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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
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From a UK Political standpoint clearly they simply do not want Scotland to be successful because that would hand the SNP with some credit so designed in Westminster will always be in England’s favour and exclude us. That said I fail to understand why so many Scots still fail to recognise the fact that we will only reach our full potential as an Independent nation.
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I struggle too with why so many fellow Scots do not engage, but our mainstream media certainly do not help them to be more optimistic and open to change.
Unionists may accept that Scotland would gain additional powers through independence but argue that it would also lose advantages they value from the UK: fiscal transfers, a larger internal market, shared institutions, common borrowing capacity, defence arrangements (!) and the pooling of economic risks.
Some of the reasons 62% of us voted to stay in the EU.
Human nature generally has some reluctance to change and worries over uncertainty, even although we live in an uncertain world.
So they ask questions seeking difficult or, in some cases, impossible answers, about the economic transition, such as:
• What currency would Scotland use?
• How would a fiscal deficit be financed?
• What would happen to pensions and public sector pay?
• How would trade with the rest of the UK be affected?
• What would renewed membership of the EU require?
• How much adjustment would households and businesses face, and will our institutions be able to continue and develop?
Other countries have gone there and come through, eg Norway, but counterfactuals are things which neither side can demonstrate what an independent Scottish government would or would not have achieved.
My argument for having another referendum would be that the first one did at least achieve a high level of engagement and a high turnout.
Sadly the trend in turnouts since then has been one of great decline, which suggests many are either indifferent or scunnered or both.
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Scotland pays its own pensions from revenues raised in Scotland. The monies go down and then comes back. There is no pension fund. It comes from yearly taxes. Scotland could use sterling. Ireland did. Until it joined the euro. The pound is a marketable commodity. Scotland does not have a fiscal deficit. It cannot borrow so has to balance the books.
Scotland pays back loans not borrowed or spent in Scotland. £4Billion+ a year. Scotland has to pay £5Billion for Defence. £1Billion too much. Scotland has to pay more for fuel and energy. Despite being in surplus. Renewables etc. . Scotland has lost £Billions from Brexit. No growth. Scotland lost EU grants and loans for renewables etc. EU the nearest, biggest market. 450 million people. No shared Defence costs with EU keeping costs down.
Support for the SNP/Independence keeps rising. Massive victories. The elderly doubters die off, the younger people come on board.
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Yesterday Andy Burnham posted this below on X, it was in the context of the ‘Country‘ and I have highlighted where it seems to be that he is only referring to matters in England, but somehow he is presenting it as being in the best interest of Britain (as a whole or Hole, take your pick).
“A new National Care Service. Greater public control of water, energy, and housing. A National Commission on Electoral Reform. Strengthening our relationship with Europe. Reforming the education and welfare system. Today I set out a different path for Britain. You may disagree with some or all of what I have said today. But I have given you what you often say is missing from politics. Honesty, ideas and a clear direction for the country we all love. If you agree with enough of what I have said, get behind this plan. And get behind each other. It’s time to draw a line. To move beyond a decade of drift and division. To bring a spirit of unity and positivity back to our country. To unlock the working-class aspiration that is still there in every postcode. To hope again”.
BTW on Burnhams “National commission on electoral reform” one has to also note that:
“Scotland currently uses AMS (Additional Member system) for Devolved elections and STV (Single Transferrable Vote) for its Scottish local elections, whereas England largely relies on the traditional First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)”.
So really yet again yesterday, in Burnham’s speech to conference, it was just yet another example, in a speech by yet another UK PM, of them as yet another UK PM supposedly speaking in the context of various matters/Issues within Britain.
However most of their speeches as UK PM’s (including Burnham’s one yesterday) always seem to be more in the context of England aka “the country” and so then definitely Not-About-Or-For-You-Scotland (or indeed for Scotland’s benefit).
Naval Commander pin up Joani Reid posted this on X after Burnham’s speech:
“Take that John Swinney”
Well she certainly seems to still think it is wise to keep trying to raise her own political profile, scandalous past allegations be damned.
Of course with the internal Labour investigation on her alleged scandalous past behaviour , Labour apparently found nothing , hence why she was reinstated to the party (though Labour’s concluded in-house ‘investigation’ into Ms Reid – aka Mrs Taylor- is apparently not for public consumption as transparency, in this instance – and other instances too – is not required it seems) .
I guess that has encouraged within her a triumphant public smugness, though perhaps also a misplaced assumption by her that she is now untouchable, time will tell, as will perhaps even further alleged scandalous revelations to come , upon what may be even more alleged inappropriate behaviour being revealed , yes ?
Liz S
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Sometimes there is: “Fool me a third time is enemy action.” Time for “elbows up” as our Canadian colleagues are want to say.
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Scotland in surplus in fuel/energy and nearer the source, but pays more. The energy companies would let Scotland pay less. The Westminster Gov will not let them. Refuses parity.
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On average UK raises £600Billion in taxes. Westminster Y borrows £200Billion more. Spends £100Billion borrowed in the rest of the UK. Scotland does not benefit. Loses £19Billion+ but has to pay back share of loans not borrowed or spent in Scotland. £4Billion. Kept secret under Official Secrets Act. Scotland would raise on average £90Billion, without Westminster colossal interference. More than the rest of the UK pro rata. Scotland is losing on average £10+ to the Union.
Barnett is a con job. £600Billion less £90Billion = £510Billion. Divide by 10 £51Billion. Rough estimate of what is raised in rest of the UK.
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