Elections and politics

TheCatWoman said:

Is anyone else interested?

Yes.

TheCatWoman said:

I'm not party political

I am.

Here's a question.

With regard to those on the forum from Scotland, Wales (as you are), Ireland and Northern Ireland - does who is in position in Westminster  + their policies etc affect you much/at all?

I've lost track of the state of devolution with each of you ...

TheCatWoman said:

is politics a taboo subject on here?

Nope, although the thread is missing former member Baked Potato.

Yes Westminster does effect us in Wales, we are given a grant by Westminster and can spend it on things that are devolved powers, such as education and health. Our rules for covid were different than thos in England, this caused a whole load of problems with people insisting that they, being English, didn't have to conform to Welsh laws, we had police on the borders turning tourists back and some were so determined to get here they sent their luggage by courier so as it wouldn't seem they were long distance travellers.

Wales dosen't have tax raising powers, obviously we can change council tax rates, but not income tax or NI or VAT, we have no control over benefit rates either. Our government chooses to do things like give us free prescriptions and help for students going to uni, but those things have to come from the money central government gives us.

One of the arguements I was hearing last week was about Scotland, they do have devolved tax raising powers, but they cannot borrow, this means that they can't invest in infrastructure projects that will get their economy moving. They're being told to raise income tax to fund these things which is totally stupid and like saying to save thier pocket money to buy a big toy.

Westminster can totally stymie what the devolved powers can do by withholding money, often "punishing" us for voting the "wrong way", it can refuse to allow things to happen as the SNP have found to thier cost.

Some people in parliament really dislike devolution and wanted to roll it back, Boris Johnson wanted all the power to reside in Westminster for example. I think the only way forward will be more devolution, more power at a local level and maybe eventually federalisation with an English parliament as well as a national one to deal with things such defence.

TheCatWoman said:

One of the arguements I was hearing last week was about Scotland, they do have devolved tax raising powers, but they cannot borrow, this means that they can't invest in infrastructure projects that will get their economy moving. They're being told to raise income tax to fund these things which is totally stupid and like saying to save thier pocket money to buy a big toy.

This is SNP propaganda. Some borrowing powers were devolved by the Scotland Act 2012 and extended by Scotland Act 2016, and the SNP have borrowed to the hilt using those powers ever since.

The SNP government's own official public figures, published on the Scottish Government website, also show that we get a larger share of UK spending than we should e.g. in 2022-23 we raised 8.6% of UK tax but received 9.2% of UK spending. But it's never enough for a party that's founded on hating the English and not much else.

Nobody told the SNP to raise income tax here. They did it for the same reason they do everything else: to make "Westminster" (ie the English) look bad. Even their own economists told them it would raise very little additional revenue but would inhibit the economy.

TheCatWoman said:

One of the arguements I was hearing last week was about Scotland, they do have devolved tax raising powers, but they cannot borrow, this means that they can't invest in infrastructure projects that will get their economy moving. They're being told to raise income tax to fund these things which is totally stupid and like saying to save thier pocket money to buy a big toy.

This is SNP propaganda. Some borrowing powers were devolved by the Scotland Act 2012 and extended by Scotland Act 2016, and the SNP have borrowed to the hilt using those powers ever since.

The SNP government's own official public figures, published on the Scottish Government website, also show that we get a larger share of UK spending than we should e.g. in 2022-23 we raised 8.6% of UK tax but received 9.2% of UK spending. But it's never enough for a party that's founded on hating the English and not much else.

Nobody told the SNP to raise income tax here. They did it for the same reason they do everything else: to make "Westminster" (ie the English) look bad. Even their own economists told them it would raise very little additional revenue but would inhibit the economy.