By Anonymous
“Scots would be perfectly happy to see the end of universal free prescriptions from the NHS” says Tory leader (ITO) in Scotland.
Meanwhile the same Tory leader (ITO) in Scotland was not “happy”, as in he was opposed to, Labour UK cutting the “Universal” Winter Fuel allowance for Pensioners, in fact neither were most of the people who lived in Scotland “happy” either.
In fact Russell Findlay said “there was “palpable” anger at Labour across the UK” on this decision.
Also he said that “Elderly folk who have slogged hard all their days feel absolutely betrayed.”
Of course he condemned the Labour PM for “not carrying out an impact assessment on the (“Universal”) Winter fuel payment cut”
So did he, Russell Findlay, carry out an “impact assessment” on his suggestion as to what consequences there would be if there was an end to “Universal free prescriptions in our Scottish NHS” ?
One could be forgiven for thinking that Russell Findlay was merely ‘Playing Politics’ again at the SNP’s expense in declaring this in relation to “free prescriptions” here in Scotland, which as part of the NHS , is an area his Tory party, like Labour, are apparently experts in yet they themselves failed to have any credible answers or real solutions in England and in Wales (respectively as both former and current governments in these two nations) to ensure both fairness and a better service being delivered to all of the public in these other two nations within the UK.
So I think we need no lessons from the likes of Russell Findlay as a Tory politician (ITO).
So ‘first they came for our’ etc etc kind of vibe is it not.
To include also Tuition fees in that collection of benefits that we in Scotland have enjoyed compared to England & Wales , as in those two nations, England & Wales, having to do without these same benefits.
All due to their respective governments past and present.
Benefits in Scotland that have eased the burden for us in Scotland , as in the many burdens which were formerly imposed via the Tory UK government, and it seems are now to be continued by the new Labour UK government .
In fact Russell Findlay conveniently forgets that under his Tory party as the UK government we have suffered a very costly lesson via a Tory imposed Brexit on our Scottish economy, increased food prices in our Scottish supermarkets, high(er) energy bills in Scotland , in fact energy bills are regarded as being higher here than elsewhere in the UK, higher Mortgage payments and so he, Findlay, is hardly in any position to dictate what should be “ended” or in fact presume to know what we, within Scotland as a people, would be “happy” with or without as a current Scottish government policy aka benefit.
I think he, Russell Findlay, needs to focus more on his broken UK party and their excessive amounts of changing (failed) UK leaders in a short period of time, who have generated more suffering and ‘unhappiness’ in Scotland than Russell Findlay would be honest enough to admit to, but that we in Scotland have had to both endure and live with (suffer under) as being a part of Russell’s beloved UK.
Obviously he is one who sees himself as being somehow entitled to criticise another political party, as in the SNP, while he fails to recognise the weakness and failings of his own Tory party, does he also forget what happened to his former leader (ITO) in Scotland, Douglas Ross, and also why it happened.
Know thyself , and also know your own UK Tory party, before judging others, is I fear, something Russell Findlay and his colleagues at Holyrood dare not do or will not do as it would then be too obvious for him and them to clearly see the hypocrisy and the false sense of self righteousness that oozes out of every fake statement he and they makes that is attacking others. (especially the SNP).
I guess though that Tories are always gonna Tory, are they not !
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Taken from the front page of the Scot Daily Mail me thinks there might just be a headline there that BBC Rep Scotland can use tonight.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I noticed that one of today’s “esteemed Scottish “ newspapers headline used the word freebies along with SNP in connection with prescriptions and tuition fees!!
Obviously this is to relate freebies with Labour and their sleeze since coming to power!
The fact that such SNP freebies are no such thing and that the good people of Scotland help to pay for such services through their taxes seems to be an irrelevancy and everyone I’ve spoken to are only too pleased to do so especially when it means we all benefit.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The elderly get the prescriptions. They did get the fuel allowance. Tory double talk. Prescriptions keep people well.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Speaking of Tories …. With the membership of the Scottish Affairs Committee in the House of Commons now announced (albeit one vacant place still to be formally allocated), it’s worth a moment getting to know better one member, namely Jack Rankin MP.
For contest, recall the remit of this Committee: ‘The Scottish Affairs Committee scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policies of the Scotland Office, and its associated bodies.
‘The Committee also examines the wider UK Government, to assess policies and legislation that lead to direct impacts on Scotland.’
Given this, it’s relevant firstly to note that Mr Rankin is the Tory MP for Windsor. From his wikipedia profile: ‘Jack Michael Rankin (born 19 August 1992) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Windsor since 2024. Before being elected, he worked as an energy markets professional, having a career background in commodity trading and corporate finance. He was a councillor for Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council between 2015 and 2019.’
There is zero reference in this profile or his House of Commons profile to any link to Scotland. And someone with only a few months experience in the House of Commons can hardly claim that lengthy experience of ‘wider UK Government’ business’ can mitigate his lack of evident knowledge and experience of our country.
From the online publication Conservative Home on September 4, 2024: ‘Rankin selected in Windsor in a ‘gruelling’ and ‘very divisive’ local contest’:
‘Rankin has local connections. He currently works for a renewable energy firm, contested his home seat of Ashton-under-Lyne in 2017 and then Warwick and Leamington in 2019. But he oversaw Vote Leave’s operation in Windsor in 2016, has served in various capacities in the local association, and, most importantly, was a local councillor from 2015 to 2019.’ (my emphasis)
Perhaps his most notable insertion into regular Commons debates so far has concerned horse racing! (See Hansard.)
From his maiden speech, these extracts perhaps give a further sense of this MP’s locus:
He stated: ‘In the handful of weeks I have been here, I have already lost count of the times this place has been incorrectly referred to as the “mother of Parliaments”—a misquoting of John Bright. It is England that Bright referred to as the mother of Parliaments. In that speech, Bright was arguing for what became the Reform Act of 1867, which, for the first time, enfranchised part of the urban male working class, from which I hail. England is the mother of Parliaments because of the principle, established in Anglo-Saxon England, that yes, we owe our allegiance to His Majesty the King—then in Old Windsor; now in new Windsor—but within a framework that protects our ancient individual liberties, as articulated in Magna Carta. That heritage is proudly ours.’
(For the avoidance of doubt, the Reform Act of 1867 post-dated the Treaty and Acts of Union!)
And Mr Rankin added: ‘It gives us enormous pride that King George V proclaimed: “Our House and Family shall be styled and known as…Windsor”. It was felt inappropriate during the first world war that the royal family be called Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as London was being bombed by aircraft of the same name. It was thought that Windsor sounded necessarily regal and English; I wholeheartedly agree.’
Mr Rankin signed an early day motion entitled ‘Gibraltar National Day’ tabled on 9 September 2024. It had this concluding phrase: ‘.. wishes the loyal people of the Rock a magnificent day of traditional red and white festivities, as all Gibraltarians display pride in their homeland, having the right of self-determination and the freedom to chose to remain British.’ I note that five British Labour Party MPs for Scottish constituencies also signed this motion acknowledging the right of self-determination enjoyed by Gibraltarians.
In his register of interests, Mr Rankin reports: ‘7. (i) Shareholdings: over 15% of issued share capital – Name of company or organisation: Crocus and Bluebell Limited Nature of business: Provides energy markets and environmental advisory services to the generators of renewable power, in particular the structuring of long-term power purchase agreements to reach financial close for new build renewable projects.’
From Companies House the find that Mr Rankin is one of two directors of this company whose date of incorporation is 12 August 2024. Preparing for professional life as a Tory MP?
This is such an inspired choice of MP to scrutinise the expenditure, administration and policies of the Scotland Office, and to examine the wider UK Government, its policies and legislation that have direct impacts on Scotland on our behalf – is it not? Don’t you feel so well served?
LikeLiked by 3 people
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/why-thousands-are-fleeing-to-scotland-you-should-too/
‘Why thousands are fleeing to Scotland – and why you should too
Telegraph Money speaks to four people who have made the move north of the border’
However, the comments indicate a strong resistance to the suggestion.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Findlay is not in the least conflicted, he’s playing on the audience’s sympathy for those losing WFA in a callous attempt to rescue collapsing political support.
It’s pretty damned obvious from the Telegraph article above what Tory HQ strategy is for Scotland, as Josh Kirby refers to it ‘They certainly get a lot of free stuff’, without the slightest recognition of the Scottish taxpayer agreeing with it – It’s the same old Tory game of playing on financial envy – As if the 4 candidates cited were driven purely by monetary considerations in moving to Scotland rather than it being at best a secondary justification.
We’ve all seen the mess caused in England from privatising everything in sight, the last person any Scot should listen to is a Tory snake-oil salesman…
LikeLiked by 1 person
“We’ve all seen the mess caused in England from privatising everything in sight, the last person any Scot should listen to is a Tory snake-oil salesman…”
Indeed Bob, especially someone who currently is only a leader (ITO) of the Tories here because the former leader (ITO) Douglas Ross , another “snake-oil salesman”, arrogantly assumed that he would be re-elected again as an MP even after stealing another Tory’s constituency to stand in as the new Tory candidate there.
In making this decision, Douglas Ross, also decided that he no longer wanted to be an MSP and so no longer wanted to be leader (ITO) of the Tories at Holyrood.
So like Baroness Davidson, Ross rejected Scottish Politics , as perhaps like Baroness Davidson he surmised more profit to be gained for him at WM than at Holyrood, also he knew that the Tories here would never be anything other than an opposition party.
Unfortunately for him, Ross, and also deservedly he found that “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley” as he did not win that seat in the GE.
Now he, Ross, is currently consigned to be a backbencher at Holyrood and and I do not think that he will be chosen as a Tory candidate to be re-elected as a list MSP in 2026 so his obvious pride will, I am sure, find it unbearable to be once again proven as being one who is truly a “lightweight” in politics. (in fact that was the only thing JR Mogg said that was astute ). He , Ross, will now , I am sure, jump before he is pushed.
Privatisation is England puts profits before people and that is very much the Tory way here too.
Findlay wants lower taxes and a similar scenario to England , the same England that has been hugely mismanaged by his party as the former UK government and it seems Labour in retaining and emulating many Tory policies are going to make the same mistakes as the Tories. (in protecting the wealthy at the expense of the poorest).
Also instead of criticising the SNP, Russel Findlay needs to focus his attention on who, within Scotland, it is who threatens his party politically, as in the same lot that threaten his party in England, that is the Reform UK party.
Come 2026 it is the Tories in the Scottish elections who are predicted to see many of their former voters in many areas changing their vote to the Reform UK party and so no longer voting for the Tories.
So how long will he, Russell Findlay , hold the post as yet another short term aka temporary new leader(ITO) of the Tories in Scotland.
How long indeed .
LikeLiked by 1 person
” Findlay wants lower taxes and a similar scenario to England..” is the headline myth the Tories sold to the British public for years, when reality taxes in total have NOT lowered at all – Once you gather all the various taxes under their multiple different headings together, the total has increased – Viz it’s a perpetual scam…
LikeLike
As we rightly judge Tory Russell Findlay on his hypocrisy the BBC currently have a positive article about him on their website under the Scotland Politics page.
” Scottish Tories needed a new message – has Findlay found it”?
In the article we read that Findlay states “said his party would make the case for tax cuts and a smaller state, that would be a “markedly different approach” to the “left-wing consensus” in the Scottish Parliament”
“left wing consensus” ?
(What about Labour’s non left wing approach Ha Ha).
“He also called for all the parties at Holyrood to return to the “common ground” of “people’s hopes, concerns and aspirations”.
“Aspirations” ?
How on earth can people in Scotland aspire to do and be anything while we , as a people and as a nation, are confined within the very limited and very restrictive confines of a UK that does not allow any aspiration for Scotland but instead dictates what we , and our elected Scottish government, can and cannot do .
Also there is no “common ground” between the Tories and the party who currently are the Scottish government and he , Russell Findlay, knows that .
That is down to the question relating to the constitutional position which then makes it impossible for both him and his party, the Tories, to find any consensus with the SNP.
“Russell Findlay’s proposition is tax cuts, a smaller state and what he describes as “common-sense” policies”
“Common-sense policies” now where and from whom did we hear that “common sense” should be used, why none other than failed Tory PM Boris Johnson.
So ‘No Thanks’ .
Also since when did a party like the Tories apply common sense as they are more obsessed with promoting false UK problems as all being supposdley due to illegal immigration, cancel culture and woke lefty ideology to deflect away from the real problems of the UK being caused by poor decisions taken by political parties like the Tory party.
“He said the case for reducing the tax burden was not only economic but “moral”.
Savings could be made in areas such as the baby box, giving out ibuprofen and paracetamol on prescription and reducing the number of commissioners and public bodies, he suggested.
But he made clear that even university tuition fees and free prescriptions are not off the table”
“Moral” obviously he has no real concept of morality has he.
“Savings to be made in areas such as the Baby box” so basically to Hell with babies let’s focus instead on letting the wealthy retain more of their wealth by reducing their taxes. How moral, not.
The BBC then surmise, in this article , that what he, Findlay, is saying is that :
“It’s a statement of intent and an attempt to answer the question of what the Scottish Conservatives are for and what they would do, rather than just what they stand against.
And more than just holding their own against the other parties currently in Holyrood, it’s a clear nod towards the challenge they are facing from Reform UK.
Positioning the Scottish Conservatives as the straight-talking outsiders who are challenging the cosy status quo at Holyrood and speaking up for ordinary working people is clearly designed to appeal to those who might be looking to Reform.
It’s also a chance to set themselves up a the true opposition, the only dissenting voice in a bunch of left-wingers”
Where the Hell does one start with that summation ?
“bunch of left wingers” that would be minus the Labour party then and also means that the Tories are nothing more than a bunch of right wingers then ???
The BBC then end this article by stating:
“With the 2026 Holyrood election around the corner, Russell Findlay will be hoping he really has identified the missing element that voters are looking for”
Well I may be no expert on Politics or indeed not the sharpest tool in the box but I do know that both Russell Findlay and also the Tory party are not in any way, shape or form the “missing element that voters are looking for” and you can take that straight to the bank (as a 100% accurate assessment).
So once again the BBC are #Wrong and also they are doing it not for our, the Scottish people’s, benefit but instead for the benefit of any party that they think may , within some areas in Scotland, gain seats from the SNP in the up and coming 2026 Scottish election.
So obvious are they, the BBC, it’s now beyond embarrassing and beyond reasonable tolerance to allow them to continue, as a hostile media within our country, that has tried , as a supposed media outlet, to sully the reputation of not just the SNP but also Scotland as a country.
LikeLike