Scottish independence: Scotland line up against Alex Salmond's case for Yes vote, his take on independence is looking increasingly bizarre and isolated, Salmond stinks of fear as he tries to firefight at FMQs

Dear All

It seems that Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond is under attack, rather than fighting on a single front, he has been forced to fight on all fronts as experts and opposition parties questioned his plans for immigration, pensions, oil, business and broadcasting in an independent Scotland.

Immigration, the SNP cannot be trusted on immigration, they want to flood Scotland claiming we ‘need’ skilled labour while at the same time saying Scotland has huge talent.

So, which is it Salmond?

Also why aren’t Working Class Scots getting the opportunities to position them for these skilled jobs?

Why does the Working Class always lose out under the SNP?

On pensions, the SNP have been saying one thing in public and another in private on affordability, so there is an issue of trust there right away.

On business, the SNP one cure fixs all is a race to the bottom on corporation tax, that means less money coming into Government resulting in cuts to budgets and services.

On broadcasting the SNP want to destroy the BBC, they want to replace it by a new state broadcaster; the BBC shouldn’t be touched, targeted because the SNP don’t like freedom of speech or people asking the hard questions.   

So, roll on ‘Super Tuesday’, the all singing all dancing White Paper that points the way to "brigher future" for Team Salmond and Team Sturgeon’s little nasty poisonous cliques. It deosn’t paint a bright future for the Working Class Scots.

As questions flow like a torrent towards the increasingly desperate SNP, it piles up the pressure on the Scottish Government.

Even Dr Who is allegedly in danger from Holyrood.

That of course is nonsense unless the SNP ‘House on UnScottish Activities’ Committee meets and deems it too London based.

Yes Scotland, the SNP front has published a list of 75 countries where Dr Who is broadcast to reassure Dr Who fans.

Finance Secretary John ­Swinney whose reputation is being eroded like a coastline as the independence campaign rumbles on has hit back at the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, after he said he would try to block the SNP's plan for a currency union between an independent Scotland and the UK.

It is extremely doubtful that Westminster will go into a currency union, they have made that quite clear and definite.

John Swinney made a rather unfortunate gib by claiming Mr. Jones was only interested in increasing Wales's share of funding at the expense of Scotland.

He said:

"If Scotland votes No Labour's Welsh leader will be one of the first people asking for a cut to Scottish funding."

More SNP scaremongering, it is becoming tiresome in the extreme.

Labour has warned of border controls due to Salmond’s vow to increase immigration, long queues due to Salmond not recognising that a joint policy is more appropriate in the unlikely event he wins, he won’t but it shows how badly he has planned this bid.

Salmond said ‘talented’ overseas students would be allowed to stay and work in Scotland instead of being "kicked out by the UK Border Agency".

What all of them?

So ineffective Salmond is leaving Scotland open to mass immigration and allowing Scotland to be a door way to England.

Just sign up for University then skip the country and go down south.

Labour's shadow minister for immigration, David Hanson claims an independent Scotland, if it joined the UK and Ireland Common Travel Area, would have to pursue similar immigration policies.

He warned:

"If the SNP want an independent Scotland to have a radically different immigration policy then he is raising the real and frightening prospect of border posts between the two nations."

Hanson thinks like me, sadly there isn’t the talent in the SNP which is a considerable problem for the Nationalists; the party is a party within a party run for the benefit of a one man band.

Salmond is scared, he knows he has already lost the argument and the trust of the people, so he used First Minister’s question time to rebut Labour and Conservative claims. He is on the run from the IFS think tank report from earlier this week had undermined the case for independence in spades.

That tends to happen when you sit on your arse and don’t do the work.

The report said an independent Scotland faced higher taxes or spending cuts to bring debts under control over the next 50 years.

Salmond said:

"What happens over the next 50 years will depend on the policies pursued in this country, and that in turn will depend on whether we have got control of the policies pursued in the country. I say let's get control of these economic levers, let's increase productivity, increase our exports, invest in our economy, let's grow the Scottish economy and move forward to that better future."

Let’s remember the people at Govan Shipbuilders, 835 jobs lost, the SNP turned up to ‘help’ and it is still 835 jobs lost.

Salmond has no plan, no vision and no future, everything is off the cuff, back of a fag packet and knee jerk reaction such as opposing the Bedroom tax, all done for votes.

He added:

"This party, this Government, has ambition for this country. We think we can invest in the future, grow our economy and give all our people a decent future."

The SNP from previously declaring a racing certainty is now firmly on the back foot, we see this by their changed language now it is ‘hope’ and ‘we think’.

A spokesman later accused the SNP's opponents of peddling scare stories, including a "bogus" claim Dr Who would not be shown on a new national broadcaster set up after independence.

To recap:

Labour's shadow minister for immigration, David Hanson says Salmond's promise to increase immigration raised the "frightening prospect" of border posts.

Experts warned pensions would be hit if an independent Scotland opted for a different tax and regulatory regime from the rest of the UK.

A survey by accountants Ernst & Young found eight out of 10 senior oil executives in Scotland feared the industry would be taxed more heavily in an independent Scotland.

A poll by the Forum of Private Business showed three quarters of small business owners wanted Scotland to remain in the UK.

Bottom line, no one is backing Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

Yours sincerely

George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University