UK Politics Thread

[Jimbuna]

Meanwhile, over in Wales...

Plaid Cymru to end Labour Welsh Government co-operation deal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41526435

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Meanwhile, over in Wales...



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41526435

UKIP called on Plaid Cymru to join with it in a vote of no confidence in the Welsh Government.

That's like saying old Jezzer would be PM if he gave Trump a big kiss. Old Jezzer do that...Never.

Es ist vorbei - klein britanien hat nix mehr zu sagen. das ist nur noch ein dorf.

[MGR1]

Carwyn Jones - a Nationalist Unionist in action. Just like the DUP, UUP and SLab (when it functioned - Donald Dewar et al.) and the SCons (formerly known as the SUP).....

As far as I'm aware there's never been an out and out Unionist Party in England.

Mike.

[STEED]

Originally Posted by MGR1

Carwyn Jones - a Nationalist Unionist in action. Just like the DUP, UUP and SLab (when it functioned - Donald Dewar et al.) and the SCons (formerly known as the SUP).....

As far as I'm aware there's never been an out and out Unionist Party in England.

Mike.

The only thing that sort of falls in that frame but not a full on was the Liberal Unionist 1886-1912.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Unionist_Party

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Bleiente

Es ist vorbei - klein britanien hat nix mehr zu sagen. das ist nur noch ein dorf.

Your second pop at the UK in recent posts so don't cry fowl if you disagree with any return flak.

This is the second time in recent weeks I have offered you this advice.

[Jimbuna]

Theresa May has said she is "pretty resilient" and it is not her style to "hide from a challenge" despite a mishap-strewn party conference speech.
The prime minister told the Sunday Times: "I am a very determined person. I am not someone who gives up."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41541208

I'm beginning to see comparisons with that of Thatcher.

[MGR1]

Originally Posted by STEED

The only thing that sort of falls in that frame but not a full on was the Liberal Unionist 1886-1912.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Unionist_Party

Interesting, I see that George Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen was part of that lot.

He was responsible for the Goschen formula which preceeded Barnett: LINK.

Also interesting to see that, like the SUP, the Liberal Unionists opposed Irish Home Rule and it was the 1801 Union with Ireland that they were defending rather than the 1707 Anglo-Scottish one.

Moving back to the present, here's Ruth Davidson's latest interview:

Davidson – I can’t be Tory leader at present, and I’m not looking past 2021: LINK.

I caught the back end of Sunday Politics and one of the talking heads mentioned that the SCons have slipped behind SLab to third place in recent Scotland-only polls. This has been due to the SNP cooling off it's rhetoric about independence and concentrating on domestic matters.

Mike.

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Bleiente

Es ist vorbei - klein britanien hat nix mehr zu sagen. das ist nur noch ein dorf.

Translation -

It's over - small britanien has more to say nothing. This is only a village

Really!

Well thank you many much for that bit of info and I will let the Department for eduction know that so they can get all the schools to update their text books, replace the great British Island for the great British village. Many thanks from the people of the UK.

[STEED]

The Government has been told it has less than six months to strike a Brexit deal in order to prevent an exodus from the City of London.

RBS chairman Sir Howard Davies warned there is now a "very, very, very tight" time frame for ministers to agree the terms of a transitional Brexit agreement with the EU, if it hopes to stop major finance firms moving jobs abroad.

http://news.sky.com/story/rbs-chair-...xodus-11072466

Same old BS that I having been hearing in the last 20 odd years now. The regulators in this country are spineless toothless clawless and the banks know it. Even when I see people who are working for the regulators in interviews they are not happy at the weak will powerless situation.

[Jimbuna]

Tell em they can't take the peoples money with them.

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Tell em they can't take the peoples money with them.

Just a idle threat, they know they can get away with it here in the UK and Ireland. America in the last few years has now clamped down on the sleazy actions of banks. About time we did as well.

[STEED]

Greens 'are changing the debate', co-leader tells members
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41545392

Let me read that again.....

Theresa May: 'We can prove Brexit doomsayers wrong'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41546701

What rubbish, Copy and paste EU laws are not UK laws. All that I can see unfolding is us staying in by the back door while you try to sell it we have left, what rot.

[Avis30]

Originally Posted by Bleiente

Es ist vorbei - klein britanien hat nix mehr zu sagen. das ist nur noch ein dorf.

Wir verstehen keine Worte

[MGR1]

Biggest piece of news to come out of the SNP Conference in Glasgow:

Changes to Scottish income tax bands considered

Relevant tid-bit:

Instead, last year's budget saw ministers opt to make relatively minor changes by not raising the point at which people start to pay the 40p rate of income tax on their salaries, as happened elsewhere in the UK.
BBC Scotland's political editor, Brian Taylor, said he had been told that ministers were now looking seriously at changing the tax bands for the coming year.
He said: "That might involve lowering the income level at which you move into higher rates, but it could also mean entirely new bands in Scotland."
He said ministers were also examining the possibility of increasing taxes for the highest earners, but because Scotland has so few of those it is thought the move would bring in relatively little income.
And he said the new plans were likely to protect the lowest earners, but might mean those on middle incomes paying "a bit more".
What are the Scottish income tax rates and bands?

• Personal Allowance for those earning up to £11,500 - 0%
• Basic rate for those earning between £11,501 and £43,000 - 20%
• Higher rate for those earning between £43,001 and £150,000 - 40%
• Additional rate for those earning more than £150,000- 45%

In reality I think it's becoming obvious that in order to fund Scotland's public services, everyone needs to be prepared to pay more. I don't have the most recent figures, but I believe that roughly half of those who are currently employed in Scotland aren't earning enough to pay Income Tax under the current banding system. The only way around that is to not only change the bands for the middle income earners, but to lower the Personal Allowance level from £11,500 as well, possibly all the way down to £8-9K per annum being tax-free. As Brian Taylor writes, there aren't enough high earners for a SLab style "soak the rich scheme" to be viable, so they can't be milked. That means the lowest earners are going to have to start coughing up.

Whether the SNP have the balls to do that, I doubt.

Mike.