People like us
Another UKIP voter. This one’s a bit more interesting.
Because the thing about UKIP is that – by their own admission – they don’t actually have any policies about anything other than cracking down on immigration and leaving the EU. Their official position is that the rest of their manifesto is blank paper, to be formulated on all other subjects at their summer conference.
Yet even in the complete absence of any other policies, voters are happy to tell TV cameras that the party “their political agenda suits my opinions”. What does that tell us? It tells us what the 2015 UK general election will be fought on, and it’s not Ed Miliband’s “cost of living crisis”.
If, as the Herald suggested this week, Scots are just as obsessed with the subject as the people of the rest of the UK, they’ll vote No in September and a UK exit from the EU will become a very real prospect, because by far the starkest policy divide between any parties of government in these islands is that between the pro-immigration SNP and the anti-immigration everyone else.
The British public seems to be convinced that immigration can somehow be curbed without the UK leaving the EU. (Polls recently have shown a surprise drift towards support for staying in, which has been little remarked-upon in the media.)
But it can’t, because the free movement of labour is one of the absolute, immovable cornerstones of the entire European project. It’s a bit like saying you love Dundee United and would buy a season ticket if only they’d stop playing football.
When that realisation dawns, voters will have to make a choice, and then things could get very messy indeed. All the angry businesspeople currently railing against Scottish independence and threatening to leave if there’s a Yes vote would find themselves facing an infinitely greater horror – being isolated from the whole of Europe.
An independent Scotland still inside the EU could become a bolt-hole, with firms desperately fighting for office and manufacturing space in order to get out of the rUK and retain access to the single market. It’s hard to think of any one event which could do more to boost Scottish employment and the economy than the rest of the UK leaving Europe while Scotland was still in it.
It may be that the Herald is right, and that Scottish people have been too brainwashed by the UK media about immigration to look at the situation rationally. It may be that Labour’s constant pejorative talk of “foreigners” has so poisoned attitudes that Scotland – with an immigrant population just half of the UK’s – will shoot itself in the foot and destroy its best hope of economic recovery in fear of a largely-imaginary peril.
Only time will tell.
“It’s a bit like saying you love Dundee United and would buy a season ticket if only they’d stop playing football.”
Sounds like our performance in the Scottish Cup final…
Ed balls on bbc saying, and i quote,” “We need tougher controls on borders and tough control on who comes in our country”
and
“you will not be able to come here to our country and send your wages home….”
depressing stuff indeed!
After Mark Frankland’s post the other day I’m choosing to believe that we’re not so brainwashed as they’d like to have us think.
I get folk being angry with westminster and it’s detachment from real life, it’s corruption and self serving links with the city. But expressing it by voting for a party with no policies apart from the one beloved of pub bores everywhere I just don’t get. There is an alternative in rUK called the Trade Union n Socialist Coalition party (I think) TUSC. If only they had as much coverage as ukip from the BBC. As far as I’m concerned support for UKIP is barely legal permission for racists and other tin foil hat wearers to join a political party and open their mouths
Big businessman in Scotland are usually diehard British nationalists, and also uber neo-liberals. The British political system for the last three decades or so suits them into the ground.
“Big businessman in Scotland are usually diehard British nationalists, and also uber neo-liberals. The British political system for the last three decades or so suits them into the ground.”
Aye, but being out of the EU wouldn’t. They’d shit their pants if that looked like happening.
You know that last bit in the article hits the nail on the head. Too many times, I have sat and listened to Labour people in Scotland talking about how independence will make us all foreigners, yet they somehow cannot fathom the connection between such hateful talk with the rise of UKIP.
Labour need to take a good long hard look at themselves, and the hateful ‘foreigner’ rhetoric they cast around with abandon, when they discuss Scottish independence.
As for the result overall, If I was a Tory strategist, I’d be in number 10 right now, with a phone, telling Cameron to wise up, talk to Salmond, and push for Scottish Devomax, via actual legislation published and approved, ahead of the referendum, in order to secure a NO vote.
I would politely remind him, that such a strategy would be termed ‘pragmatism’, and that politics is after all the art of the do-able. It would improve their standing worldwide/domestically, keep the union semi-intact, and, if they adopted a more rational perspective, would get rid of a major headache for their election campaign. It would make Cameron seem like a true democrat and statesman. If they did it unilaterally, it would completely stuff Labour, for at least a decade.
However, we all know that Rational behaviour is NOT what Westminster ever does, regardless of whether it is the RED tories or the blue tories in power. Come September, and the YES vote, both Labour and the Tories will suffer even more.
@Rev Stu
Some might. However, I think some are so hostile to the idea of Scottish independence that they would want to remain part of Britain politically no matter what.
“Britsh jobs for British people” Crash Gordon, “I don’t want my family to be foreigners” Stair Heed Rammy. It’s like living in the dark ages and all to keep democracy out of Scotland.
“I’m not racist, it’s just that the party who’s only policy is ‘less foreigners’ best suit my ‘agenda’.”
mjaei,
Aye, that really sums it up, ‘I’m not a racist, but..’
It is certainly interesting how you never hear UKIP voters saying they’re voting for UKIP because they like things to be privatised, or because they hate pesky things like workers’ rights & maternity leave. Do they not realise that’s what they’re voting for by voting UKIP?
Although I suppose it’s even more worrying when you hear people are voting for UKIP because they’re against human rights, or because they deny the existence of global warming.
What’s worse, someone who votes for UKIP because they’re ignorant, or somebody who is well-informed and still votes UKIP?
@garrymc73
Good old Ed Balls with that narrow outlook, not as if he went and studied abroad or anything…..
if anyone is moaning about UKIP and workers rights, I think your better watching the other mob for now
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10846725/Theresa-May-no-more-public-funding-for-Police-Federation.html
“Aye, but being out of the EU wouldn’t. They’d shit their pants if that looked like happening.”
I beg to differ. Companies would just move their head of operations to the continent, as they threaten to as of now. They may make noises, but at the edn of the day, they will follow the money.
Wonder what the BBC are making of UKIP’s triumph, having given massive airtime to Farage.
Is the BBC trying to exert its fourth estate power on Cameron and Clegg Con/Dems, be nice to us or we’ll have Farage on every single Question Time/Sunday Politics show from now until our Nigel’s standing in the No.10 doorway going “where there is discord may we bring harmony….”
“That opinion is rife here…” Rife is a very good description, and I hope that the double entendre was deliberate.
This lassie and the tattooed guy in the earlier vid remind me of the “Billy has no oranges” guy… uninformed but happier that way. All three strike me as people who try to avoid actual thinking.
Also a good analysis of the vote failure of Labour and how the BBC was spinning it by Craig Murray.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27518104
The BBC and MSM have created a monster,.I think the 3 Westminster parties were happy to go along with the anti immigration, EU, Welfare as it suited their own agenda, but they clearly thought the red tops could break what they created, like a they do on a regular basis with celebrities. Not this time, people are genuinely anti-Westminster party, they have no other outlet to express their frustration except UKIP (in their minds anyway)
My brain could actually do with a good washing.
When I think back to all the propaganda I swallowed as I was growing up – like ‘This is the way it is. You can’t change it’.
Well, now I can.
I’ll be voting Yes – unconditionally.
Douglas Alexander, Labour’s campaign manager, “Labour well placed for General Election”
Backbench labour MP Graham Stringer, “Labour’s election campaign had been unforgivably unprofessional”.
Wee Dougie does it again.
It’s one of the few times I’ve come across that people interviewed on the street express themselves more coherently than the politicians they’ve just voted for.
Try incoherent lunatic UKIP candidate Winston McKenzie’s two minute interview last night on the BBC –
Nigel Farage: UKIP to be ‘serious players’ at general election
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27531094
“I beg to differ. Companies would just move their head of operations to the continent”
Yes, that’s my point. They’d move rather than be outside the EU. And if they wanted to move to an EU member country, where better than an independent Scotland, where everyone already speaks the same language?
My comment disappeared, maybe the link was wrong, but it is worth reading Craig Murrays’s blog, under UK politics on this page.
Shows how Labour failedd in the English Council elections and how the BBC spun the info.
Interesting read.
UKIP manifesto is being drawn up in the summer so I heard – so the Scottish electorate will be able to see the full panoply of their fag-packet philosophy in black & white before the Referendum.
Let’s hope it concentrates some minds.
@garrymc73:-
Ed Balls : “We need tough controls on borders….”
But Ed, Ed…what about Vote No Borders? And (a la Better Together pishy YouTube/cinema vids), we don’t need to be separate to be British (English?), do we? We can have ‘the best of both worlds’ in the EU.
For the UK parties, the only good border is the Dover border.
“This opinion is rife here…I’ve spoken to several people this morning…”
SEVERAL! Well, holy moley. If SEVERAL people say it’s true then it MUST be the majority….
Labour under Miliband are now dead in the water for 2015. They cannot possibly win after these local election results in England.
Vote No – Get Tory governments has come to pass.
As Gillie says above, wee Dougie’s fingerprints are all over Labour’s EU election campaign. Vague? Check. Waffly? Check. Pointless personal attacks (the ‘get Clegg’ PPB)? Check.
Douglas Alexander – the poor man’s Jack Straw
Isn’t great to know that Wee Dougie is now in charge of Better Together campaign.
O/T sorry, but new Vote Nob Orders advert has got me angry
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptIlmq1co5o
The BBC,s heads must be spinning! Fed up listening to them to their spin and lies on everything this morning! I think that they are UKIP supporters now!
O/t did anyone listen to Big Brian’s Debate( sorry wrong way round!…….or is it! ) Thomas Docherty moaning on about the crazy Cybernats giving him and poor Cara Hilton terrible abuse! Where,s the proof? I for one would like to see it!
@Flooplepoop – Makes you sick..funnily enough comments are disabled for that video..mmm..
nasty cybernats, they get what’s coming to them if they even think to vote…
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10311360_841294029232805_2421204264955741677_n.jpg
Re-Ed Balls,
“you will not be able to come here to our country and send your wages home….”
It might be better if he focused on the corporations who send their profits to foreign shores to avoid paying tax. As far as I can see, immigrants contribute more in real terms to the country’s coffers than the companies they work for.
It seems as though voters who voted for UKIP, want more from them other than just a protest vote, against the other main parties, but as you say, UKIP don’t seem to push any other agenda’s other than, immigration and a anti-EU stance.
O/T.
Speaking of anti- the Guardian compares Jocks (Yes they did use the word Jocks)to North Koreans, in this article.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/21/diary-michael-white-scotland-diversity-pub-myth
Same Interviewer, same Market, but earlier than the above Clip, spoke to ‘Darren,’ a Biker Chap with Goatee, Tattoos, even the ‘Hair’ on his Bald Head was Tattooed on, told us, “Got to get out of the EEC(?) England used to be Everywhere but we are not now, etc, etc, etc.”
Darren was bewailing the Loss, the Decline and Fall, of the British Empire and quite convinced that getting rid of all Foreigners and leaving The European Union would once more enable England to send a Gunboat up the Yangtze River, put the Chinese in their place and an end to the Yellow Peril.
Now he may well have been a bit of a Nutter, but, as we see from Election results Today, nearly 30% of People in England, think just like Him. The MSM have literally Brainwashed these People and created a Monster!
@ Tamson
Don’t forget McTernan’s sticky fingers too.
Between them McTernan and Alexander have tanked about 5 election programmes.
McTernan (all on his own) OZ for Julia Gillard (he was in danger of being deported because of visa problems) She lost big time.
Doogie and McTernan for the 2007 Scottish Election and the 2011 one too. Plus many other shit stirring attacks including his quite inclusion as wee Doogie’s referendum campaign, such as we are seeing unfold.
Great track record.
Labour under Miliband are now dead in the water for 2015. They cannot possibly win after these local election results in England.
Yep, wee Dougie Alexander and his pals are certainly puting a brave face on it. At this stage of the electoral cycle, Labour should be sweeping all before them. The fact that they are even losing ground to UKIP in some areas should set the alarm bells ringing.
All is not what it seems at first glance. UKIP voters will not back Milliband. They will never back Milliband. It is the Tories, rather than Labour, who are now well-placed for the 2015 GE.
O/T but with Glasgow School of Art, one of the best buildings in the world on fire – switched on to BBC News 24 – rolling news – not a dickie bird – election 2014 on till 6.00pm.
Funny how immigration is the root of all evil. Maybe because it’s harder than thinking about, understanding and doing something about the real big issues.
Its Ironic that the immigration issue as a political football was not started by UKIP but by the polarised media circus in England. UKIP saw their chance to leap onto a grievance created purely by the media.
The immigration farce grew legs because both the conservatives and Labour were using the issue to attack each other with. Its the same mantra that gave us the “Tough on crime” rhetoric now they all have to be seen to be “Tough on Immigration” because a false picture of unstoppable armies of benefit grabbing NHS clogging migrants taking jobs and using up our resources was deliberately created as a political football.
Now UKIP have stolen the ball and with it they will steal power.
UKIP will be the Frankenstein monster creation of the Conservative and Labour supporting media.
We remain subject to Westminster at our dire peril.
@ manandboy
Mindbleach is what you need.
It comes in red and white varieties, sparkling and still.
The week-end helps.
Courage.
I see Nigel and the UKIP boys are celebrating in a pub in Basildon, hope nobody sings ‘I Pity The Poor Immigrant’ by Bob Dylan on the karaoke or the jukebox
Mind you..Bob Dylan on the karaoke..I’ll get ma coat!
Funny my Dad worked in London in the early 1950s he tells me that the Londoners often remarked ‘you Scots come down
here get work and send your money home’ Nothing changes apparently just the ethnicity of the scapegoat.
I don’t think you can rule out a deal between the Tories and UKIP now.
Labour will lose in 2015, the Lib Dems will be buried and a new age of right wing extremism will rule over Westminster.
I do fear for Scotland now if Scots vote NO. A Tory-UKIP alliance will tear the heart out of our country.
Croompenstein; perhaps Led Zep’s Immigrant Song would be suitable as well? Classic tune; the bigots probably wouldn’t even know they were being laughed at.
David Coburn UKIP candidate in Scotland, lashing out at those nasty nats by saying Quote: “The nationalists spend so much time watching Braveheart,it has addled their brains. They don’t realise that film was Hollywood, not Holyrood.”
Mr Coburn sounds a charming fellow.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/10847747/SNP-and-Ukip-square-up-in-battle-for-Scotlands-sixth-European-seat.html
This will actually be quite interesting from the viewpoint of the Financial Services Industry. One thing I do know (being on the inside), is that these major Financial Institutions do NOT want out of Europe. All of them have offices in countries such as Germany (usually Frankfurt as that is Europe’s 2nd biggest money market after London), France (Paris being the 3rd biggest money market), and Spain (a LOT of money is invested in Spain …more than you think. As an example …the Santander Group has investments in Spain and UK with a worldwide staff of 187,000 employees with 24,000 in the UK alone. That’s a lot! Seriously!).
With UKIP having done well in the English local elections (and we’ll find out on Sunday, how they have done in the Euro elections) that many Financial Boardrooms will be sitting rather nervously as they contemplate their options. Suddenly and quite possibly, the Scottish Referendum isn’t as terrible looking, when compared to a pull-out from Europe should a Tory-UKIP coalition come to pass, and get their way.
Personally, I think after today and in the coming weeks, a lot of companies may go quiet on the Scottish Referendum. UKIP has changed the game. What are these companies to do? Scotland is no longer the problem; it’s the EU Referendum.
And here’s something that a lot of folk in Scotland don’t know.
Europe’s biggest Financial Markets. As stated above, London is top dog at the No 1 spot, followed by Frankfurt (2nd) with Paris (3rd). Guess who’s 4th?
It’s Edinburgh.
Yep …our capital is a bigger Financial Market than the likes of Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid or any of the Scandinavian nations. Now you can see why these big giants do not want to leave Scotland.
Suddenly, an indy-Scotland might not be the worst thing in the world, and if it means staying in Europe, and not having the hassle of moving offices to England post Scottish independence, then I expect Mr Osborne’s ears to be bleeding after the 19th of September as several Chief Executives tell him to do whatever must be done, to have some sort of Currency Union, even if it is a case of George telling the markets that ‘to keep stability, Sterling will operate as normal for the foreseeable future’. That’s all it might take. No nations names, no moving assets, not out of Europe.
Hell, would you really be surprised if Westminster didn’t make use of Scotland being in Europe …even if England was out of it! If there’s a way of making money for them, they’ll happily use Scotland as a backdoor in Europe!
i find it quite disturbing that the English electorate think UKIP has policies suitable for them. Can they be so niave ? Does everyone see Farage and co as a protest vote ? I worry that in the UK election they will form part of a coalition and we end up with a racist , fascist country next door.
To be fair an overall look at politics in this country shows parties pandering to the electorate in panic. So it is no surprise they vote accordingly.
Saying that , what a boost to the YES vote this will bring . And we can thank the BBC for keeping us in the know about our closest neighbors turning a tory/ukip coalition into a certainty .
My only worry would be if we voted NO . The damage they will do to Scotland scares the hell, out of me.
Peter Macbeastie
Does anybody understand the lyrics of Immigrant Song?
Been listening to it since 70 and its all double dutch to me, like most Zeppelin songs.
Well apart from the ones they stole from other people which is quite a lot, heard last night that Lawyers representing Spirit a band from the sixties said that Zeppelin had stolen the intro to Stairway to Heaven from them.
BTW Zepellin are my favourite band of all time, and I saw them at Knebworth in 79, however plagiarism was not unknown to them (allegedly)
What has happened to this OBR document meant, I think to be out today. Or is it delayed because when proof reading it, found it to just a little too negative, hastily rewriting to make sure it complies with BT agenda????
OOps, meant to say, to make even more negative.
Pheew, that’s more like it!
Christ, the Lib Dems have been eviscerated in England – penance for their folly
coalitioncollusion with the Tories.UKIP have clearly had a good local election in the South. They’ve creamed a lot of seats off the Tories, but also from Labour.
I have mixed feelings about this. Whilst this helps the Yes campaign – because the BT parties will now be increasingly driven far right, desperately fighting a rearguard action to protect their place at the Trough, as well as fighting each other – it concerns me that the whole of England may end up paying a heavy price for the failure of Westminster to address the needs of those outside the M25. The UK appears to be literally tearing itself apart.
This must strengthen the Yes vote, because two-thirds of Scots want to stay in the EU and will not want to be dragged out by any party pandering to Farage’s vote. As the Rev points out, it’s also good for us (probably) if English business flocks to Scotland in order to ensure they still have access to the EU. With only 11 months to the GE, businesses must be crapping themselves at these results.
All of Better Together’s arguments for “safety and security” as part of UK just got immolated.
Ignore that poll in the Herald. It seemed to have been a set up and designed to make even the most liberal person sound like a fascist.
Questions used this type of approach:
Do you support the following policies?
Lengthy jail terms of minor traffic offences, child rape and mass murder?
– Support
– Neither
– Oppose
– DK
It was really a terrible poll. Probably why Curtice hasn’t jumped on it in his blog. If he could have used it to prove Scots were secret UKIPers, he would have.
for minor
The Birmingham area accent really does nobody any favours.
I can suggest a small ray of hope about the Herald poll results. As you have often pointed out to Prof. Curtice, poll results on issues do not tell the whole political story, because policy choice and implementation is articulated through the political parties. In England, one of the two electorally-powerful parties is anti-immigration and almost anti-EU, and the other is the Labour Party. In Scotland, one is the Labour Party, and the other is pro-immigration and pro-EU. What I’m suggesting is that having anti-immigration views may be more likely to determine your voting behaviour if you are living in England than if you are living in Scotland. But if UKIP get a Scottish EU parliament seat on Sunday, I shall have to change my tune (& I’ll probably want to cut my throat, and never sing again!).
Yes, that’s my point. They’d move rather than be outside the EU. And if they wanted to move to an EU member country, where better than an independent Scotland
It’s something that Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp is quite strong on – that if the rUK did leave the EU, companies in England would simply upsticks and move over the border.
Like this one for example. Giant car plant anyone? Nissan will quit Britain if it leaves the EU. Since Scotland won’t be part of the Union that is Great Britain, I’m sure we’d welcome a car plant or two…
@JLT
Edinburgh has slipped. When the UK had the EU presidency on for 6 months in 1992, John Major stated that it was fitting for Edinburgh to be the capital of Europe as it was the 2nd largest financial city outside of London.
I still have my special RBS EU £1 note locked away somewhere as a collectors piece.
More kicks in the baws for Wee Dougie;
Labour backbencher John Mann “It was a tremendously ill-judged campaign, in particular the deliberate decision made not to attack Ukip. Some of the so-called strategists at the top of the Labour party think Ukip doing well is good news because it will damage Cameron. Well, they need to get out of their ivory towers and get back into the real world.”
All is not what it seems at first glance. UKIP voters will not back Miliband.
Exactly. They’ll support the party that promises them an in/out referendum. Which brings us nicely back on topic!
What are these companies to do? Scotland is no longer the problem
It’s the solution! 😉
Wee Dougie’s target was for Labour to win an additional 500 council seats in England.
Anyone know how he is doing
Faolie
What are these companies to do? Scotland is no longer the problem. It’s the solution!
Exactly!
Balaaargh
Edinburgh has slipped …it was fitting for Edinburgh to be the capital of Europe as it was the 2nd largest financial city outside of London.
It probably was at one time, however, as stated, now 4th. Edinburgh will always be the 2nd Financial Center of Britain, though Zurich and Geneva are there abouts (good old Swiss banking). Believe Stockholm is also on the rise. Still …for a nation of 5 million …to have the 4th biggest Financial Centre in Europe is impressive.
The Brit Nat Press and Media have whipped up a monster and now the monster is devouring everything in its sight. UKIP goes from strength to strength in England and there is no doubt in my mind that the MSM continues to feed the growth of intolerance and racism. The Nuremburgesque rally that was the London Olympics was the aperitif as the Brit Nat Political, Economic and Media classes that rule us turned its vicious and cynical machine to dealing with us uppity Scots separatists.
I expect no let up in the attacks from the Xenophobic and Scotophobic media and I actually expect it to get worse following the EU election results coming up on Sunday and Monday.
Once they have the Indy Referendum out of the way if the Brit Nat Political establishment has the No vote it wants, only then do I expect them to turn their guns on UKIP but by then it will be too late in my view to stop UKIP achieving an electoral breakthrough in England at the 2015 GE, heaven help us all.
It is really frustrating that one of the world’s greatest buildings is burning to the ground and Scotland is locked in to the BBC News 24 channel’s all day coverage of the the English Local Council elections..
@Gillie
Labour +260 seats. Running total here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk/
To Mr. Farage….
http://eezypeezylemonsqeezy.com/
“The Polls Are Cumin'”
Dimblebum has just confirmed that it is a myth that without Scottish Labour MP’s that there would be perpetual Tory Govs down south. So there you are from the horses mooth!!
See what is meant there,but these elections this time have a bearing on indyref voting. I think,Labour is being shown as being unable to form the next uk government.
It was interesting to hear the woman with the mike saying that the young lady’s, “…opinion was rife here.”
Shouldn’t she have said, ‘widespread’, instead of showing her bias in that way? It is a perfect example of how news coverage can be skewed to suit the established politics.
“cost of living crisis” is a slogan that relies on Cameron and the tories being seen as out of touch with ordinary people. They are, and the public see them as that way, but since Miliband and Labour are also seen as out of touch then it’s almost worthless as a rallying cry for Labour voters and something to base an entire election campaign on.
The key thing to remember about immigration as a policy issue is salience. It’s all very well having polls which show agreement with a policy but unless it’s very near the top of voters concerns at an election then it won’t resonate or pull voters away from a party if other issues like the economy dominate. Historically UKIP’s immigration stance has always had high levels of agreement but come an election immigration as an issue was never a winner. The tories tried it under Howard and it simply did not work.
The crucial point about immigration right now is that there has been wall to wall kipper coverage on that issue in the run up to these local and EU elections. Hardly a surprise given that the tories wrongly thought attacking UKIP over it was a good idea and would help them. Usually through their friends in the right-wing press amusingly enough.
The tories will not make that mistake at the election nor will Labour. They will now be preparing to shut down all talk of immigration and the EU despite the vapid blandishments of how they need to ‘listen and learn’ today. Europe and immigration are two issues on which the tories and Labour can never beat UKIP and will always pay a heavy price when they become a campaign focus. Something Labour and the tories certainly know now after this dire result for them.
The next election will be fought on economic issues and the leadership of Cameron and Miliband. Immigration will be in there but it will be nowhere near as prominent as it was here. This was still a protest vote albeit one which will have the effect of giving the kippers a far higher vote than in 2010 even if, as expected, much of their vote goes back to the tories and some to labour too.
If Labour, the tories and ‘better together’ bang on about “foreigners” in relation to the independence referendum then they will soon regret it. It is not just seen as patronising nonsense by most scots but also plays into the hands of UKIP which, as we have seen, neither party can afford to do in the run up to the 2015 election.
The lib dems are all but an irrelevance now. Clegg has gutted what remained of his party base with his disasterous strategy of debating Farage. The public think Clegg is toxic so that was always doomed to failure. They could still manage a handfull of MPs which might even affect who gets into power. However, the key fact is that they will do so under Clegg which is one of the main reasons the scottish public rightly regard the lib dems as tories in all but name. The prospect of a yellow tory like Clegg holding the balance of power will hardly appeal to the scottish public come the referendum.
From Facebook, earlier:
Name Redacted: Always been a firm believer in saying no to independence but there’s nothing like the rise of UKIP to put a spanner in the works and create a little bit of doubt. Not enough to convert to the otherside but enough to make me sit down and think about it all again.
Unlike · · Share
You and Someone Else like this.
Me: Spend some time on Wings Over Scotland, Name Redacted. Believe it or not, I was always willing to be converted to ‘no’ if they put forward a good argument. They haven’t yet. Spending a week or so in mainland Europe will open your eyes a bit as well.
Someone Else: I’m thinking exactly the same. Increasingly inclined to say yes.
____________________
It’s happening. Monday will see even more come into the fold when we start seeing the Euro elections results.
DaveyM says
“That opinion is rife here…” Rife is a very good description, and I hope that the double entendre was deliberate.”
That little comment by the reporter didn’t slip by me either, no prizes guessing what her opinion is.
Please dont all shout at me at once when I ask this,but has anyone put a FOI request to the BBC to ask how many people in Scotland have cancelled their licence direct debits in, say the last 12 months?
It would be really interesting to know how many people have told them to shove it.
So it’s true
Been asking the question everywhere after being down south working and realizing English people really don’t like EU but not understanding why – coming from Scotland I am quite pro EU
So the question is
Scotland independent and in EU
England vote to leave
what happens to all companies who want to retain free trade
do they just have to open 1 man shop up here or do they have to move all business here
Have also asked if both are in EU and we reduce import tax and duty could funnel a lot of imports into UK
Scottish skier . My pc screen took a full mouthful of my tea AGAIN. I missed the comment on minor traffic offences first time, but doesn’t that also say much about the knee jerk of parties to be pc on one day and allow racist to be broadcast by the Beeb the next. Farage gets away with murder and the rest look on baffled by the support he gets. So they join in next day and off they go , right abit , right abit wee bit more to the right …………
Why does the rUK need a scapegoat when everyone knows that the bankers and westmidden (no capital ok)caused the crash .Blame the immigrants for everything aye.
I can not fathom how the rUK electorate forget why the country is austerity (for some, move along poor people nothing to see)
My cousin says it’s really bad down there, no jobs for school leavers, sanctions and no one does a thing to help. Well why don’t they take a bloody look online away from the MSM. and get a better view of whats happening in their country.
My personal opinion is they are sheep. The apathy of the voters down there is shocking. Scotland is showing the way but they are blind to us. Whinging Scots always wanting more. Nag Nag…
They are in for almighty shock on the 19th, when the oil,exports and the rest stop streaming into the Shitty of london. Even then they will blame it all on us Scots. Mark my words.
But someone needs to tell the rUk , isn’t time YOU stopped whinging and roll up your bloody sleeves and do something about it.They are a car crash waiting to happen.
I fear for them more than i care to admit but sometimes i think. “Gone yerselves , were off “
Listen darlings – I really hadn’t thought this through, I live in the beautiful city of Brechin. The last thing I want is everyone else descending on the place – could we start extolling the virtues of Cumnock, Cumbernauld and Cupar.
“Ignore that poll in the Herald. It seemed to have been a set up and designed to make even the most liberal person sound like a fascist.”
Thanks for confirming that Scottish Skier, I suspected something along those lines but hadn’t checked to be sure.
I occasionaly do Panelbase and Yougov polls and have had some really ambigous questions where I had no idea what they were trying to get at. Is this a delibrate trick so that whoever commisioned the poll can twist the results to their own ends or is it just bad polling?
On topic, can’t beleive that woman in the video said she voted UKIP because she wanted a stable future for her daughter.
Of all the words I could use to describe UKIP, or any future they’re involved in, ‘stable’ would not be one of them.
could we start extolling the virtues of Cumnock, Cumbernauld and Cupar
Eh, we’ll get back to you on that wan.. 🙂
Is that Herald poll the one that said 7 out of 10 Scots “support UKIP policies”? Because that sounded absolutely preposterous given UKIP’s current lack of support in Scotland. It’s especially laughable when people use it as another tiresome attack on the SNP (evidently the SNP are more radical than their own voters, how did that happen?)
Anyway, I’m getting incredibly frustrated with the immigration issue, not because of the xenophobic/racist nature of it (which is bad enough), but because it’s such a big fat lie. Barely 12% of all Britons were born outside the country, yet the way the media go on you’d think we were facing some sort of Children of Men dystopia. It drives me insane to see the “immigration crisis” brought up WHEN THERE IS NO CRISIS AT ALL.
Taranaich doll – its all us English trannies, coming up ‘ere, taking your jobs and generally swamping your own indigenous cross-dressing aboriginal freedom wiv some sort ov dahn sarf omogenaisashun.
Imagine this scenario.
Scotland votes no in Sept.
We get a main party coalition with UKIP at general election.
Deals are made on the basis of an immediate referendum to leave EU.
UK southern media continues to push anti EU, anti immigration agenda.
England etc narrowly votes to leave EU
Scotland overwhelmingly votes to stay in.
End result is to stay in EU because of how Scotland votes.
Outcry in rest of UK because it isn’t democratic.
UKIP push their stated policy of abolishing the Scottish Parliament.
Or
Just as bad, England votes out, Scotland votes in but we are out.
Scotland stuffed by ‘Little Englander mentality.
Of COURSE!
But don’t you see, Adam? This is a “democracy.” As a democratic country, the people of one country simply have to suck it up when their significantly larger votes for something that is completely against their interests. Because wanting an alternative to a “democracy” which has MORE UNELECTED LORDS IN GOVERNMENT THAN ELECTED MEMBERS is apparently just childish, selfish and bitter…