Devolution
1979 Referendum
52% Yes
62% turn out
Last minute clause in Devolution Bill said 40% of those eligible to vote had to vote Yes
52% on a 62% turn out means 33% of those eligible to vote voted Yes
IN OTHER WORDS IT WAS RIGGED
Some time later a local council in England used the same system in a vote regarding transfering council housing administration to the private sector. The vote was overturned as it was deemed to be grossly unfair & undemocratic
It was ok for Scotland
1997 Referendum
Due to SNP threatening Labours vote they devised a plan " to kill nationalism stone dead" Power devolved is power retained.
An elected Scottish Assembly in Edinburgh to take over the administration of Scottish affairs which at the time was done by the unelected civil servants in the Scottish office in Edinburgh. The state's prefered choice was to have an Assembly with no tax raising powers. Three choices on the ballet
YES without tax raising powers
YES with very limited tax raising powers
NO to any type of Assembly
Despite a huge establishment effort to convince people tax raising powers would be bad
Yes with tax raising powers won the day.
With only 25% voting NO
Assembly first sat in a temporary home while Westminster Politicians sourced a site for the new Assembly Building
Old Edinburgh High School was a popular choice but was rejected. Some say because it would have given the Assembly too prominent a position on the Edinburgh sky line. Westminster & their collaborators in Scotland decided to build it in a hole in the ground at the bottom of the Royal Mile. Chose a futuristic complicated expensive design. Put £10m towards the construction. It had no defined budget, years over schedule it was eventually completed at a cost of £400m.
Remember there was no defined budget, but over time the first £10m became known as the origonal budget & isnt it disgraceful that it eventually cost £400m Despite the fact that the construction of the building was controlled by Westminster not the Assembly. Media used it as a stick to beat the newly formed Assembly. For the first 10 years of existence when asked, the voter would reply that it was a waste of time & money as it cost £400m instead of £10m
New Assembly voting system is a form of proportional Representation (P.R) unlike all other elections in the U.K. which are "First Past The Post"
P.R. voting system has its draw backs but many consider it fairer as most voters get some form of representation where as with First past the post the elected representative has the most votes but may only get 40% of total votes cast. Therefore 60% of voters not represented P.R has always been rejected by the Tories & Labour as this makes it easier for the larger parties to retain power.
Reason Scottish Assembly got P.R.voting system. Labour were in charge of setting up the Assembly. So why use P.R. voting system when they have always opposed it in the past & since. Simple. They designed this particular P.R. voting system in such a way to make it impossible for one party to get an overall majority. Parties would have to work together to form a government. One nationalist party, SNP, but several unionist parties who would work together to make sure the nationalist would never gain power.
This plan worked well for a few years Labour First Ministers Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish & Jack McConnell all ran a steady ship never rocking the boat always keeping their masters in London happy.Assembly not popular with the public "cost £400m when it was supposed to cost £10m a waste of tax payers money" Ex First Minister Henry McLeish has recently admitted during his tenure he could do very little without London approval
2007 After years of watching Labour do very little apart from jumping when London said so the Scottish electorate stirred from their slumber & shocked us all by making the SNP the largest party in the Assembly. The most MSPs but not an overall majority. Conventional thinking means the party with the most seats get the opportunity to form a government. Usually doing deals with a smaller party to achieve an overall majority. Was very surprised SNP were given this opportunity. Thought unionist parties would pull every stroke to keep them out of power. SNP could not agree a deal with any other party & proposed forming a minority administation,ie having to gain support from other parties on each individual vote. Surprisingly the other parties did not oppose this probably because they were all unpopular at the time & thought a minority SNP Government would be a disaster SNP support would slump & a year or so down the line in an early election voters would return to the fold.
The opposite happened. Alex Salmond led a very successful minority administration. Nothing radical, sensible policies that the opposition could only agree on. According to impartcial observers. He ran the country quite well within the constraints of Devolution. Only radical thing he did was change the name from Scottish Assembly to Scottish Parliament & Scottish Executive to Scottish Government
2011 In a voting system designed to make an overall majority impossible Alex Salmond & SNP were returned to power with an overall majority. This eventually led to the 2014 Independence referendum.
This was won by the NO campaign. Project fear won the day. Full force of the British State doing everything they could to save the Union.
YES 45% NO 55%
All the mainstream media 100% against Independence. Telling old people they wouldnt get their pension in an independent Scotland. Prices would rocket & we wouldnt be allowed in the E.U. only by voting NO can you secure your place in the E.U. Basically telling us that in an independent Scotland the rivers would run dry, sun would never shine & plague & pestulance would sweep the land.
Contributers to project fear All of the U.K. mainstream media
The Queen
The Pope
President Obama
Many of the political classes in Scotland basically convincing the voter that a country that produces 5 times the energy it uses couldnt survive without resource poor England "subsiding us" ?????
So hear we are in 2025 I feel the SNP are on the wrong road continuing with the idea that if they are seen to run the country well the voter will come round to the idea of independence.
Salmond ran the country well, not only because he was a great politician, but because the establishment took their eye off the ball.They were informed by their lackies in Scotland that there was no chance of the SNP getting a referendum & if they did there was zero chance that they could win. Now they know different. SNP must be made to look bad. Media 100% against them. Promoting misinformation & out & out lies. Telling us the Scottish budget is continually increased. Yes unless you take inflation into account then its continually cut. SNP have to stop talking about a referendum. Never again will Establishment take that risk. Despite what they tell you a referendum is not required to become independent.
SNP have to spell out the benefits of independence.
Produce 5 times the energy we use. More in the pipeline. Produce 150% of our electricity needs from renewable energy. Huge potential for much more. Coming soon are large penalties for industries that pollute.Scotland with an abundance of clean energy can attract inward investment. Unlike many countries we have more water than we can use.
Already billions of pounds worth of energy crosses the border to England. Scotland gets nothing for it. What we do get is the most expensive energy in Europe. See section on economy regarding our massive resources.
U.K Test drilling in Scotland looking for a home for nuclear waste.
Route to independence is at any national election, gain a majority of votes & declare independence. We dont ask for it. We declare it.
Referendums are a white elephant
Holyrood elections.
The voting system gives you two votes. I you are in a constituency that the SNP are likely to win. Voting for them on the 2nd ballot paper,the list vote, because of the way the voting system works allows a Unionist party to take the list seat. Vote SNP on constituency vote & an other Indy party on the list vote
Following chart shows the percentage of the list vote SNP would have to achieve to gain one list seat in each region. This is with SNP support at May 25 opinion polling levels.If level of support for SNP drops,it becomes easier to win list seats.
To quote Tory Cabinet Minister David Davis, when talking about Brexit "I know of no union where two countries freely entered into a treaty where one needs the permission of the other to withdraw from that treaty.
Time to withdraw from the 1707 Act of Union.
BETTER TOGETHER???
ITS OK TO CHANGE YOUR MIND