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By Liz S

TuS yesterday:

“Scotland heading for massive increase in renewables electricity generation in 2026 to generate 4 times more per head than England”.

Burnham in his speech stated that “One of the biggest barriers to growth in the UK is the cost of energy. British businesses and billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe”.

What about Scottish billpayers paying higher standing charges than the rest of the UK and so we are facing steeper heating costs despite Scotland generating a surplus of renewable energy ? (Or does Andy the UK PM not know this or care).

Andy Burnham then stated that he can “announce our plan for Great British Grid. A new branch of Great British Energy. A publicly-owned company that will challenge the private sector operators”.

Great British Grid ? Well if it pans out to be anything like Labour’s Great British Energy Ltd, then we, the public, should not hold our breath and so then expect anything worthwhile to happen ( for our benefit).

He also said “I can say to everyone watching, you will see VAT disappear off your electricity bill this Thursday. I didn’t expect a standing ovation for that but I’ll take it. Thank you, Conference “!

“VAT off your electricity bill ?

His supposed great idea to help people during what has been a prolonged cost of living crisis is a temporary drop in VAT from 5% to 0% for household electricity bills , starting on 1 October 2026 and only lasting for six months until 31 March 2027.

Average saving is said to be about £45 a year. Ofgem’s price cap rises by roughly 4% from 1 October 2026 and in January 2027 Prices are expected to remain elevated or potentially climb further due to wholesale market pressures.

So Burnham’s supposed super duper £45 average annual saving via the temporary electricity VAT cut will be largely offset by these underlying price cap increases.

( so Burnham should not have got a standing ovation from the Labour audience at the Labour conference for what is a lacklustre announcement ).

Burnham also said “Water is a symbol of what has gone wrong with Britain” as he said it was “A service where the shareholders never lose and the public never win.

He refers to “water being a symbol with Britain that has “gone wrong” and mentions this in the context of share holders never losing”. However that is not applicable to Scotland , as our water has not been privatised . So basically him stating this in the context of Britain was 100% wrong aka misinformation (or could be regarded as a lie)

Burnham also said in relation to Britain that he would ” fight with everything I’ve got to keep it together” and that he would “Not (be) the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom” .

(Fight with everything ? Just like when he and the other Labour Imperial Masters came up en masse from England to Scotland during the 2014 Indy Ref campaign to tell us , Scotland, that we should all vote NO) .

So he thinks he will “Not be the last PM of the UK” ?

Is that his decision to make then ?

I mean if people elsewhere within the UK , like say in Scotland, Wales & NI want to get away from the greedy and selfish clutches of WM UK governments, then surely that will be all of our respective decisions as citizens of all of those nations, via us winning a majority vote that decides that. So it will not just be for Andy Burnham to decide and so declare as a fact, as surely we, as separate nations, will ultimately decide if he, Burnham, will indeed be the “last PM of the UK State” ? (Here’s hoping).

Burnham also mentioned “moments which saw Britain rediscover a sense of hope” as in when there was “Labour governments” and the dates he specified was “1945, 1964, 1997 and now” .

These were dates when Labour won UK GE’s , but notice he failed to mention the year of 2024 when Starmer won the last UK GE for Labour. It’s omission by him speaks volumes.

His full speech is available online via the Labour party website if , that is, you have the inclination to want to read it . Yawn.

I say that we have all been here before with his predecessor, where many promises were made that were supposed to bring hope and “change” and look at what we got. (and also didn’t get).

So excuse me if I want to remain sceptical and also still a non believer of The King of the ‘North’, because we in Scotland have been here many many times before with Labour , and each time it seems that some of us just cannot learn from previous (voting) mistakes in some still voting for Labour in different elections.

What is that saying that says “”Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Not me, as I adopted this other saying that states “fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me“.

Liz S

Before the crowdfunder finishes tomorrow, support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at:

Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going

Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421