Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Ed Miliband urges Yes voters to back Labour



by ANDREW WHITAKER







Published on the
28 November
2014
11:31











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ED Miliband made a direct plea to Scots who voted Yes in the referendum to put aside their “disappointment” about the defeat of independence and back Labour to oust the Tories from power at next year’s General Election.


The Labour leader made the stark pitch to Yes supporters in a keynote speech in Glasgow, just 24 hours after the Smith Commission set out a new package of powers covering tax, welfare and borrowing for the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Miliband hailed the plan as a “significant transfer of power” and repeated a pledge that a Labour government would implement the measures in its first Queen’s speech.

He said the recommendations from the commission chaired by Lord Smith of Kelvin would definitely be delivered, as he stated that the SNP’s claim that the plan was “disappointing” should not be an issue at the General Election.

Instead, Mr Miliband appealed to independence supporters in parts of Scotland such as the Labour stronghold of Glasgow - where the Yes side won a majority of the vote on 18 September - to kick out the Tories at the 2015 General Election.

Alex Salmond, in his final party conference speech as leader this month, suggested the SNP could increase its Westminster representation from six to 30 MPs at next year’s General Election and make massive gains from Labour, which won 40 seats in Scotland in 2010.

Mr Miliband said the “fight was on” against the SNP in the run up to the election next May, when the nationalists are expected to appeal to Yes supporters to vote for them in order to keep the campaign for independence going.

However, Mr Miliband suggested that a vote for the SNP could help the Tories remain in power and prevent the introduction of policies such as an energy price freeze, a crackdown on zero hour contracts and a significant increase in the minimum wage.

The Labour leader also claimed that Labour had “an agenda on social justice that beats the SNP’s by some distance” as he dismissed suggestions the nationalists were a party of the left.

Mr Miliband told Yes supporters that they would face a stark choice between a Labour and Tory government in next year’s election, which he insisted was not about the delivery of new powers to Holyrood.

He said: “To the people who voted “no” in the referendum - we said we would deliver on a stronger Scottish Parliament and on social justice and we will.

“And let me say this to the people who voted “yes”, including people who have voted Labour in the past, I know you feel a sense of disappointment about the result of the referendum.

“But I ask you to consider what outcome you want from the General Election in May. Some people want to say that the election is about whether we deliver on our promises to the people of Scotland.

“It is not. They are wrong. We have delivered. We will deliver. Instead this election is about whether we build a fairer, more equal country.

“It is the most important election for a generation.

It will come down to a very simple choice whether people want a Labour government of a Conservative government.

“I’ve set out what I want to do.

“A tax on bankers’s bonuses. An £8 minimum wage. An end to the exploitation of zero hour contracts. A freeze on energy bills. The end to the bedroom tax.

“These are policies the Tories would never commit to. Policies they oppose, every step of the way. Policies that will only happen with a Labour government.”

The Labour leader said “The Vow” made by the main Unionist parties of a radical package of devolution if Scotland voted No had been kept.

He went onto state what he said was a new vow of a “more equal country” if Labour is returned to power in 2015.

Mr Miliband said: “Yesterday we showed we would keep the vow.

“Today I vow to build a fairer country with a Labour government. I vow to fight for a more just country with a Labour government.”

Mr Miliband, in a question and answer session after his speech, accepted that Labour would face an electoral challenge from parties such as the SNP next year, but attacked the SNP’s commitment to social justice.

He said: “We have a fight on. We have an agenda on social justice that beats the SNP’s by some distance.”

Stewart Hosie MP, the SNP’s deputy leader, said:

“Ed Miliband’s shaky understanding of Scotland is becoming embarrassing - no wonder his own polling ratings in Scotland are so dreadful.

“It was precisely because Labour ganged up with the Tories in the No campaign that they have sunk in the polls - and Labour are once again on the same side as the Tories in backing inadequate powers for Scotland.

“SNP MPs would never prop up a Tory government - it is Labour who are the Tories’ helpers in Scotland - and therefore Mr Miliband’s comments make no sense.

“Once of the many things that Ed Miliband doesn’t understand is that Yes voters – and very many No voters - want real powers for the Scottish Parliament, and the only way that all the people of Scotland will be given the influential voice we need at Westminster in a possible hung parliament is by voting SNP next May.”



Why, if people in Scotland won't vote Tory, would anyone vote Labour?

Same austerity program, same neo-liberal economic policies, same management of national decline, same policy regarding Trident, same attitude towards universal benefits, same attitude towards immigration! Same anti Scottish propaganda as Tories ( shortly to be used on Labour in 2015 GE)

As recent internal events in Scottish Labour have revealed Labour Head Office only view Scottish Labour MPs as parliamentary lobby fodder. Where Scottish interests are not in accordance with English constituency interests Scottish interests are sacrifised always!

UK Labour prepared to put party concerns before Scottish interests even to the extent of standing politically shoulder to shoulder with Tories. Every poll since 19 September have shown Labour public support to be in the low 20%s. Scottish voters who are not well dispised towards the Tories are very unforgiving - witness the standing if the Tories for the past 25 years! One thing Scottish people detest more than a Tory - a turncoat! Scottish Labour, unless they can convince all the NO voters to turn out for them, should be very very afraid. We who voted YES are coming for you!


I am glad to say Mr Miliband that Scotland will not vote for your party in 2015. How could anyone in their right mind trust a party that jumped so gleefully into bed with the Conservatives? Moreover, what are the political differences between the Red Tories and the Blue Tories today?

With an English electorate getting more frantic than ever over exiting the EU, why should it vote for a party that is predominently pro EU and pro immigration?

And may I remind you that for many decades now, the Scottish Labour vote did not make one iota of influence over that of the much larger English electorate. It really does not matter who the Welsh, the Northern Irish or the Scots vote for, the fact is that it is the English electorate that decides who will rule the UK, just as it will be the English electorate that will decide whether the UK remains or exits the EU. The rest of the UK is of no voting demographic importance whatsoever.

Nor do I wish my country to be ruled by nepotism and fraudulent elections again. Truth be told, as a former Labour activist, I can assure you that this country, Scotland, could not afford another Red Tory rule. As for the rest of the UK, it really is the problem of each countries making up the UK.

I would advise all Scots to vote for Scotland first, foremost and last, whether at UK level or at Scottish level. Time to think about Scotland's political priorities, economics, social policies, jobs creation and fairer wages. Something that Westminster will not even imagine to concede for the UK as a whole, whether under the Red or Blue Tories.

As a leader, Mr Miliband has been as efficient as a boil on a scr0tum. As a PM, Mr Milibland would be even worse. It would just be a return to Blairite politics...


I suppose it was the usual closed affair speaking to Labour fans only -audience probably a wee bit short of the 12000 Nicola had last saturday.

I thought Mr. Brown might have had something to say about the Smith Proposals or is he off galivanting round the world again First Class topping up the coffers of his Personal Tax Haven - The Office of Gordon & Sarah Brown with a few more thousands of pounds.


vote labour to be betrayed again, labour party founders would likely vote for the snp rather than milliband , if you don't want to support the snp vote tory at least they wont break their promises to kick Scottish voters in the teeth and voters will get what they vote for


Same old same old......been hearing the 'vote for us or you get the tories' tosh since I started voting in the 60s....it was rubbish then and,in this age of coalitions,even more rubbish now.
We can vote labour from now to ick-dock in Scotland and it makes hee haw difference if the south of England votes tory. That is why from the 60s we have had Heath, Thatcher, Major, and Cameron.
So,vote who you want but don't be fooled by the Milliband, he is so socialist he and Balls have pledged,aka VOWED, to keep austerity at Tory levels beyond 2015. Luckily the two of them and their mates in their neighbourhood can get some good levels of equity release from their million pound houses if they can't afford their Council Tax.


Is it not amusing that Stewart Hosie, still uses the 'Labour ganging up with Tories' quote like it is some sort of insult? No Dozy Hosie, these two parties had the best interest of Scotland and its citizens in mind when the electorate confirmed that they did not want to separate from their fellow countrymen in the rest of the successful UK. However like many Labour voters I will not be following my leader's plea to vote for the party in the GE. In my area we have a dreadful SNP MP, the Tories will be getting my vote (and many others) to oust the obnoxious Pete Wishart.


CATHF . . a brilliant comment about all those saying they will vote tactically to keep any pro Independence Party out. Had to bump it up where people could read it !

CATHF
3:15 PM on 28/11/2014
There's Ed trying desperately to shore up his troops with the old "a vote for the SNP is a vote for the Tories" lie when his own troops are planning to actually vote Tory if they're more likely to defeat the left-of-Labour SNP. You couldn't make it up.


Us gels where I come from look forward to the next six months with some glee. Millipede destroyed in Scotland. The Independence adventure has woken the sleeping English/Irish and that other lot. No votes on the serious stuff by divisive Sturgeon MPs.
Get real-vote Tory and save yourselves from Socialism in all forms


Ed's message to Labour voters "Shut up about more powers and get to the back of bus while I organise the North British branch office."


Aye pity Labour voters never had the sense to vote yes.Labour make mugs out of their "core voters" ever since they realised that Labour can do no wrong they have abused their Scottish voters,I liken it to an abused man in a marriage,she can betray him have other men in the bedroom, she could even have children by other men and the husband(Scotland) just accepts it because she said that is how it is.Oh but I'm now getting a wee whiff that Scotland has started to awaken,and that hussy/tart is getting her due deserts turfed out,to look for another fool.No sense to stay with an untruthful partner is there? a partner that threatened to do all sorts of damage if you left them,and still they expect you to be daft enough to be their "friends" "hey you be my pal or I'll bankrupt you" "I'll tell stories and spread lies about you,you are a hopeless case of useless people,but we want you to be our pals"

‘Nasty’ Theresa May is suppressing the facts about immigration 28/11/2014


‘Nasty': Theresa May suppressed important independent reports on immigration. She has also announced plans to repeal the Human Rights Act. You can hardly call her nice!

The woman who defined herself and her fellow Tories as “the Nasty Party” showed she was happy to live down to that name after it was revealed that Theresa May has been sitting on five potentially-damning reports on Britain’s asylum system – on the day we learned net migration into the UK has risen above the level it was when the Coalition government came into office.

Mrs May’s suppression of the reports by John Vine, the government’s independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, suggests that she is trying to control the release of stories that criticise the government’s record on immigration in the run-up to the general election next year.

Mr Vine has made it clear that her failure to release the reports in a “timely” manner is reducing their impact and compromising his role as an independent watchdog.

His claim has also supported assertions by former Home Office minister Norman Baker that Mrs May suppressed reports on drug laws that run contrary to the government’s position.

It should be no surprise that the Coalition government is perfectly willing to suppress critical reports of its policies; this is an administration that lied its way into office and has been lying ever since.

The current fiasco is particularly damaging as David Cameron once claimed that his government would reduce net migration to less than 100,000 per year – “no ifs, no buts” – and the latest figures put it at around 260,000. That’s more than two-and-a-half times Cameron’s target, and higher than when the Conservative-led Coalition came into office.

According to The Independent: “Mr Vine says that up until this year he had complete autonomy to decide when his reports, which cover all aspect of Britain’s asylum and immigration system, were published. This was the case under successive Home Secretaries since the post was established in 2008.

“But Mr Vine said that in December last year he received a letter from Ms May saying that from then on, he would have to publish his reports through her department.”

The report continues: “‘I was concerned by these proposals for a number of reasons,’ he wrote. ‘I feared, at the time it was made, that a consequence of her decision might be that reports would not be published promptly, reducing the impact of their findings.'”

“Allowing the Government to control the release date also allows ministers to release them at times when they will get little publicity – potentially burying unwelcome news.”

So Mr Vine is right to accuse the government – and Mrs May in particular – of dirty tricks.

We all know of at least one other government department that has used delaying tactics: The Department for Work and Pensions has not published any statistics on the deaths of Employment and Support Allowance claimants since mid-2012, when it was revealed that 10,600 UK citizens died while claiming the benefit between January and December 2011 – around 220 per week.

The DWP has been claiming – for more than a year now – that it will release the figures on an unspecified date in the future.

“The Nasty Party” is a good description for an organisation that behaves in such a way, and Theresa May was right to label herself as such.

Other adequate descriptions include “underhanded”, “deceitful”… feel free to add your own.

RTM_26
16 hours ago


It's the lizard showing. All the people with real power are lizards and sometimes they just cannot control it.

Arrogant and corrupt!

CC
I can't see the Scots falling for the Miliband Yes nonsense. The Yes voters feel that the Labour party were traitors to them during the referendum campaign.

Agreed Hays.

Balls in Camerons court, Labour are irrelevant in Scotland.

Gary Lineker

Enoch Powell was RIGHT to warn against immigration, claims former Tory defence minister Gerald Howarth

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2736019/Enoch-Powell-RIGHT-warn-against-immigration-claims-former-Tory-defence-minister-Gerald-Howarth.html#ixzz3KOxg1oq2

I know the Hairy One called Cameron "slimeball".

Just watched Matthew Hancock. Jesus he is an even bigger one.

How did one party get so many?

Haze, do you feel you belong to the elite of the party?

Wait for the mantra from PHQ before and after the U-turns.

Lets not forget good ol Nick.

Oh dear, written evidence of more lies on top of all the deceit.. a truly nasty bunch of oinks.