Friday, June 28, 2013

Scottish independence: SNP front, Yes Scotland are to focus their campaign on austerity as cost of living soars by 25%, SNP grudge, grievance and malcontent won’t win over the Scottish people, rather poor politics, and shows Yes campaign is a complete shambles



















Dear All

Having completely failed to garner support with their “positive” campaign, the pro-independence Yes Scotland group has turned to playing the Scottish National Party’s age old game of grudge, grievance and malcontent.

The SNP has already lost the argument for Scottish independence quite some considerable time ago, now they are focusing on Conservative-led austerity measures as part of a patchwork of complaints to try and scrap together a vote.

Austerity hurts but we should also remember; that the Scottish National Party cannot even get its own members to come and campaign for them.

Austerity isn’t just confined to money.

The basic cost of living has soared by 25% since the economic slump began in 2008; one of the reasons is that there are too many people in Britain. We have lost control of our borders and the political class is seeing the rise of people power in such parties as UKIP.

Social policy think-tank the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says families are facing an "unprecedented erosion of household living standards" because of rising inflation and flat lining wages.

In an independent Scotland, the Scottish National Party plan to allow mass immigration, will that make living standards better or worse for ordinary Scots?

It will make their living standards worse and condemn a generation of young Scots to poverty and a lack of a future.

Yes Scotland say that they will distribute about half a million leaflets to highlight what policies that “Scotland” has opposed but Westminster has pushed forward. When Yes Scotland talk about “Scotland”, they are talking about the SNP, and they don’t speak for Scotland.

The Yes Campaign is a failure, it is badly thought-out and knee jerk, and this tactic is said to be "third key strand" of its campaign.

One of the things which I find laughable and used by the Yes Scotland group is that a majority of Scottish MPs opposed the Chancellor's austerity cuts, higher VAT rate, welfare cuts and the bedroom tax.

The Labour Party isn’t in power so naturally they oppose the cuts, however, it should be mentioned that the Labour Party leadership is committed to continuing with austerity in the event of them gaining power in 2015 Westminster election.

Katie Schmuecker, the Rowntree foundation's policy and research manager, said:

"Our research shows the spiralling cost of essentials is hurting low-income families and damaging living standards. The public have told us their everyday costs have soared above wage levels, driving up the amount they need to make ends meet."

Having a taste of what the unemployed suffer apparently doesn’t appeal to them.

Peter Kelly, chairman of the Poverty Alliance added:

"Combined with cuts in benefits and frozen pay for many, it is little wonder so many Scots are turning to food banks or payday lenders. Such a situation is both unacceptable and unnecessary. When the Chancellor turns the screw on those living on benefits or working in low-paid jobs he is doing nothing to help them or the economy. There is a need for an urgent rethink on welfare policy in the UK. But there is also a need for more to be done to help those on the lowest incomes in Scotland right now."

One of my new ideas is for there to be a separate Scottish DWP autonomous of English system but still linked in, to change welfare.

I do not advocate the Scottish DWP being under the control of Holyrood. The Scottish system would run slightly differently, with emphasis on ‘a hand up as well as a hand out’. Years ago I wrote the DWP doesn’t work properly; it doesn’t help the very people it is supposed to, Iain Duncan Smith promised much, and spectacularly failed to deliver on all of it.

Another part of the problem is social mobility, this has various factors which affect it, however, lack of education is a real problem for many at the bottom of society; therefore I would open up schools to create a network of community colleges, run by councils and bringing in strands of funding from various sources, DWP, higher education and business.

Councils would play a big part in providing training opportunities so that unemployed people could find the vocations that best suits their talents.

And then there is the issue of the ‘underclass’, special measures would be put in place to help them get back into society in a meaningful way.   

If you are under the impression that because the SNP/Yes Scotland are going to be out this weekend delivering 500,000 leaflets and that represents a big deal, it doesn’t, 200 Yes Branches, say 10 people turn up.

They are handing out 250 leaflets each.

Will the “third strand” work?

No!

Complaining without providing solutions is meaningless, people tune out.

These people are so short sighted and stupid that they just lurch from knee jerk reaction to knee jerk reaction, another fail, how many more before Alex Salmond gets the message, the answer is No!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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