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According to the not very lovely Sunday Express, our First Minister (that’s not what they call her) is sure ‘a fresh deal will be offered to Edinburgh over new powers for Scotland’ to persuade us to:
‘SIGN THE DEAL! Westminster demands Scotland’s backing as Sturgeon threatens Brexit hijack’
Here’s some of the Express language for you:
‘The deal [for Scotland] will be offered ahead of the signing of the Great Repeal Bill which will begin dismantling EU legislation from British, transferring them into UK laws which can later be amended or dropped. In outrageous demands on Wednesday, Scotland’s Brexit minister, Mike Russell, insisted the entire bill should be re-written…..again, Scotland is making wild demands.’
In the article, the only specific demands mentioned are powers over fisheries and farming. How very dare we?
It is clear the Tories and the Express are worried that the devolved administrations, especially Scotland, can make things difficult for the UK government to negotiate a deal by insisting on their rights under the Scotland Act 1998 [Devolution] which says the UK parliament cannot “normally” legislate on Scottish affairs without a legislative consent motion from Holyrood. The ‘normally’ is Westminster’s get-out but it would cause quite a stooshie if they ignored Holyrood and might potentially strengthen the independence movement. So, a deal for Scotland doesn’t seem at all unlikely given how easily the DUP got one.
What else can we ask for – oil and gas revenues, subsidies for renewable energy maintained, Trident cancellation, restoring the old border between Scottish and English North Seas waters, more frigate-building on the Clyde, Indyref2 with the over 65’s denied a vote, VAT exemption for Police Scotland, sacking Bird and Campbell, closing BBC Scotland down altogether, a motorway from Ayr to Gretna to make my English hols more convenient?
Talking-up Scotland 
So, what you are saying here is, you want to happily exclude yourself from being allowed to vote, but also want the government to build a dirty great big motorway through lots of greenery?! Outrageous. You should request mag-rails to be laid and your own personal carriage. You won’t get folks sitting in trees for months on end to try and stop them building it that way.
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I’ll take one for the team. Greenery? Some, I’ll admit but also New Cumnock and a fair number of bings.
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Please read my letter in the National published August 10th. In our family the two over seventy would give their votes for independence. The seven under sixty would currently vote to stay in the UK. We are doing our best to convert them, with your help. We do know others over sixty-five who are also very much supporters of independence. I suspect that educated Scots who know something of their history will vote for independence, as with Brexit will EU nationals and others who may get a vote. The main problem with the elderly is those who have retired here from England and who therefore think that Scotland is simply a county of England, which is where their heart is.
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Sorry, joking….badly.
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That’s a good list to be starting with , it might surprise you though how many over 65’s are coming round , forget the Tory’s , others can be persuaded with good arguments .
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Over 65s coming round – you sure?
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My husband and I are well over 70 and we have been fervent supporters of Independence this would be an outrage to us if we weren’t allowed a vote this is a democracy not a disctatorship. Scotland is a caring, just country and what is described in these comments is not the country I love and want free of Westminster power.
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Sorry, it was a joke really. Not a good one clearly.
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Heh heh, suggesting that a demographic should be excluded from a vote wasn’t such a good idea there John 🙂 you’ll have to keep the jokes all-inclusive! Probably older folks are more set in their ways (and conversely, youth more likely the change their minds?), I know my father is unlikely to change his mind, and the younger ones seem to indulge this state of affairs – unfortunately I don’t think 70+ is very old and insist on trying to change that mind, then the younger ones think it’s an argument and try to stop it, pah, it’s just a lively discussion! (And never successful) I think it’s a bit insulting to say things like ‘he’s set in his ways, it’s his age’, you are never too old!
I expect you, John, to change your mind about the motorway and campaign for a healthy railway line,,, they’ll have to do landscaping too and unbing the countryside!
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Oh, OK but it takes me 2 hours to drive to the English border and it’s only abt 80 miles away. No fair
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What’s the rush? If you are off on hols, take your time, absorb the views (paying attention to traffic as a priority, of course). Everyone wants to rush everywhere these days! Choose a favourite cafe on the way, stop off, contribute to local economies. Bings can have an aesthetic all of their own,,,
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