Don't worry. This isn't a tirade against the Labour Party (or maybe it will become so, read on) but more about the sorry state in which the United Kingdom finds itself, as it embarks on the road to a new government.
All recent and current indications from pollsters, indicate that this will be a 'hung' parliament, with no party winning the 326 seats at Westminster, required for an outright majority. This happened in 2010 and the Conservatives and Liberal-Democrats formed a coalition. The coalition has achieved a number of successes, not least of which has been following the Conservative's policies on the economy. For Conservatives, in the country, it has been frustrating, at times, as the Liberal Democrat 'partners' pushing some of their distinctive issues. That said, having pushed the economy to be the top performing one in the G8, the coalition can be said to have worked.
But I digress.
During the course of the last Parliament, one of the key issues, which really wasn't addressed within the UK Parliament, was the referendum on Scottish independence. In September 2014, the simple Yes/No question was roundly defeated 55% to 45%. In spite of all of the scare-mongering from the Scottish Nationalists (SNP), victory by those that support the United Kingdom, was achieved.
However, one somewhat ironic consequence of this result is that in opinion polls, support for the SNP has soared and according to many observers, the SNP are set to largely obliterate Labour, in Scotland and emerge as by far the biggest party in that country.
This then presents the Labour Party with a big problem. Scotland has proven to be a solid base for them and losing so many seats would cause them to have a seat shortfall after the election. In short, they depend on these Scottish seats to form the majority party in parliament and so the only way that they can form a government is by entering into some kind of agreement - formal or otherwise - with the SNP. More on that, in a moment
For the English then, this presents a major problem. The overwhelmingly largest country in the United Kingdom will find that having, as a country, elected a predominantly Conservative Party group of MPs, they may well be ignored and a strongly socialist and Scottish favoring Labour Party, supported by the SNP, will ignore their wishes and will once again push ruinous economic policies upon the UK. You can't even call Labour's economic policies an experiment - their policy of taxing more and spending more and borrowing more has been tried before - that's how we got into the pre 2010 mess - and don't let anyone tell you it was because of the 'financial crisis' - we were heading for a Greece-type meltdown due to the bound-to-fail policies of a Labour government that had the intelligence of an economic idiot, that of a debt junkie that needs the constant 'high' of more borrowings to get through the day!
So democracy? Well, if the opinion polls have any kind of validity, Labour may seek to get into bed with the SNP. Labour and the SNP share an economic policy that calls for an end to the so-called austerity that has helped to turn around the economy. So not much to concern themselves there, except that the SNP will be wanting to see that public spending disproportionately going to Scotland. And that must be a cause of concern for democrats. It is not clear whether the SNP's opposition to the Trident nuclear programme, will mean that Labour have to acquiesce and not replace the programme, thereby severely weakening both the UK and NATO, in the process. We can certainly expect the SNP to continue to push for even more devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament and Labour to grant them because they would have no choice. Something for any potential voters for Labour, in England, to consider.
And again, democracy?? Well, the leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, is not even standing for the UK Parliament. That's right, Labour's leader, Red Ed Miliband will be forced to negotiate with someone who will offer to deliver the votes of her MPs but cannot vote herself! I wonder how Miliband will manage to serve two masters - Nicola Sturgeon from the SNP and Ed McCluskey from the Unite union which helped get Red Ed elected as party leader and is the major funding source for the party.
Indeed, the SNP are not even standing candidates outside of Scotland - the place where they were so recently humiliated in the independence referendum. In truth though, Scottish independence aside, there is a much as a hair's breadth between the SNP and Labour. Both are heavily into state funding of everything (though this blog receives no state financial assistance, you can be assured!) and the Labour party (remember Michael Foot?) have always had a strong anti-nuclear weapons position, so a 'fudge' on Trident wouldn't be too much of a barrier for them.
I strongly supported the opposition to Scottish independence but now am starting to wonder why, as we have, in the SNP, a viper in the nest, who, with a very small electoral position, may come to dominate the far larger English electorate. Maybe now is the time to start a movement for independence for England and end this farce. Maybe, maybe not but the way things stand now, we can't call the current likely outcome, democracy!
All recent and current indications from pollsters, indicate that this will be a 'hung' parliament, with no party winning the 326 seats at Westminster, required for an outright majority. This happened in 2010 and the Conservatives and Liberal-Democrats formed a coalition. The coalition has achieved a number of successes, not least of which has been following the Conservative's policies on the economy. For Conservatives, in the country, it has been frustrating, at times, as the Liberal Democrat 'partners' pushing some of their distinctive issues. That said, having pushed the economy to be the top performing one in the G8, the coalition can be said to have worked.
But I digress.
During the course of the last Parliament, one of the key issues, which really wasn't addressed within the UK Parliament, was the referendum on Scottish independence. In September 2014, the simple Yes/No question was roundly defeated 55% to 45%. In spite of all of the scare-mongering from the Scottish Nationalists (SNP), victory by those that support the United Kingdom, was achieved.
However, one somewhat ironic consequence of this result is that in opinion polls, support for the SNP has soared and according to many observers, the SNP are set to largely obliterate Labour, in Scotland and emerge as by far the biggest party in that country.
This then presents the Labour Party with a big problem. Scotland has proven to be a solid base for them and losing so many seats would cause them to have a seat shortfall after the election. In short, they depend on these Scottish seats to form the majority party in parliament and so the only way that they can form a government is by entering into some kind of agreement - formal or otherwise - with the SNP. More on that, in a moment
For the English then, this presents a major problem. The overwhelmingly largest country in the United Kingdom will find that having, as a country, elected a predominantly Conservative Party group of MPs, they may well be ignored and a strongly socialist and Scottish favoring Labour Party, supported by the SNP, will ignore their wishes and will once again push ruinous economic policies upon the UK. You can't even call Labour's economic policies an experiment - their policy of taxing more and spending more and borrowing more has been tried before - that's how we got into the pre 2010 mess - and don't let anyone tell you it was because of the 'financial crisis' - we were heading for a Greece-type meltdown due to the bound-to-fail policies of a Labour government that had the intelligence of an economic idiot, that of a debt junkie that needs the constant 'high' of more borrowings to get through the day!
So democracy? Well, if the opinion polls have any kind of validity, Labour may seek to get into bed with the SNP. Labour and the SNP share an economic policy that calls for an end to the so-called austerity that has helped to turn around the economy. So not much to concern themselves there, except that the SNP will be wanting to see that public spending disproportionately going to Scotland. And that must be a cause of concern for democrats. It is not clear whether the SNP's opposition to the Trident nuclear programme, will mean that Labour have to acquiesce and not replace the programme, thereby severely weakening both the UK and NATO, in the process. We can certainly expect the SNP to continue to push for even more devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament and Labour to grant them because they would have no choice. Something for any potential voters for Labour, in England, to consider.
And again, democracy?? Well, the leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, is not even standing for the UK Parliament. That's right, Labour's leader, Red Ed Miliband will be forced to negotiate with someone who will offer to deliver the votes of her MPs but cannot vote herself! I wonder how Miliband will manage to serve two masters - Nicola Sturgeon from the SNP and Ed McCluskey from the Unite union which helped get Red Ed elected as party leader and is the major funding source for the party.
Indeed, the SNP are not even standing candidates outside of Scotland - the place where they were so recently humiliated in the independence referendum. In truth though, Scottish independence aside, there is a much as a hair's breadth between the SNP and Labour. Both are heavily into state funding of everything (though this blog receives no state financial assistance, you can be assured!) and the Labour party (remember Michael Foot?) have always had a strong anti-nuclear weapons position, so a 'fudge' on Trident wouldn't be too much of a barrier for them.
I strongly supported the opposition to Scottish independence but now am starting to wonder why, as we have, in the SNP, a viper in the nest, who, with a very small electoral position, may come to dominate the far larger English electorate. Maybe now is the time to start a movement for independence for England and end this farce. Maybe, maybe not but the way things stand now, we can't call the current likely outcome, democracy!
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