By Liz S
It seems that no matter how much the media here try to protect Labour and damage the SNP well some of the voters in Scotland are making up their own minds about who is really bad and who is really good, and the recent polls for Scotland are telling us that it is not the media who gets to decide this but the public.
I see too that we have also reached the point now where some within the media are trying to blame all of these bad polls for Labour upon Keir Starmer as the Labour leader, which was also what happened with the Tory party and their various leaders who also ended up being duds as UK PM’s.
However Labour MPs have been mostly supportive of what a Keir Starmer led Labour UK government have being doing and saying and also they have all been making excuses for Starmer and also making excuses too for the actions and decisions of his chosen Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
Check out the majority of ‘Aye’ votes at WM by a majority of Labour MP’s who were elected in the 2024 GE , that has allowed much of what a Keir Starmer led Labour government has now been able to see pass at WM and so be implemented within the UK.
Look at Ian Murray , he is a classic example of a Labour MP who has embraced and promoted Starmer’s supposed future vision for their UK, mostly though for England’s benefit so far , or so it seems with the various announcements for projects within England that are backed and supported by them as a Labour UK government.
Ian Murray was also formerly a Labour MP who supported remaining in the EU , that is when the Tories were previously in power, and he was also involved in the campaign instigated in 2018 called ‘The People’s Vote’ which was to try and get another EU referendum vote within the UK upon the final Brexit deal.
Now he, like many other Labour MP’s who also supported Remain in 2016, is willing to bow down to his party’s current stance on Brexit, which is to ‘Believe in it and declare that Labour will make it work’.
I guess the many privileges that comes with being a UK government minister are far too good to risk losing for someone like Ian Murray .
Also previously Ian Murray was being promoted as a politician whose supposed political principles saw him publicly reject and oppose Brexit, though these were the same fake principles that were only on public display when Jeremy Corbyn formerly led the Labour party.
I guess Ian Murray only thought Brexit was something he had to reject for his UK until Labour got the kind of leader that Ian Murray could really get behind, like say Keir Starmer.
Surely everyone can see that the supposed former committed Remainer, Ian Murray , is actually someone who is now more than willing to betray both the Remain side with him meekly accepting the Labour party’s position on Brexit and also in him having withdrawn his continued supposed support for the UK having another ‘People’s Vote’ on Brexit.
Do a search online for “EU update 31: Labour backs a public vote Ian Murray”
It comes up as the top article.
Click on it to read it and then see this message “Page not found” which is confirmation that Murray or someone else in Labour has now deleted that former page which promoted that some within Labour, and also Ian Murray, all previously supported having another public vote on the UK re-joining the EU.
However let’s be honest here as to why both Ian Murray and others within the labour party now comply with Keir Starmer’s pro Brexit position, it’s because nobody as a current UK party MP ,current UK party government minister , ex UK party MP or ex UK party government minister ever gets into the HOL’s by always criticising or opposing their own political party, or criticising and opposing some of their own party’s policies or indeed their own party’s most favoured leaders, do they ?
Sarwar is also learning the hard way that talk and slogans are cheap and that despicable actions done by your party at WM will then have negative political consequences for you in subsequent elections within Scotland.
Has Scotland not had to tolerate and suffer enough under various Tory UK governments since 2014 to then now be made to still have to tolerate and suffer under an equally bad new Labour UK government , who seem to be cut from the same Tory party cloth ?
Also the Labour party are now being seen as a party who are desperately trying to emulate the worst parts of the Reform UK party in both their words and their actions as the current new UK Labour government , also Labour may now actually be considered to be even worse than the Tories were when they were in power within the UK.
Someone should tell Keir Starmer that the Reform UK party have already cornered the market in uber right wing support that promotes and endorses Hate , Fear and Division.
Which is mostly happening, as support, within a growing English Nationalist movement within England.
So no amount of similar policies and rhetoric by Labour to that of the Reform UK party will now enable Labour to win over those other voters within his UK, including voters within Scotland, who all, as voters, despise both Nigel Farage and his latest fake political party and so who now may , as voters, also very well start to also despise both Keir Starmer and his Labour party too.
I believe it is referred to as you having “Reaped what you have sown”.
Though with Labour it also may be a case of failing to have sown that which you promised and so now having to reap the damaging future political consequences .
After all not everybody who voted Labour in 2024 were voting For the Labour party in the 2024 GE but they were , as voters , very much mostly voting Against the Tory party.
Now that, for Labour, is not then a basis for them to assume that they will continue to have that same ongoing political success in all future elections within the UK, especially within Scotland, when they have now proven to be even far worse than the previous Tory UK government.
Vote For a SNP Scottish government in 2026 .
SNP win in 2026.
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Labour are liars. Lies are always found out. Mass murderers causing mass migration. Illegal wars and secrecy. Incapable and imcompetent. Many of them should be in jail, for fraud, false pretences and damaging the human race. No excuses ever for the excesses. Iraq, Dunblane and Lockerbie kept secret for 100 years. Along with all the rest. The scandalous duplicity and lies.
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Good article Liz s,
Ian Murray is a perfect example of how we are now experiencing the ‘Single Transferrable Party’ in the UK.
It has became blatantly obvious to everyone now that there is no longer a choice within this so called union. Both the Tories and Labour just continue with the same Neoliberal policies that continue to favour the rich and those with power and deep pockets to shower donations and gifts to whoever holds the throne. No doubt Ian Murray will get the chance to also line his pockets then a lifetime of luxury in the HOL voting against anything that would benefit Scotland for his English masters.’Change’ apparently just meant change of stewardship not change of direction or change of compassion for the less well off, the pensioners or the disabled as ‘Rachel from accounts’ is demonstrating on a daily basis.
Scotland has a choice. Independence or continue with this sham of democracy which always delivers whatever party the English voters plump for.
If all of the voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland voted Y and English voters voted X we would get X as all the other nations combined are outvoted by 4.5 to 1.
2026 is an opportunity to say ‘Enough is enough’
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Aye, well put Liz.
Although not immediately apparent as relevant to independence, England’s love affair with political hegemony and Westminster is well and truly over. On almost every forum in England it’s the same refrain, UK democracy is dead, yet what is cited as example with the exception of reversing Brexit, all circle on the Scots or what they’ve aspired to – Give them the second referendum as it’s democratic, nationalise rail, nationalise water, do away with tolls, create progressive taxation, support the less well off, free education, free prescriptions, do more on climate change, etc., etc..
Labour are in deep trouble in England with supporters feeling abandoned along with principles. In Scotland it is even worse despite the spin put on it by MSM, my hunch would be Labour getting absolutely hammered in 2026, and Sarwar being the sacrificial goat.
As has been said elsewhere, SNP really need to up their game and draw those disenfranchised folks into the fold….
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Much of the UK media seem to be revelling in what they say is the rise in popularity of the Reform UK party.
However in Scotland , for many voters, it is still unclear to some voters what Reform UK’s true intentions are if any are elected as MSP’s for our parliament in the Scottish elections in 2026.
However one clue is that in a speech made by one of their MP’s , Rupert Lowe, he made it clear that he seeks an end to devolution and that going forward he wants WM to “take back total control” of all nations within his UK.
Now either he was going rogue or he was articulating Reform UK’s party policy on devolution, and if that is the case, well then people in Scotland need to be made fully aware of that.
So if any candidate from that party is elected in 2026 then their true purpose in being elected is apparently to try to destroy devolution so that WM can eventually “take back total control” of Scotland via a London, as in English, based centralised government, and so they , as Reform UK party MSP’s, will act against the Scottish parliament from within.
The SNP need to get a copy of Rupert Lowe’s speech that he made last year, which is online and on YouTube, and then communicate to voters in Scotland what their intention is for Scotland as a party , according to one of their MP’s elected in England in the 2024 GE.
I am sure that there are some voters in Scotland who would welcome the end of devolution but fortunately they would not be in the majority .
However the SNP need to make the majority of voters within Scotland aware of what benefits they have had in Scotland via an SNP Scottish government and that a party like the Reform UK party seeks to end those benefits for people in Scotland, but also that they, Reform UK, will not , as a party, seek to end taking advantage of Scotland’s many rich resources and the revenue gained for their UK , or rather English, Treasury from Scotland’s quality food and drink exports, as has been happening with other UK parties as the various UK governments.
If Rupert Lowe , a English MP for the Reform UK party , thinks devolution is a “Scam” , which is what he said in his speech last year, then surely his party fielding candidates in the 2026 Scottish elections for the Scottish devolved parliament is nothing more than a “scam” .
Some voters in Scotland made a huge mistake in voting in 37 Labour MP’s last year in the General Election , in the hope that Labour as the new UK government would be far better than the Tories as a UK government and also that they would be better for Scotland, however neither has been the case.
However an even bigger mistake and a bigger waste of vote would be anyone voting for the Reform UK party in 2026.
The clue is that they are very much a English Nationalist party and so they seek to pretend to pander to those voters in England who are gullible and who also, like the Reform UK party, think that England gets nothing while Scotland gets subsidised by England.
The BBC in various political programmes platform members of the Reform UK party thus enabling the radicalisation of some people in various parts of the UK to think that they are , as a party , legitimate and so worth listening to and also then worth voting for in elections.
It would be to Scotland’s shame if any of these rogues from that party got into our Scottish parliament and we all know the low standard of candidates they have had in some past elections, with their historic, and in some cases current, online activity being exposed, which has then revealed their racism and bigotry, and only when that is exposed does the Reform UK party, via media and also via public pressure, then have to deselect that undesirable as their party candidate.
Vote SNP in 2026 to see another SNP Scottish government.
Liz S
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Well said Liz S. While we should have learned that we receive nothing but contempt from Westminster, it’s the quislings in our midst that I despise the most. Quite how these reprobates can serve English politicians who wish us nothing but harm is beyond me. What is it? Gold? Ermine? Franky, I wish them nothing but ill will, and hope the old saying applies. “Every political career ends in failure”.
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It seems the British Labour Party government in Cardiff is being kept in the dark on crucial budgeting matters by the British Labour Party government in Westminster!
Source: BBC News website Wales section (February 2) ‘Drakeford’s budget needs urgent changes, MSs say’.
Firstly, and more generally: ‘The Welsh government’s draft budget is “riddled with empty words”, according to a group of Senedd members.’ (my emphasis)
‘The report, which makes 39 recommendations, was backed by all four members of the committee including both Labour MSs.’
And to the main point: ‘The committee also raised concerns around the upcoming hike in National Insurance contributions to be paid by employers – an announcement made in the chancellor’s budget in Westminster.
‘The UK government has promised the Welsh government money to cover the extra cost for public sector employers in Wales, but it still is not known how much would be made available or if it would stretch to cover the increased bills for third sector organisations that provide services to the public sector.’
The BBC reports: ‘Drakeford said he did not expect to know how much money he would get from Westminster until “May or June”.
So, a British Labour Party government is setting a budget for 2025-26 under unnecessary uncertainty that is caused by another British Labour Party government!
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I wonder why the phrase ‘riddled with empty words’ used by the Senedd committee about a British Labour Party budget, brings this latest news to mind?
From Sky News online (February 3) ‘GB Energy project ‘could take 20 years to deliver new jobs’ in Scotland, says chairman Juergen Maier‘ – ‘Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promised voters his flagship green initiative, which will be headquartered in the northeast of Scotland, would cut consumer energy bills by as much as £300, but GB Energy chairman Juergen Maier suggests this is a “very long-term project”.‘
There is a review of what the GB Energy chairman said in the industry publication, Energy Voice.
Source: Energy Voice (February 3) GB Energy 1,000 jobs pledge to take two decades ( https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/566466/gb-energy-1000-jobs-pledge-to-take-two-decades/ )
Here are the key take-aways from the Sky News interview according to the report:
The article recalls that: ‘Prime minister Keir Starmer has promised the firm will reduce consumer bills by £300.’ Sky News reports: ‘Maier suggests this is a “very long-term project”.
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