Westminster signals threat to Scotland's budget. Scotland’s Future In Scotland’s Hands. Westminster Debating « In the House of Commons the only pro-independence speaker was drowned out by all sides.
Here’s the transcript (and video now) Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Sir Robert Smith), and may I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) on ensuring we have this important, but all too short, debate today? The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (David Mundell): On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle): Order. Pete Wishart: What a chance; what an opportunity: on 18 September this year we can make the choice to become a self-governing nation once again—to walk tall in the world with national self-respect and dignity like all other normal independent nations do, being responsible for ourselves and blaming no one else for our setbacks. Order. We will ease pretty seamlessly into a new independent status. It is all down to this choice.
Independence attack backfires on Miliband. Anti-independence scaremongering unravels. A leading expert on international law, who advises the UK government, has backed up the Scottish Government’s position that an independent Scotland will remain in the EU, and membership of other international bodies such as the UN would be “straightforward”.
Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme Professor James Crawford of the University of Cambridge said “ Scotland complies with the Acquis now” and membership will come “as a matter of negotiation” from within the EU. He added that “UN membership will be straightforward” and said on the Today programme that he agreed with the Scottish Government’s timetable on the transition to becoming an independent country in 2016, describing it as “realistic”. SNP MSP Roderick Campbell, a member of the Scottish Parliament's European and External Affairs Committee and an Advocate, said: Notes: 1) James Crawford: “I don’t suggest that will be difficult in most cases. Why we must save universal benefits. Sunday, 07 October 2012 13:24 By First Minister Alex Salmond Scotland is the only "something for nothing" country in the world, according to Scottish Labour's leadership.
That claim is palpably ludicrous, and will be looked at askance by people the length and breadth of this country who work hard, pay their taxes and, quite rightly, expect to receive something tangible in return. Devolution has enshrined the concept of a social contract between the people of Scotland and the Government which serves them. We live in a country in which I am proud to lead an administration that has protected things like free university education, free personal care for the elderly and medicines free at the point of need.
These and other universal benefits are hard-won advantages of home rule, some of which Labour itself was once proud to champion, but which they are now turning their back on. However, the Labour leadership's claims about universal benefits do not stand up to any meaningful scrutiny. History of the SNP. It was not only the SNP who found this period difficult.
The imposition of Tory policies by a government who had not been elected by the Scottish people was widely seen as constituting a democratic deficit, which had to be addressed. Towards the end of the decade the party underwent a revival, gaining 20% of the vote at the District Council elections in 1988. The same year the Party Conference passed a number of important policy decisions, committing themselves to the use of civil disobedience to defy the poll tax and endorsing the policy of Independence in Europe. The following November the party scored an electrifying victory when Jim Sillars, formerly a Labour MP and vigorous opponent of independence, won the Glasgow Govan by-election, overturning a Labour majority of 19,000 and re-igniting the Scottish constitutional debate.
Alex Salmond's Hugo Young lecture – full text. Introduction It is a privilege to give a lecture in honour of Hugo Young.
At Hugo's memorial service, Chris, now Lord, Patten said "the quality of what Hugo wrote, and the standards he set for himself and others, brought distinction to a profession too often demeaned by tawdry unreason. " One of the reasons for Hugo's excellence became evident five years after his death, when The Hugo Young Papers were first published. They revealed the sheer diligence and accuracy of his working methods over the course of his career.
As any self-respecting politician would do, the first thing I did when I saw a copy of the papers was to look up my own name in the index. Donald went on to predict that Labour would do well in 1997, but suggested that I was waiting for the 2001 election, when there could well be a significant increase in SNP support. Well, although that statement was partly wrong about timings, support for the SNP has indeed advanced, both in 2007 and 2011. "how nice it would be. Together we can make Scotland better. Who speaks for business in Scotland? Britain: How Scotland will lead the world.