The 2014 independence referendum has left a legacy of record high levels of support for independence.
I’ve been meaning to post this and say something about it since From Indyref1 to Indyref2? The State of Nationalism in Scotland was published by Scottish Social Attitudes. Put this evidence of a trend to end 2016 along with the two 2017 polls showing the probable vote now ‘too-close-to-call’ as statisticians say and the recent predictions of bookies and I think I know where this is all going.
© commonspace.scot
Quite a full report on this is on Common Space, ref below, so I’ll just draw your attention to it and remind you that this professor is the third to ‘come out’ in favour of Scottish independence in the last few days. This extract, attacking the notion that the Scottish economy is weak, will give you an idea of where he goes with the argument:
‘This claim is based on four figures. The first is Scottish GDP. The second is Scottish tax revenues. The third is Scottish government spending. The last is the Scottish balance of payments (imports v exports). My contention is simple: all four may be seriously mis-stated, in which case to base debate on them would be a serious mistake. Murphy argued that the information in these areas in either made by broad estimations or suffers from a lack of evidence. He added that it was important to remember that “a government of an independent Scotland will have a very different structure to that imposed now”, and so the economic situation would be liable to fundamentally change with new data and full economic devolution.’
I’ve already presented the arguments of two other professors supporting the case for Scottish independence at:
Who’s next?
© youngscot.net
I missed this at the time (20th February) but I think it’s still worth a mention. Young Scots are more likely to get involved in helping others according to a UK-wide survey. Here are the figures:
Scotland 52%
Wales 48%
England 42%
N Ireland 18%
The benefits, according to the report are not just for those being helped:
‘Across the UK, those who are involved in volunteering and social action have significantly higher life-satisfaction than those who don’t, as well as having stronger personal networks.’
There’s much more detail along with personal stories in the full report:
http://www.volunteerscotland.net/about-us/news/young-scots-top-for-social-action/
Is there any connection between this report and my previous one about the SNP and the Tories? I know there are some right wee bastards in Scotland too but are we just a wee bit more collectivist, communitarian, as a people, than some of our neighbours? It would, of course, have been very interesting to compare the North and South of England data.
Two announcements today kind of sum up the fairness and common decency of the SNP as opposed to the almost psychopathic callousness of the Tories – the living wage for childcare staff and a scheme to boost learning and development opportunities as the Tories reveal themselves as the party of child poverty.
The current 600 hours of free early learning care is to be increased to 1 140 hours this year. At the moment, not all of those delivering the service, in particular those who are working in private nurseries, receive the living wage of £8.25 per hour but only the minimum wage of £7.20 per hour. By the end of this parliament all workers will receive the living wage.
The First Minister said:
‘I am proud of the steps our government has already taken to extend payment of the Living Wage. We have led by example in the public sector. And we have led a movement of businesses who see the benefits, not just for their staff but for their own bottom line. I can confirm today that we intend to apply that approach to our expansion of childcare. In public sector nurseries, staff already receive the living wage. But there are currently around 1,000 private nurseries helping to deliver our free childcare policy and currently around 80% of the childcare staff who work in them don’t earn the living wage. That’s around 8000 people in total.’
http://news.gov.scot/news/fair-pay-at-heart-of-childcare-expansion
Also announced today, the second initiative is increased support for care leavers who are struggling to access education or job opportunities because of the ground they have lost on their peers during the time they were full-time carers. What more deserving group could there be? The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work said:
‘Recent data shows that we have made significant progress in tackling youth unemployment and Scotland currently has the second lowest youth unemployment rate in Europe, after Germany, with levels at the lowest rate since records began. By supporting more young care leavers to access employment, training and education opportunities and close the attainment gap with their peers, we are sending a clear signal that we are determined to go further.’
http://news.gov.scot/news/increased-support-for-care-leavers
Meanwhile the Tories are busy confirming their status as the party of child poverty:
‘Figures show that more than 14 million people in the UK now live in relative poverty. This is the highest since 1996/97. And it’s a million more than when the Conservatives took power in 2010. The number of children living in poverty has also risen. It rose by 400,000 from 2010/11 to 2015/16 meaning there are now four million children living in poverty.’
According to BBC Scotland, it’s: ‘More than a quarter of children in Scotland were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2015-2016, according to government figures. It marks what charities described as a “devastating” rise of 4% from the previous year.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-39290592
Across the UK as a whole it’s even higher at: ‘About 100,000 children fell into relative poverty in 2015-16, a year on year increase of one percentage point, according to household data published by the government on Thursday. About 4 million, or around 30%, are now classed as poor.’
I know it’s nothing to brag about but at least it’s something and might suggest some achievement by the Scottish Government. I know I’ve quoted this evidence before:
‘There is much that the Scottish Government is doing to reduce the impact of poverty and inequality and there is much in Scotland that can be celebrated and learned from. The devolution of welfare powers should not obscure the continuing role of that Westminster plays in determining benefit spending in Scotland. Welfare claimants in Scotland have lost large sums already, and are set to lose further large sums. The devolution of welfare powers will not, in itself, alter this stark reality.’
http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/system/files/protected/page/SOCH-recommendations-Scotland.pdf
Remember, the UK is the 5th biggest economy in the world. There’s money to solve this but it’s going into other pockets and it might be getting worse:
‘These figures are grim but, according to independent experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the outlook for the next few years is bleaker. Most worrying of all is that the Government seems to be in a state of denial. Last week’s Budget failed to mention poverty even once.’
https://www.thecanary.co/2017/03/16/new-government-figures-prove-tories-party-child-poverty/
© eaca-inspire.eu
Today from gov.scot:
‘The First Minister will highlight figures showing Scotland’s productivity has grown by almost ten percent since 2007 while the rest of the UK’s has only grown by one-tenth of one percent. She will say that this is a strong record but that there is more we can and must do. The lack of digital skills has been identified as a critical gap that holds back productivity and company profitability, with an estimated additional 12,800 digital skills roles needed each year. In order to help support business in filling this skills gap the Digital Growth Fund will provide loans to support up to an estimated 6,000 people to be trained in each of the next three years.’
Not only has Scottish productivity grown considerably more over the last ten years than the rest of the UK, it is currently growing 4 times faster than the rest of the UK.
http://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2017/02/scotlands-productivity-grows-four-times-faster-than-uk/
To make sure this continues, perhaps increases, the First Minister has announced:
‘We will develop a new £36 million, three-year support fund to meet the upfront business costs of digital skills training. This will see up to 6,000 people per year able to access the training they need in key areas like software development, web design and digital marketing. It will also allow firms to use government funding to pay for the training their staff need, repaying the funding in later years. We will work with business to lift the upfront burden of upskilling Scotland’s workforce from the balance sheets of business, giving firms the freedom to invest in their staff and in their future.’
http://news.gov.scot/news/increased-funding-for-digital-skills
For those who don’t know it, Channel 4’s Gogglebox watches ordinary English families as they watch and comment on selected TV programmes. They’re a funny, not too bright, bunch of couch potatoes, to put it mildly.
Last night they watched FM Sturgeon saying there will be a second referendum by early 2019 and PM May saying there won’t.
Disturbingly hairy-eared, former UKIP member and likely supporter of Cyprus’s independence from Turkey, Andrew Michael, said: ‘Someone should tell Nicola Sturgeon that you only have a referendum once in a generation, not every five minutes.’
Posh and astonishingly-dressed husband and wife, Giles and Mary, said Nicola reminded them of one of the Nolan sisters but, best of all Giles, said: ‘They’re not going to slink away to the side-lines and just obey the English. They’ve never done that, the Scottish, they’re disobedient. Look at Mel Gibson.’ Then wife Mary said bizarrely that wanting another referendum was like ditching David Beckham for Tom Jones and Giles agree it was a good analogy.
Viewer protests from Scotland were numerous, I gather. I’ve spotted ‘Scottophobia’ among them before but this was the best yet and can only help with the cause. Make them watch more of Angus Robertson making a fool of Theresa and Alex Salmond demanding stuff. That should help.
Here’s the UKIP connection:
(c) Daily Express
BBC News announced: ‘Gordon Brown: ‘Holyrood should gain Brexit powers’
Typically respectful, they go on to say:
‘Gordon Brown has set out a “third option” for Scotland’s future, based on more powers being transferred to Holyrood after Brexit. The former Labour prime minister suggested the Scottish government be given the power to set VAT rates and sign international treaties. Control over agriculture, fisheries and environmental regulation could be transferred, he argued in a speech. ‘
Remember Tony Blair’s ‘Third Way and Adolf’s ‘Third Reich [see photo above]?’ Those went well didn’t they? Is ‘third’ a bad choice generally? Keeping my face as straight as I can, I can also reveal:
‘He also proposed that the Bank of England becomes the Bank of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with fully staffed representation in Scotland, “to reinforce the fact that the pound is for everyone”.’
Why not ‘Bank of Britain’, I wonder? Anyhoo, don’t make me laugh. There is no way the Tories will allow any of the above power transfers from the EU to Holyrood far less the daft idea about the Bank of England. We already know from opinion polls that Tory MPs, activists and supporters are utterly opposed to Scotland getting more devolved powers. There’s more support for chucking us out of the UK than there is for any of that.
The No campaign faces ‘too-close-to-call’ polls, a war on three fronts with the EU keen to punish them, the two Irelands and a Scotland they plan to treat as just a disobedient child. Labour and the Lib Dems won’t share a stage with them. UKIP would build a Trumpian wall across the border. Now Gordon Brown lumbers in to seal the deal for Scottish independence. Brilliant!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-39309133
© edisontelecommunications.co.uk
See this from the SNP Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Constitution yesterday:
‘Following the early success of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project, which saw stronger than expected take up figures, an additional £15.6 million is being reinvested back into the programme. The additional funding will have a particular focus on maximising the numbers of premises that have access to speeds of greater than 24Mbps with funding targeted on areas with the lowest speed coverage….. Smaller areas such as industrial estates are also benefitting with Houston Industrial Estate in West Lothian with 33 small businesses going live earlier this month.’
Evidence of the critical importance of this kind of investment for the economy was posted on the same day in techUK:
‘Last year the Internet economy contributed 10 per cent of the UK’s GDP and recent Tech City data outlined that the digital sector in the UK is growing over 32 per cent faster than the wider economy. But Internet capacity is the ‘fuel’ that enables this growth, which will undoubtedly be hindered without the right infrastructure to support and facilitate future innovation.’
I must admit, I didn’t realise that the digital sector was growing so much faster than the wider economy.
On the 17th March, St John’s Academy in Perth became Scotland’s 2000th school to win the prestigious Green Flag making a world record for Scotland. The Green Flag is the top award in the global sustainable schools scheme. You’ve probably seen these flags outside your local school. Making the presentation, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said:
‘I am delighted to present St John’s Academy with its Green Flag and congratulate all of the pupils and school staff on becoming our 2000th Eco School, making Scotland an international leader through all their hard work. It is especially impressive when you learn about how the Eco Group built up its numbers, encouraging children from nursery through to secondary, as well as school staff, to think more about their impact on the environment and how they could make positive changes within their school.’
The Scottish Government is funding the scheme, which now connects over 15 million pupils and teachers, across 64 countries, who plant vegetables, recycle waste and adopt Fairtrade and Rights Respecting policies in the school’s daily practice and activities.
http://news.gov.scot/news/2000th-green-flag-awarded
As of 15th March, with ten times the population so presumably ten times the number of schools, England had only 1059 Eco-Schools.
http://members.eco-schools.org.uk/
I’ve already reported Scotland’s success in Fair Trade at:
Number 1 for Fair Trade: In Scotland 2016, a 43% increase in fair trade activity
No doubt the English Tories have some reason to neglect this scheme as they do Fair Trade activities, in the above report.
© lochaberhousing.org.uk
I’ve already written on this topic and shared a very informative piece by a reader at:
The non-reporting of the Scottish Government’s commitment to affordable housing reflects the inability of our political journalists to highlight any good news coming out of Holyrood
The PLANNER, yesterday, has added further useful detail. A dramatic 20% increase in approvals for new build affordable homes were made in 2016. That was an increase from 5 101 to 8 840. For 2017, the SNP government has confirmed £70 million under its Scottish Government’s Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme which will enable 1 700 more people to buy their first home.
I searched for an English equivalent finding another Scottish one, LINK, in the process. There is the Share to Buy scheme and, of course, in England, you can actually reduce the supply of affordable housing for rent by the exploiting the Right to Buy scheme.
http://www.theplanner.co.uk/news/social-housing-on-the-up-in-scotland
For a better overview of all the articles go to:
Talking-up Scotland 