Category Archives: Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon resigns as Scottish First Minister – by instinct, or calculation?

Nicola Sturgeon: she’s making way for somebody fresh.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is resigning after eight years in the role, saying she knew instinctively, “in my head and in my heart” that it is time to step down.

But is there a more calculating aspect to this decision, that has her bowing out when her party, the SNP, is about to hold a special conference on how it should move on the issue of Scottish independence, in light of the UK government’s refusal to engage with plans for a referendum?

Is she hoping that a new, dynamic and charismatic leader will rise to grip the hearts and minds of Scottish people, finding a way to break the deadlock with the Westminster government that she has not seen, due to fatigue?

Let’s not forget that this is the longest-serving leader of the Scottish Parliament, having been in-post for eight years, and an MSP since Holyrood was set up in 1999. If Ms Sturgeon says she is tired, This Writer can sympathise very easily!

One thing I don’t expect to happen is any rethink of the Union and Scotland’s place in it, as some commentators have been suggesting.

The SNP is committed to taking Scotland out of the UK, so any such discussion is redundant to the thinking of its members.

And if anybody in the Westminster parties are inclined to celebrate her departure, This Writer would suggest that they don’t do so too soon.

They don’t know what they’ll be getting next!

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Money taken from Welsh hospitals to support war in Ukraine

Buddies: Boris Johnson (right) is more friendly with Volodymyr Zelenskyy than with sick people in the UK who will lose funding for hospitals so he can support the war in Ukraine.

Boris Johnson has announced that he is giving £1 billion in military aid to Ukraine – including £30 million from a Welsh budget to fund – among other things – hospitals.

It seems Welsh finance minister Rebecca Evans was practically blackmailed into handing over the cash as, if she did not, it would have been taken anyway via “UK Treasury processes”.

Ms Evans, with whom This Writer has previously campaigned during Welsh elections, said the way the cash was found was “not right” and “worrying” – and that a precedent should not be set to allow Welsh government money to go on Westminster projects.

Ms Evans told a Senedd committee that she had been asked to either provide the money “upfront” or through a budget reduction later, as a knock-on effect from UK government departments providing cash for military aid.

£65m for Ukraine will come from Scottish government budgets.

The rest of the cash is coming from Westminster government underspends – cash that was included in departmental budgets but not used – meaning the only Tory government in the UK will lose nothing while governments run by Labour and the SNP are drained of vital resources.

According to the BBC,

The new British aid will go towards paying for “sophisticated air defence systems”, drones, electronic warfare equipment, and “thousands of pieces of vital kit”, the UK government said.

So Boris Johnson has decided that Ukraine gets equipment to help kill, injure and otherwise harm people, and Wales is deprived of vital funding for hospitals. I hope everybody can see what’s wrong here.

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New three-point independence referendum plan for Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon: she’s going all-out for Scottish independence – and who can blame her, when Boris Johnson has made such a mess of the United Kingdom?

It seems the Scottish National Party is planning to race Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein to be the first to gain independence from Boris Johnson’s UK.

The new majority party in NI has a plan to secede from the Union within the next five years, but the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon has proposed October 19, 2023 as the date for a referendum on Scottish independence.

Her party has published a Referendum Bill, to be debated by the Scottish Parliament – but this will not happen until the UK’s Supreme Court has ruled on whether the Scottish government has the power to hold a vote without UK government approval.

She has requested this approval, writing to Boris Johnson to request formal consent for the vote to be held. He has said the UK government will consider it, but its position that “now is not the time” for another referendum has not changed.

Sturgeon’s aim is to avoid legal challenges to her Referendum Bill when it comes to be debated in the Scottish Parliament; Supreme Court backing will make that possible.

So the plan is that – in the belief that Johnson’s government will refuse to back her request – it will still receive validation that it is lawful and constitutional from the Supreme Court and the Referendum Bill will be passed by the Scottish Parliament.

There is a back-up plan, which is for the SNP to fight the next UK-wide general election on a single issue: “should Scotland be an independent country?”

It is only eight years since the last referendum on Scottish independence, so one can understand why the UK government in Westminster is reluctant to tolerate another one.

In 2014, around 45 per cent of voters supported independence, with 55 per cent against. Current polling shows little change, with 48 per cent in favour and 52 per cent against.

This makes a new referendum a big gamble for the SNP. It may annoy voters into believing that the party is too focused on a single aim, to the detriment of a nation – the UK – that is trying to pick itself back up after the double-blow of Brexit and Covid-19.

Alternatively, the same phenomena may be the reasons for people to support the plan – as the current version of Brexit was Johnson’s brainchild and has been a disaster, while his policies on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic have been similarly ham-handed, resulting in many thousands more deaths than should have happened.

In any event, the Supreme Court may simply rule against the referendum, forcing Sturgeon’s party into its fall-back plan – but what if Johnson calls a general election early in order to wrong-foot her?

Meanwhile, across the Irish Sea, Sinn Fein’s leaders have a plan to get Northern Ireland out of the union at some point over the next five years – if they can get Unionist parties to stop throwing their toys out of the pram over their election loss and allow the Assembly at Stormont to sit again.

They will be watching what happens in Scotland very carefully, no doubt.

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People in Scotland with lifelong disabilities will no longer face benefit tests

Nicola Sturgeon: doing more for people with disabilities than Boris Johnson.

The UK’s Conservative government – particularly its prime minister – are first to disparage the Scottish National Party but fall behind that organisation in the implementation of policy.

The Tories have been promising to ditch benefit reassessments of people with lifelong conditions but look at this – the SNP got there first:

Disabled people in Scotland with serious lifelong conditions will no longer have to attend reassessments to continue receiving their benefits.

The Scottish government will begin taking over adult disability benefits from the UK government next week.

Currently, people with lifelong conditions such as being blind have to be reassessed to keep their benefits.

The Scottish government said it would have a more “compassionate” approach.

The pilot for the new payment will begin in Dundee, the Western Isles and Perth and Kinross from 21 March.

People already receiving Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions do not need to apply for the new payment from Social Security Scotland.

They will be automatically transferred on to the new system from the summer, the Scottish government’s social security minister Ben Macpherson said.

He said the new Adult Disability Payment would make a number of changes to assessment.

Mr Macpherson said: “If they have a disability or a long-term health condition that is unlikely to change, we are looking to provide indefinite awards, which means that people will not need to reapply for their benefit or be reviewed.”

Source: Lifelong Disabilities Will Not Face Benefit Tests | Same Difference

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Northern Ireland and Scotland want a referendum on leaving the UK. And Wales?

The ballot box: come on, Wales – let’s have a chance to tell Boris Johnson to get stuffed!

Welsh people are showing surprising loyalty to the United Kingdom after being progressively abused by Tory governments since 2010.

They are lagging behind Northern Ireland and Scotland, where polls show a majority of people in both countries want referenda on whether to quit the union.

In Northern Ireland, 68 per cent of people are demanding the right to choose whether to stay in the UK or join the Republic of Ireland.

Scotland will get its referendum if Nicola Sturgeon has her way.

Only Wales is dragging its feet over the chance to show national displeasure with Boris Johnson’s travesty of leadership – widely believed to be the worst government in UK history.

The latest poll in Wales shows just 28 per cent of people wanting independence.

It makes you wonder where people here get their news.

Source: 68% in Northern Ireland want referendum on leaving the UK

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Covid-19 surge in Scotland after schools reopen – but Sturgeon won’t accept it

Nicola Sturgeon: she reckons schools must stay open, even though Covid-19 infections in Scotland have rocketed since the new term started.

This is what will happen in England – and on a much larger scale.

Scottish schools have reopened after their summer break – and Covid-19 infection rates have surged to their highest-ever level.

It is the predictable result of Boris Johnson’s ‘Freedom Day’ – the relaxation of all legal restrictions on gathering and distancing, which Scotland copied a few weeks ago.

Infections have been rising since the August 2 low of 799 and stood yeterday at 5,021 – Scotland’s highest-ever total.

Stunningly, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is refusing to face the facts and go back into lockdown. She’s reluctant even to go back through the stages of social distancing.

Speaking yesterday, the First Minister said: “I don’t want to go back to anything like a full lockdown.

If we, all of us, take the basic precautions right now that we know can slow the virus, then I hope no re-imposition of restrictions will be necessary.

How many people would have to die before she changes her mind?*

And she is determined to keep schools open, even though it is clear to anybody with a brain that they are the principal point from which Covid-19 is being transmitted to the population.

Her government has stressed that keeping schools open would be a number one priority regardless of what happens, with deputy FM John Swinney saying closures should be avoided “at all costs”.

Do those costs include preventable deaths? From what Swinney said, it seems they do.

How sad. We might have expected more intelligence from the Scottish government.

Perhaps Boris Johnson has just proved that stupidity is as easily-transmissible as the virus.

*Personally, This Writer thinks Sturgeon – and any other leader whose decisions cause preventable deaths (Boris Johnson) – should be made to visit personally the families of anybody who dies as a result of her decisions to apologise and offer restitution for the wrong she will have intentionally inflicted on them. At least that would keep her out of mischief for a (long) while.

Source: Covid in Scotland: Circuit breaker lockdown ‘an option’ to tackle virus surge | The National

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Could Welsh Labour split from the national party because of Starmer?

Starmer: this is just one of his offences while acting as Labour leader. Read down the article for more.

It seems Keir Starmer’s stance on Northern Ireland could be the final straw that forces Welsh Labour to secede from the national party.

Take a look at Dewi Eirig Jones’s response to Starmer’s unwarranted policy announcement below:

It would be easy to understand why anybody in a Labour Party organisation that still represented actual Labour values would want to split from Starmer’s Blairite, neoliberal, pro-Tory, anti-union, racist, little-Englander party but if you’d like examples, let’s see if I can provide some for you:

Support for NHS privatisation.

Support for Northern Ireland unionism in a referendum – when the Good Friday Agreement demands that he would have to be impartial.

Racism.

Homophobia.

Siding with the rich against the poor.

Blaming others for his own failures.

These:

  • The campaign to punish Labour left-wingers.
  • The campaign to silence criticism.
  • The erosion of Labour’s share of the electorate.
  • Starmer’s support for the loss of our right to protest.
  • Starmer’s attempt to gaslight us into thinking Jeremy Corbyn is responsible for Labour’s loss of support.
  • Starmer’s sustained support of Conservative policies and legislation.
  • Starmer’s support of the so-called Spycops Bill in particular.
  • Starmer’s adoption of fascist symbolism, in line with the Tories – flags, haircuts and suits preferred over socialist policies.
  • Efforts by right-wing Labour Party officers and representatives – many of them unelected – to disenfranchise party members and deny them representation.
  • And an attitude of entitlement that tries to tell us that we must accept Starmer sneering at us because he thinks he knows better.

And his ditching of the 10 pledges on which he was elected Labour leader in the first place.

I have many more examples but will those do for the time being? And would Scottish Labour consider doing the same?

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Tory politics of division: ‘look at Scotland! Covid is much worse there than in England!’

Conservatives really are pathetic, aren’t they?

Faced with criticism over the rise of the Delta variant of Covid-19, they resort to whataboutery. So we see this, in the Tory-supporting Telegraph:

Scotland is by far the UK’s worst Covid hotspot with rates more than double England’s, according to figures published by Nicola Sturgeon’s government yesterday that increased pressure on her

Do you see what they did there?

“Scotland’s Covid rate is much worse than England’s so Boris Johnson is actually doing really well!”

Except he isn’t, of course. And the information provided by the Torygraph is doubtless void of important facts that affect the outcome: vaccine supply, geographical factors and so on.

People won’t see the faults in the story. They’ll see the headline and pour scorn on the Scots, and on Nicola Sturgeon in particular.

And that’s how Boris Johnson’s Tories manufacture support for themselves.

Source:  Scotland’s Covid rate is more than double England’s, new figures reveal

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Hated disability ‘benefit’ to be replaced in Scotland – with no dreaded face-to-face assessments

Meanwhile, in England and Wales: it’s not quite this bad but the death toll suggests it might as well be.

It’s easy to understand why the Scottish National Party is so popular north of the border – it actually fulfils its promises.

For example: it is replacing the hated Tory Personal Independence Payment for people living with disabilities.

The new Adult Disability Payment will be phased in next year, providing financial support to cover the extra costs faced by people with disabilities.

The SNP-run Scottish government has announced that the benefit will take a new approach, to ensure dignity, fairness and respect.

According to the Daily Record:

Social Security Scotland will make decisions about entitlement for ADP using the applicant’s account of their circumstances and existing supporting information, where possible.

The number of face-to-face assessments will be significantly reduced and will only be necessary when it is the only practicable way to make a decision.

Most consultations will be carried out over the phone, but can be face-to-face in a GP surgery or even at home – whatever works best for the person applying.

And claimants will no longer be asked to carry out tasks to demonstrate how their disability, long-term illness or mental health condition affects them as part of the application process.

This promises to be a huge improvement. Also helpful will be the provision of supporting material which may include a social care needs assessment, a report from a Community Psychiatric Nurse, and information from a carer.

As a carer myself, This Writer would have loved to be able to submit information to support Mrs Mike’s PIP (and ESA) claims.

But anything can seem good before it has actually been tested.

I would like to hear from claimants of the new benefit, once it starts coming in. Let’s hope they say good things about it.

Source: PIP to be replaced by new disability payment which includes no face-to-face assessments – Daily Record

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Covid-19’s death toll on people with disabilities is HORRIFYING – but Scottish authorities won’t produce figures (Vox Political Scrapbook)

We’ve reached a point, now, where I can no longer talk to Mrs Mike about these stories because they send her into paroxysms of rage – and fear.

This particular news item is terrifying on two levels – firstly, that Covid-19 is having such a terrible effect on people with disabilities.

Don’t forget that, even if a person survives the virus, there may be knock-on effects that could seriously harm the quality of the rest of their lives: muscle damage, lung damage, neurological harm. If somebody already has a disability, this could be catastrophic.

And you know the Conservative-run Department for Work and Pensions wouldn’t give a damn.

Secondly, there’s the fact that the Scottish health authorities aren’t even bothering to research the effect of the virus on disabled people in that country.

To This Writer, the omission is as bad as that of the DWP itself when it spent years trying to hide the number of people who had died after being denied sickness benefits.

I eventually had to force the government to divulge those figures. And have there been any regular updates since then?

We all know the answer to that, I think.

Let us hope the Scottish authorities get their act together, compile those figures and then take action to help people with disabilities survive the virus.

Otherwise it will make the SNP’s claims to be more caring for people with illnesses and disabilities than Westminster look like a very bad joke.

Scotland has no idea how many disabled people are dying from coronavirus.

Despite public health chiefs in England and Wales using census data to check how hard the pandemic is hitting those with disabilities, Scotland is still in the dark.

Shock figures show that in England and Wales, an estimated 60 per cent of those who have died of Covid-19 considered themselves disabled in the 2011 census. Disabled men under 65 are 6.5 times more likely to die of Covid, while disabled women are more than 10 times more likely.

A separate report from Public Health England also found those with learning disabilities are six times more likely to die from Covid-19 than the general population.

Despite the alarming reality elsewhere in the UK, Freedom of Information requests have revealed that neither Public Health Scotland nor National Records of Scotland have extracted matching data.

Source: Scotland in the dark over how many disabled people are dying from coronavirus – Daily Record

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