UK Government’s dysfunctional Under-Secretary at the Scotland Office will clearly say anything, absolutely anything she’s told to say

stewartb

Should anyone book a holiday for their family on a Scottish island this summer?

Should a bank or other investor support a business based on a Scottish island that relies on serving customers off island?

Should anyone thinking of moving from the UK mainland or elsewhere to set up a family home or set up a business on a Scottish island?

Should any resident of a Scottish island with the option of continuing to make a life there or moving to a mainland location choose the former?

Should a business on the UK mainland or elsewhere enter into a contract to supply a customer on a Scottish island?

Of course they should – many have already done so. But looking forward, what weight should those faced with the above decisions place on the views expressed (March 5, 2025) in the UK parliament by the UK Government’s Under-Secretary at the Scotland Office, Kirsty McNeill (Labour MP for Midlothian), above:

‘John Swinney and the SNP have left Scotland’s islands with no functioning ferry network.’

Source: https://members.parliament.uk/member/5255/writtenquestions#expand-1781282  

It’s worth repeating this Scottish Office minister’s judgement: ‘NO FUNCTIONING FERRY NETWORK’ in Scotland is what this UK Government minister stated in an official response to a question from a Conservative MP!!!!

It is only because the UK mainstream media has chosen NOT to amplify this assessment that the potential damage to Scotland’s island communities of such an outrageous comment by a British Labour Party MP and Minister, supposedly representing Scotland, will be less that it might have been.

This kind of trashing of Scotland by British Labour Party MPs elected to Scottish constituencies – presumably to further their support for the Union – should not be minimised, should not be forgotten!

To see really non-functioning ferry services, try almost anywhere else other than Scotland:

A passenger pushed to his death, fishermen killed by crew who don’t speak English, car decks flooding, one ferry runs aground because the only man on the bridge pressed the wrong button, really old ferries, high prices, endless cancellations…it kind of makes you think maybe CalMac is the best in the world?

14 thoughts on “UK Government’s dysfunctional Under-Secretary at the Scotland Office will clearly say anything, absolutely anything she’s told to say”

  1. To make such a complete buffoon of herself takes some doing, even for a Labour politician. Its either ignorance, desperation or just plain gormless to come out with that nonsense.

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    2. Not really Stephen, it’s good old fashioned arrogance showing, and for good reason, confidence in the propaganda network.

      The nonsense would be reported around the world before the truth had it’s boots on sort of thing, a form of circular affirmation as the network drowns out dissenting voices – eg The BBC reports on the Times story, the Herald reports on the BBC’s, etc., then it’s ‘what the papers say’ to deny any contrary view, which quite simply goes unreported – It is in essence the king’s clothes story, reimagined for the modern age, as inadvertently let out of the bag by Mr Nix of Cambridge Analytica in the late 20-teens – Propaganda against the masses….

      Their problem is once seen it cannot be unseen, hence sites such as this, to let people see what cannot be unseen…

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  2. Your email re Kirsty McNeils outrageous lies about the Ferry network in Scotland is being blocked so it can’t be shared.

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  3. Our Government should retaliate by running a massive advertisement campaign across Europe and the US highlighting the high levels of crime and civil dissorder in England. Make them aware that England is a dystopian post industrial racist shithole that should be bypassed en route to Scotland.

    We really need to be a bit more like Canada when dealing without own neighbours from hell, not to mention the collaborators working for them like this particular verminous example (Boris’ wording, not mine).

    Graham

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  4. I assume that all the noisy islanders running island businesses who complain endlessly about the CalMac services will be knocking on her door when visitor numbers fall because of her lies ?

    One awaits their responses with interest !

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  7. 100,000 islanders. 36 ferries. Four on order. 40 ferries for 100,000 islanders. 1 ferry for 2,500 regular sailings. Subsidised, often half empty. More visitors in the summer. More than enough ferries to go around. Subsidised flights.

    Orkney is rated one of the best places to live in the world.

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  8. O/T

    BBC Scotland have a podcast which is called “Scotscast” .

    It is touted by the BBC as being a “Conversation with trusted journalists and experts about the country’s biggest stories”.

    So who decides what are the country’s biggest stories ?

    Well it seems that as the BBC is a dominant media within Scotland , then they often get to decide what is, and also apparently, what is not the ‘country’s’ “biggest stories”.

    Also who the Hell are these so called ‘trusted’ Journalists ?

    Surely they are not sourced from most of those employed within the UK media , and they certainly cannot be sourced from many of Scotland’s so called media. (and they are definitely not sourced from the BBC).

    However as to “stories” we also see that Scotcast itself generates “stories” online for the BBC website.

    Examples being previous guests and topics on Scotcast now generating articles on the BBC Scotland pages (check out online the subjects and guests on Scotcast and then recall these once being featured on the BBC website and also on BBC Scotland TV and Radio news programmes).

    Top story today on the BBC website on their main Scotland page is based on an interview yesterday on Scotcast with the Falkirk Councillor who suggested the 15.6% increase to Council tax in Falkirk”

    “Councillor ‘threatened’ over record 15.6% tax rise”

    The Councillor is Laura Murtagh of Falkirk Council , who last week the BBC website sensationalised the news that ” Falkirk sets largest council tax increase of 15.6%” and they also noted in their article last week that she was the one who introduced the motion for this increase, which was backed by other independents and also by the Labour group in this council.

    The BBC article last week also noted that the “Council leader and SNP councillor Cecil Meiklejohn said her administration’s proposed 13.7% which would have brought Falkirk’s council tax closer to the Scottish average”.

    So ironically , today we see that the BBC now have this new article on their website based on this same Councillor, Laura Murtagh’s, and her interview yesterday with Martin Geissler on the BBC podcast called ‘Scotcast’ where the article states:

    “The councillor who introduced Scotland’s biggest council tax rise this year has received violent threats over the decision”.

    “Laura Murtagh, who sits as an independent on Falkirk Council, told the BBC’s Scotcast podcast she had suffered “overwhelming” online abuse since putting forward a motion for a 15.6% increase last week”

    “Some messages said the councillor should get “a kicking” for the proposal, while other abuse came from people Ms Murtagh knows personally”.

    Of course , yet again ironically, the BBC , and also other media, chose to ‘Sensationalise’ this story last week.

    Indeed other media in Scotland seemed to infer it was the SNP to blame for making this increase, as well as also ultimately blaming the Scottish government, as the Deputy Editor of the Daily Record was caught out on social media when he tweeted this in relation to the increase:

    “SNP-run Falkirk signs off 15.6 per cent council tax rise. Largest increase in the Scotland. Sheesh”.

    “SNP run” ?

    So he , the DR Deputy Editor, was trying to give the impression that it was the SNP at fault, with “blame the SNP” being the same position Anas Sarwar and his Labour party always take on everything in connection to Scotland.

    So let me just state that I think that no one should ever be threatened with or targeted with physical abuse who works in politics.

    Nicola Sturgeon received death threats and the man involved was jailed for five years and ten months. (So pretty serious and also very much real threats then).

    However Politicians should and must be challenged on decisions that they make which has a detrimental impact on constituents, as challenging and protesting against a bad decision is a justified action that voters can take.

    Also ultimately if there is such a strength of feeling against a decision that has been made by a politician then the voters can then vote this person out at the next election.

    However a huge huge huge responsibility lies with the media in how they present the political news (where we are).

    If they, as a media, choose to sensationalise certain political news then some people will react in an extreme manner. , as opposed to the media just reporting news in a factual manner with all of the relevant details included.

    The BBC is notorious for using words like “controversial” and “Fiasco”, that they often connect to the SNP and the Scottish government.

    We also once had an instance where a political editor with BBC Scotland referred to The National newspaper as “propaganda”, the Irony meter was broken with that remark. Then of course we have the onslaught of regurgitated stories by the BBC on the same subjects e.g. The Ferries in Scotland.

    Are these regurgitated and sensationalised stories by BBC Scotland not then inciting hatred against the SNP by certain people ?

    Who may then take their anger to the extreme, with them then being very abusive or very threatening to a SNP politician, SNP government minister or even the Scottish FM.

    We also have other BBC news employees who often state that the SNP are only taking a certain course of action as they, the SNP, seek to “exploit, embarrass and so try to take a political advantage over the Labour party” , which is then the BBC promoting “propaganda” against the SNP and so then also seemingly supporting the Labour party.

    So what feelings does this arouse in some of the public who dislike or even hate the SNP and who also as voters oppose Scottish independence and who also support the Labour party and the UK state ?

    Time the BBC took stock of how they present the news “where we are” as the language used by them in their news reports does count, not just in impacting votes but also in generating a hatred against the SNP.

    So if they , the BBC, really want to stop the hate then perhaps they need to get their own house in order and report all news , with only the facts .

    Instead of us getting the ‘opinions’ of BBC political editors, who as BBC political Editors , seem to have a free rein in making assertions on the supposed true motives behind decisions made by the SNP as the Scottish government.

    Also where they fail, as BBC political editors, to hold opposition parties to account but do give them a frequent media platform in order for them, as opposition politicians , to attack the SNP and also attack the Scottish government.

    Hope not Hate seems something the BBC in Scotland are incapable of promoting.

    So vote SNP in 2026.

    Liz S

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  9. Also O/T so apologies

    Is it not strange, yet not actually that strange for the UK, that whenever the subject of any government within the UK intending to take any action that would impact the rich , then suddenly that is then promoted as being both a bad and a negative thing for them to do, that will , we are told, potentially have dire consequences for the country’s economy.

    Like potentially Raising tax for those on higher Tax bands

    Adding VAT onto Private School fees

    Abolishing nom-dom status

    Implementing a wealth tax

    Capping Bankers Bonuses

    Of all of the above options, and there are others too, the only one Labour has done promptly since coming to power as the new UK government is “Adding VAT onto Private School fees” .

    The rest are either not being actioned or indeed not being planned to happen at all by Labour as the new UK government, in fact the other one that will be actioned by Labour UK, is the nom-dom status being abolished , but it will be, as an action, phased out gradually, as Rachel Reeves relented on taking immediate action upon this after “listening to the nom-doms concerns” aka “listening to” the very wealthy people.

    In fact anything deemed to be targeting those who can well afford to contribute more towards the UK economy is frowned upon and promoted as risking the rich moving elsewhere, so what we now witness is various UK governments , including the current Labour one, pandering to the rich and so then make exceptions for them, to ensure that they are not being financially impacted to their detriment.

    #NotPayingTheirFairShare

    In fact any hint of there being anything that will involve the rich paying more money, then we hear and read in the media that if this is done then we will “see an exodus of wealthy people leaving the country to go elsewhere”.

    #Selfish

    However alternatively, if the UK government make any announcements that will negatively impact poorer and more vulnerable people , then the same people who condemned any changes happening for the rich within the UK, will then suddenly go to great lengths to explain the logic and necessity for these changes to happen for others , as in those who are far less able to take the financial hit.

    Planned “changes” to the Welfare system and so cuts to the benefits being paid by the various UK governments are promoted as being necessary as according to many , including the current UK government, the current “Welfare Bill (apparently) cannot be sustained” and the Labour Works and Pensions Secretary , Liz Kendall, thinks some people on benefits are “taking the mickey”.

    #NotTheChangeManyAssumedWithLabour

    Sir Keir Starmer had called the current benefits system “unsustainable, indefensible and unfair” .

    Meanwhile I assume that he, Starmer, is obviously far less concerned by what he obviously sees as the seemingly far more sustainable, far more defensible and so far more fairer system where the rich are not being hounded, like the poor and vulnerable, to pay more of their fair share into his Labour government’s UK Treasury.

    WASPI women are also not going to be compensated and that is being justified because apparently the compensation scheme amount that would need to be paid to them would , we are told, be at the expense of the Tax payer, the same taxes that WASPI women once paid when they all worked right up to when they all (wrongly) assumed they would be getting their state pension. (and indeed some are still having to pay these taxes , as some are still having to work, through financial necessity).

    Then we found out that the Labour UK government were retaining the previous Tory UK government’s existing cap on the two child benefit where Keir Starmer , in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg , explained this was because “ he would not commit extra money to benefits without first growing the economy.”

    Labour then cut the Universal WFP for pensioners, this was done because Rachel Reeves said that , Labour having to do this, should be seen as “blame (only) falling on “reckless decisions” on public finances by the Conservatives” as in the now infamous and far too often repeated phrase by all Labour politicians which is the Tory “financial black hole”….a new Labour slogan ?

    So basically what we can see happening in the UK is that the poorest and most vulnerable are being targeted at the expense of various UK governments ensuring that the rich stay rich and also that they, the rich, in some cases , get even richer.

    #LabourNeedRichDonors

    Where with various UK governments not wanting to address the inequality that exists within their UK , where the rich are not being asked to pay the same penalty as the poor and vulnerable are being asked to pay.

    Where now the UK is far weaker and far poorer mainly because of Brexit , but also because of a succession of useless UK governments many many poor and bad decisions, all being made only to keep the wealthy happy by not making a dent in their wealth and so not asking them to pay their fair share within the UK.

    Keir Starmer’s Labour party are continuing with the Tory party’s raison d’etre as a British nationalist political party , in Labour now , as the new UK government, choosing to protect the “Few” at the expense of the “many”.

    #LabourWorseThanReformUKPartyAndTheTories

    Vote SNP in 2026 or plan to suffer with any UK party(s) in charge of Scotland…..God forbid !

    Liz S

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