription hangover cures and my business rates and my domestic rates freeze etc. Get out there and place some contractors and get your fair share of tax paid please

[pjclarke]

[Dominic Connor]

Yes,it could be like Major

The Sun's headline today was just weak.

There are so many reasons to keep Milliband away from power, but it's pathetic to pick on him looking silly eating a sarnie.

If I wanted to bet on the outcome, I'd see UKIP as people who want a more right wing tory government and although they're quite happy to say they'll vote UKIP in order to get the tories to move right, they really don't want a Labour/SNP coalition and so on the day will vote tactically.

Of course that's too long for a Sun headline

[Batcher]

The Sun's headline today was just weak.

There are so many reasons to keep Milliband away from power, but it's pathetic to pick on him looking silly eating a sarnie.

If I wanted to bet on the outcome, I'd see UKIP as people who want a more right wing tory government and although they're quite happy to say they'll vote UKIP in order to get the tories to move right, they really don't want a Labour/SNP coalition and so on the day will vote tactically.

Of course that's too long for a Sun headline

I wondered what you were on about but, of course, you are looking at the English version of the Sun. The Scottish version is all about supporting the SNP

[pjclarke]

Bright Green!

https://www.timeshighereducation.co....019783.article

[Batcher]

My son is going to Uni next year. I need you to pay for his education and his prescription hangover cures and my business rates and my domestic rates freeze etc. Get out there and place some contractors and get your fair share of tax paid please

It would be nice if they could buy a 2 bedroom semi too so they will be hit by the mansion tax. We could do with some more nurses

[Dominic Connor]

You've convinced me to vote SNP

Well, yes probably I have. To be offered more government spending in Scotland without Scots having to pay for it is a good offer that I would not know how to argue against.

The mansion tax could easily be set at a level to hit many English homes, but few Scottish ones, the Scottish NHS could have loads of money hosed at it and of course there is Trident...

Leaving aside whether nukes are good or not, there is the issue that UK nuclear bases employ a lot of people in areas where there isn't much work. Ironically, it would be cheaper for rump UK if it didn't have to pay for the base, but given that a UK-Scotland would be more tory there is zero chance of giving up the nukes, which then will need a base which simply can't be built quickly (at least 5, maybe 10 years)

But the French and Americans could bid to host them and shared resources are much cheaper for a small nuclear force like the UKs.

But what about the workers ?
Given that the bases are built, most of the ongoing cost is people, ironically mostly SNP voters.

So to make the removal of nukes from Scotland politically palatable the SNP will need to bully Labour into serious job creation in that area. We're talking 10-15,000 jobs created directly or indirectly, easy to do, just not cheap. They can pay Google to create big data centres there, but that would not be nearly enough and the bribe would have to be big enough to counter the fact that the SNP want to be harsh on multinationals who dodge tax, which may be good, but isn't attractive to them.

The old standby of putting a government department there (like the DVLC in Swansea, or the DSS in the North) can't work because they want out of the UK, so bribing a Google, Lenovo or Boeing is the only game, not cheap at all.

[tarbera]

Hung parliament

Well ?

[Batcher]

Well, yes probably I have. To be offered more government spending in Scotland without Scots having to pay for it is a good offer that I would not know how to argue against.

The mansion tax could easily be set at a level to hit many English homes, but few Scottish ones, the Scottish NHS could have loads of money hosed at it and of course there is Trident...

Leaving aside whether nukes are good or not, there is the issue that UK nuclear bases employ a lot of people in areas where there isn't much work. Ironically, it would be cheaper for rump UK if it didn't have to pay for the base, but given that a UK-Scotland would be more tory there is zero chance of giving up the nukes, which then will need a base which simply can't be built quickly (at least 5, maybe 10 years)

But the French and Americans could bid to host them and shared resources are much cheaper for a small nuclear force like the UKs.

But what about the workers ?
Given that the bases are built, most of the ongoing cost is people, ironically mostly SNP voters.

So to make the removal of nukes from Scotland politically palatable the SNP will need to bully Labour into serious job creation in that area. We're talking 10-15,000 jobs created directly or indirectly, easy to do, just not cheap. They can pay Google to create big data centres there, but that would not be nearly enough and the bribe would have to be big enough to counter the fact that the SNP want to be harsh on multinationals who dodge tax, which may be good, but isn't attractive to them.

The old standby of putting a government department there (like the DVLC in Swansea, or the DSS in the North) can't work because they want out of the UK, so bribing a Google, Lenovo or Boeing is the only game, not cheap at all.

A FOI request to the MOD revealed only 520 jobs are dependent on Trident in Scotland.

Ministry of Defence reveals just 520 Faslane jobs depend on Trident | Nuclear Information Service