The talk of the steamie in this weekend’s Sunday papers is that Scottish Labour are set to backpedal on the devolution of 100% of income tax, a position previously described by Gordon Brown – the great architect of “The Vow” – as a “Tory trap” which was “not in Scotland’s interests”.
(Coincidentally, the papers also report that Brown, who said he would personally ensure the safe delivery of the new devolution settlement, will stand down at the 2015 election in order to devote more time to his “charity” work.)
It is, of course, a challenge to keep track of Labour’s position on the move from one day to the next. In 2013 it wanted to devolve all taxation, then in 2014 it decided as its final settled position that it wasn’t a good idea after all, and has flip-flopped on a more or less weekly basis ever since. Just this month the favourite for the Scottish branch office leadership, Jim Murphy, poured cold water on the notion, but now it seems yet another U-turn is on the cards.
We wouldn’t put a lot of money on it being the last one.
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Tags: Devo NanoThe Vow
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analysis, comment, scottish politics, uk politics
Packed Labour benches for the devolution debate in the Commons today.
We’re sure Gordon Brown’s just nipped out for a Snickers or something.
Tags: The Vow
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comment, pictures, scottish politics, uk politics
Earlier today we published an email from Daily Record editor Murray Foote about “The Vow”. In it he referred to an editorial published in the paper on 8 September, attacking the “confused” and “shambolic” position of the three Unionist parties on further devolution to Scotland in the event of a No vote.
The infamous “Vow” was their response. When publishing it on 16 September, two days before the referendum, the Record announced on its front page that “NOW VOTERS CAN MAKE AN INFORMED CHOICE”, thereby implying that “The Vow” had delivered what the 8 September editorial had demanded.
Readers can judge for themselves.
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Tags: The Vow
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comment, investigation, media, scottish politics
Disappointingly, we haven’t received a reply from Daily Record editor Murray Foote to our email yesterday inquiring into the provenance of “The Vow”.
However, an alert reader who wrote to him yesterday did. You can read it below.
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Tags: The Vow
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comment, investigation, media, scottish politics, uk politics
A couple of things we’ve sent off this morning in relation to this.
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Tags: The Vow
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investigation, media, scottish politics
Below is a letter from the editor of the Daily Record sent to a Wings reader yesterday (and, we presume, to many others). We thought you might find it interesting.
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Tags: The Vow
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comment, media, scottish politics
It seems the Daily Record has taken something of a sulk at our post of earlier today. This evening the paper’s editor Murray Foote issued this statement on its Facebook page in response to one of a number of readers who’d posted links to the story:
It’s a telling reaction.
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Tags: The Vow
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comment, media, scottish politics, uk politics
We haven’t bothered sending a submission to the Smith Commission.
Here’s why.
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Tags: The Vow
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comment, scottish politics
From the Twitter account of the Aberdeen Conservative and Unionist Association last night, during the First Minister’s appearance on Question Time from Liverpool:
Just a couple of things.
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Tags: The Vow
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comment, scottish politics, uk politics
The Guardian today carries an article by Gordon Brown, which echoes the content of his speech to the House Of Commons on Thursday. We’ve read it over and over again trying to make any sort of coherent sense out of it, but we’ve drawn a blank. The mighty architect of “The Vow” appears to have not the slightest idea what he actually proposes as a constitutional settlement for the UK and Scotland.
But perhaps we’ve missed something.
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Tags: The Vow
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analysis, comment, scottish politics, uk politics, wtf