I was disenfranchised in this election because there was no party I wanted to vote for. Here’s why:
- SNP are just nutters on wind. They are hypocrites on energy. They are anti the scientific evidence showing no warming in 18 years on climate.
- Labour are everything wrong with the SNP and they would have destroyed the British economy if they had any control over government.
- Tories in Scotland are just union obsessives. They are a mix of a thoughtless anti-Scottish sentiment and the quintessential public school people who are anti-most ordinary people in Scotland whose parents didn’t sleep with some English King to gain their shooting estate.
- Lib Dems are no better than the SNP and run by another Eton twit.
- UKIP are run by English people who have deliberately sought the little English vote by stoking up anti-Scottish feeling and who have no respect for democracy in the Scottish party.
But, since I don’t trust the English media particularly the Biased Broadcasting Company and haven’t discussed the election with people from England, I’ve no idea why England voted Tory.
But I can see why the Scots voted SNP. What the referendum revealed is a general consensus in Scotland that we have done badly out of the Union and that Scotland continues to be treated with contempt by the English media and English politicians. UKIP and much of the Tory sentiment are a prime examples of that. In particular the hatred revealed when it appeared that the SNP might by part of the supposed “UK” government. This shows it’s not a UK government but an “English only” government. That shows why people gathered around the Scottish party [see next article].
But the Tories have also created a party of “Unionist bigots” in Scotland. They are not a pro-business, self-reliance party that anyone on the right of centre wanting good fiscal government would want to vote for. Labour are reckless in the UK – but in Scotland their supposed hold over politics has made them corrupt and reckless – and anti-Scottish and/or they just use Scotland.
As for the LibDems. Let’s put it this way: Jo Swinson my MP ran a campaign of anti-male hatred (aka feminism). She then rejected the evidence of climate, couldn’t care less for the problem of cold and fuel bills in Scotland, couldn’t care less for the 1million extra winter deaths in the UK during this madness and in one interview with Andrew Neil both lambasted everyone else for not being more green and praised the frequent shuttle flights from London city to Glasgow. She was a fantastic marketeer but totally gormless on the issues that matter. But perhaps her biggest problem – was that the public sector, who are largely clueless on the real economy so vote Liberal Democrat – and which was expanded well beyond the ability of the UK to support by Total Blair – bore the brunt of the austerity measures which only went ahead because of Lid Dem support.
Prediction
The Tories look set to get an extremely thin majority. That majority is so thin that realistically there will be always more rebels in the Tories on any important issue than their majority allows.
So, the Tory administration will not practically be able to run without support from those “in” minority parties. Because one key feature is that votes will be won, not so much by party majorities, but by individuals willing for whatever reason to vote with the government.
And more than likely that issue will get worse, because it would appear that the “protest vote” for most by-elections will go to UKIP.
Prediction – Scottish parliament elections
The SNPs may well suffer a humiliating defeat at the Scottish elections. At the very least, compared to the UK election result, it will look like a humiliating defeat. It will certainly attract many former MPs who had a high profile. Also it may well see the first legitimate UKIP politician in Scotland (i.e. one selected by members in Scotland and not foisted on Scotland by England).
You say ” I’ve no idea why England voted Tory.”
Let me enlighten you. Perhaps a sizable proportion of the public investigate facts (in good sceptic style) and find some like:-
– Conservatives pay down debt in good times, whereas the Labour Leader (ex-Marxist Economics lecturer) doesn’t even know you’re supposed to
– Conservatives create jobs during their government, whereas Labour destroy them
– Education improves
– Long-Term-Unemployed start to get jobs which they never managed under Labour
– John Major’s soundbite of ‘Hand-Up not Hand-Out’ is actually Conservative policy
etc etc
Please note the large number of times David Cameron (good Scottish surname there) says “We ARE the party for the workers”.
It’s interesting that the Scot’s sterotype has always been how well he looks after his money and works hard. Yet in politics favours the “Something-for-nothing. Where’s teh money-tree” brand
I don’t think it was a derogatory question. A lot of people, even English Conservatives are asking the same one. Nobody, let alone the lefty BBC has a clue why. The simple answer is the English majority like fiscal prudence (they vote blue) but they also like social services they can’t really afford (they vote red). Elections are a wobble between the two. Blairite Labour were able to pretend to be both because they served through boom years and sold a lot of assets. For some reason the Conservatives are terrible at playing up to their strengths, probably because they think any reference to money just reminds the public that the Conservatives are supposed to be the greedy, rich party.
Bottom line, the English were terrified of a double spending whammy of a hard left Labour and a harder left bunch of Scots.
It’s worth noting that per capita, cities both north and south of the border get the lion’s share of the cash but always want more. More rural areas vote towards the right.
Anng, so why didn’t people vote Tory last time, when there was even more of a need to pay down debt?
All I was saying is that I’m not familiar enough with the mood and social trends south of the border to understand why there might have been a move to the Tories.
… and whilst the BBC yap on about why people vote this way or that – I’ve learnt the BBC are highly biased in their view so their views aren’t helpful.
From my point of view, Cameron was a) the devil we didn’t know and b) a bit of a weak character who had made mistakes with hug a hoodie and green crap. The left did their usual ‘the Tories will steal all your money and leave your baby to die on the steps of a closed A&E.
There was also an element of not wanting the Conservatives to be left holding the unexploded bomb of the financial crisis. It was a risk as the Lib Dems found out. They paid for the hard decisions that any government would have had to make… unless they went bonkers and acted like the Greeks by continuing to spend like nothing had changed until other countries said ‘hang on, aren’t you broke?’ Austerity might have been bad but the alternative would have been a much worse credit rating which would have made paying our debts even harder. As it is, some of our money is made by loaning other countries money at a higher rate than we are borrowing from someone else. It’s madness but it seems to work.
People forget with words like ‘deficit’ that we are essentially heavily in debt, possible to a level we can never pay off, no matter how hard we work. Each year the amount we owe is growing faster than we can pay it off. The only reason why this isn’t causing us a huge financial catastrophe is because most of the other major countries are in the same or worse boat (including the US and China). The people who have loaned the money could panic and demand it back but then eveyone would go bust and they’d get nothing (see Iceland). They have another reason – most of them are Arab sheiks or Russians who have much of their money stashed in western countries in case things get hairy at home. They buy loads of property for just such an eventuality.
One of the reasons why the government can’t bitch slap the bankers is because they’re one of our ace cards for prosperity. They could up and leave at any time, which is why leaving the EU could be disaterous. Germany has been blowing our banks and financial sector kisses for years.
Sounds like a heroin junkie not wanting their dealing to move elsewhere.
Credit is like Heroin – really easy to get when you don’t need it, but hugely expensive once you’re addicted.
There are 2 biggies here. As Tinyco says, the
SNP attitude frightened people and Labour werent trusted – particularly as Ed Milland doesnt think the previous Labour gov should have saved for a rainybday in the good times. (Hes not the only economist who thinks like that).
With the extra that the libdem vote collapsed. Ive heard it described as “libdems were 2 types of voters – those that couldnt stand the thought of a labour gov and those that couldnt stand the thought of a tory one.”
Nicols Sturgeon probably was the last straw. Maybe she thinks a tory gov will upset so many scots that they get another referendum which they win. The long game.
I think theyll get so many tax powers that that the Scottish Parliament will give SNP grief.
Anng – can’t disagree with that analysis.
Are you on facebook, because I’d love to carry on the discussion in the new group:
Scotland’s Right
I dont use facebook. I get too many ‘do you know’ messages.
To put things in perspective, i saw figures quoted of debt interest
£300K per min 2010
£200K per min 2015
I havent checked it out. I find looking at the worlddebtclock rather sobering.
Like so much else, the people pushing this debt are foreign governments who sell us oil – then loan us back the money to buy even more oil.