Reply to: Who won the debate?

[zemoxyl]

An independent Scotland would have to APPLY for EU membership and there are a few existing EU member states that may well take a very dim view of admitting a breakaway state as they have their own regions keen to split away.

Even simpler than that. Scotland will carry on with the membership that England will discard in the 2017 referendum.

[TykeMerc]

I totally agree with that. That's why an independent Scotland should remain part of the EU. I genuinely wish UKIP (in England) every success in the forthcoming election.

An independent Scotland would have to APPLY for EU membership and there are a few existing EU member states that may well take a very dim view of admitting a breakaway state as they have their own regions keen to split away.

[zemoxyl]

United we stand - Divided we fall.

I totally agree with that. That's why an independent Scotland should remain part of the EU. I genuinely wish UKIP (in England) every success in the forthcoming election.

[AlfredJPruffock]

I would suggest that the SNP will poll considerably less than the polls project in Scotland - as many voters in Scotland did when they rejected the referendum and thus will confound the polls voting for the interests of Britain rather than those short sighted and self serving Nationalists who have no sense of the historical and vital importance of Britain as an indipsensible force for good in the International Arena.

United we stand - Divided we fall.

PS I am one of those people who like Scotland so much - I actually live there.

[Flashman]

MigrationWatchUK | The SNP and Immigration ? An open door to England?

Labour concessions to the SNP on immigration would destroy any effective immigration control for England - that is the conclusion of a Migration Watch UK report released today. With opinion polls pointing to a landslide victory for the SNP in Scotland but a hung Parliament nationally, the SNP’s leaders are already boasting about the concessions they plan to extract from a minority Labour government. One of their long standing desires is a more open immigration system for Scotland and they may very well seek to use a hung Parliament to bring this about. They have already made it clear that they would like to see current rules relaxed across every major category of migration - work, study, family and asylum - despite polls showing that 64% of Scots want immigration reduced and only 5% want it increased

It just gets worse

[mudskipper]

This wee girl is spot on.

[Zero Liability]

With the greatest of respect, that is completely untrue.

If you have a look at the time the SNP spent as a minority government, their spending plans were voted through by the support of the Conservatives, under opposition from Labour.

I don't think it's completely untrue at all. As Batcher mentioned, what you're referring to is political horse trading. The two parties of the left don't get along, but it does not mean they're not cut of the same cloth ideologically. What you mention won't prevent things from heading in the other direction this time.

[TykeMerc]

For example, the SNP wanted something in the budget. Labour said no and raised an amendment to the bill. SNP agreed and changed the bill to have the amendment and when it came to the vote Labour abstained.

That's one example of how democracy is such a sham in this country, a group votes along party lines rather than what they feel is good for their constituents. Party politics is a deeply negative thing.

[Batcher]

With the greatest of respect, that is completely untrue.

If you have a look at the time the SNP spent as a minority government, their spending plans were voted through by the support of the Conservatives, under opposition from Labour.

The reason the Tories voted for the SNP budget was because they negotiated 1,000 extra police as part of the deal. It's what happens when a minority government needs to co-operate to get votes and it worked very well.

The only reason Labour voted against was because they hate the SNP to the point they can't bring themselves to agree even if it's something they do actually want. For example, the SNP wanted something in the budget. Labour said no and raised an amendment to the bill. SNP agreed and changed the bill to have the amendment and when it came to the vote Labour abstained.

[TykeMerc]

I'm seriously wondering if a coalition government of 3 or more parties may end up as the result, although the chances of one of those surviving for any time are slim.
How much damage is done to their reputation by taking part in a coalition is another matter, I wonder how the LibDems actually feel about the last 5 years.

[LancelotBarre]

All five of them can argue well - very well, in fact. I'll grant you that she - and Salmond - are very shrewd operators. By disarming fears of how they would work with a Labour government, it is all the likelier that they can form some sort of arrangement with Labour and also avoid their voting base up north from eroding, provided these debates have much of an impact. It doesn't alter the fact that the SNP independence campaign was not premised on an honest presentation of the facts of how Scotland might fare outside the Union. I think that, more than anything, is what led to their downfall, as the "Better Together" campaign was, to put it plainly, pathetic, incuding the Brown sobbing away crocodile tears.

I also don't care for her party's policies, and they're not hugely different to Labour's. How they present arguments to me is less material than what their proposed policies are and, more appositely, whether they actually intend to follow through with them or have the power to do so. The SNP's ultimate goal is independence for Scotland, nothing more and nothing less. It is through those lens which her words need to be seen. I'd rather that has as little impact as possible on the trajectory that England has to take in the future once that does happen, e.g. by propping up the same idiots who left this country in tatters.

With the greatest of respect, that is completely untrue.

If you have a look at the time the SNP spent as a minority government, their spending plans were voted through by the support of the Conservatives, under opposition from Labour.

[Zero Liability]

All five of them can argue well - very well, in fact. I'll grant you that she - and Salmond - are very shrewd operators. By disarming fears of how they would work with a Labour government, it is all the likelier that they can form some sort of arrangement with Labour and also avoid their voting base up north from eroding, provided these debates have much of an impact. It doesn't alter the fact that the SNP independence campaign was not premised on an honest presentation of the facts of how Scotland might fare outside the Union. I think that, more than anything, is what led to their downfall, as the "Better Together" campaign was, to put it plainly, pathetic, incuding the Brown sobbing away crocodile tears.

I also don't care for her party's policies, and they're not hugely different to Labour's. How they present arguments to me is less material than what their proposed policies are and, more appositely, whether they actually intend to follow through with them or have the power to do so. The SNP's ultimate goal is independence for Scotland, nothing more and nothing less. It is through those lens which her words need to be seen. I'd rather that has as little impact as possible on the trajectory that England has to take in the future once that does happen, e.g. by propping up the same idiots who left this country in tatters.

[Batcher]

Agreed, had they more time or wherewithal to respond to her, she wouldn't have had such a good showing. I find her and that PC woman obnoxious and patronising. Mostly spouting off feel good platitudes rather than engaging in a frank discussion.


Again it was frustrating that the NHS took up so much of the time when all the parties acknowledge it has issues and are committed to keeping it funded.

I feel you haven't seen enough of Nicola down south. She's a solicitor so can argue very well and Ed 'n Dave know that. She also answers the questions instead of doing the thing the boys do of answering anything but the question.

During indyref she had a debate with Alistair Carmichael the LibDem Scottish Office secretary and tore him to bits. He was appealing at one time to the presenter to get her to stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAwA_jtpxiI

[mudskipper]

Perhaps when SNP are in Westminster in 6-weeks time we can give people in England a voice to.

A voice to what? We need to know!

[Batcher]

Sturgeon did well. Mainly because she got a free ride.

Allowed to make snarky comments about (the English politicians) Cameron, Miliband, Clegg and Farage and because the Scotland isn't the main election battleground no one bothered to have a go back.

Farage did throw in scrapping the Barnett formula which hopefully one day soon will wipe the smile off her scrounging face.

The only way they can scrap it is if they give us full fiscal autonomy including oil revenues, VAT, CT, etc