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.

Labour rebuffs SNP’s higher minimum wage demand

DAVID MADDOX
17:20Monday 30 March 2015
66
HAVE YOUR SAY
ED Miliband’s office has dismissed the SNP’s demand to have a higher minimum wage as part of a deal with Labour as “Westminster games” and said he will “not negotiate” on any issue.

The comments were a response to the SNP’s list of demands which included a minimum wage of £8.70 by 2020, outdoing the Labour pledge of £8.

But it came as Labour peer Baroness Prosser has urged her party to say it is willing to deal with the Nationalists “on a pragmatic basis”.


On the Politics Show, she pointed out: “Over the last five years, we have worked in the House of Lords to get a majority for things we want with whoever would work with us .

“So on an issue-by-issue basis I am pretty certain that is likely to happen.”

Pressed on whether agreements could be reached with the SNP on an issue-by-issue basis, she added: “Well, I think that is just how pragmatic politics works.”

The continued speculation over a Labour/SNP deal saw Tory London mayor Boris Johnson warn that a Labour government would be the dog “wagged by a Scottish SNP tail”.

He wrote: “The Scots Nats want to end and reverse all benefit reforms, even though these are supported by the New Labour faction in Miliband’s party, and by the overwhelming majority of the British public.



“The SNP positively drool about the swingeing new taxes they could impose on the English, especially in London and the South East. They also want to scrap Trident – in defiance of most experienced and serious Labour MPs.”

In what might be music to SNP ears, he predicted five years of socialism if the Nationalists hold the balance of power.

And he warned that Labour and the SNP “are locked in a deadly embrace, and the risk is that they will take the rest of us down with them”.

However, during the launch of Labour’s business manifesto in the City of London, a spokesman for Mr Miliband rejected the list of demands made by the SNP for a deal in Westminster, including a more ambitious minimum wage.

Mr Miliband’s spokesman said: “We have set out our own policy with the minimum wage and we are not interested in any negotiations or Westminster games.”

He claimed that the Conservatives “are desperate to focus on what might or might not happen” after the election “because it is the only way they can be the largest party” but “voters will make their choice before”.

He went on: “We are not interested in talking about other parties’ programmes or some sort of Conservative Party invention where we are involved in some kind of negotiation. We are not, full stop.”

However, SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie insisted Labour would have to deal with his party. He said: “Margaret Prosser’s comments suggest that Labour are planning for an election result in which the SNP will hold the balance of power in the next parliament.

“Left to their own devices, Labour would continue the cuts hitting vulnerable people.”

66 comments

cynic - 31 Mar 2015 09:48 - 58198 of 58205

MrT - an extract from what i posted elsewhere ....

the complaint from many that these immigrants steal jobs, just does not stand up to scrutiny
yes, they may indeed be prepared to work for a bare minimum wage, but how many of our youth and others would be prepared to take those jobs- and at those rates?
clearly not many, so do they really have a right to complain that someone else will?

it's a bit out of context for i thoroughly agree that it is quite preposterous that we allow so many immigrants without control, but your thoughts on the above would be interesting

cynic you have answered the question your self these low life taking these low paid jobs pay no tax and never will but use all the services housing benefits
no good for the uk resididents who now can not get a doctor op a/e full of the scum
who pay no taxes we do not want them nor need them only the rich who want cheap lab benefit not the uk you got it right and did not even notice what you did

working on farm fields cleaning cars is what most do pay no tax
but claim all the benefits fact

off to Majorca tomorrow for a few days

Max,

I know you will thank me as you see appropriate.

-----

Nasty Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Nasty Party was first used in October 2002 by Theresa May, the then Chairman of the Conservative Party, when she said of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom: "There's a lot we need to do in this party of ours. Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us – the Nasty Party."[1]

The term "Nasty Party" applied to Conservative Party members with traditional conservative stances, which included lacking concern for the poor, being anti-gay and anti-minorities, and pro-business.[2][3] It is a reference to Richmal Crompton's story William and the Nasties from the Just William series.[citation needed]

Many Conservatives felt this tendency was one of the reasons the Conservative Party lost the 1997 and 2001 general elections (before losing a third in 2005, and failing to win a fourth in its own right in 2010), and that the party needed to broaden its traditional base to have a chance of re-election.[4][5]

--------
Conservatives still seen as too narrow-based, conference told


It seem that so long ago!
---=-=-

The future tory "matron" or its "future"!



---

cynic and yes I have insurance our children could not work in the eu cleaning cars or on farm the insurance for medical cover would make it pointless and be of no benefit
the rich in the uk most not brtish are killing the uk with wanting the cheap lab scum
its time the young took to the streets and proest big time

OOh Fred another Maggie in the making ,just gorgeous .

I think I would avoid your choice in young ladies.

But everybody to their own choice!

She reminds me of Hils!

This is what you call a lady Fred , a dream girl .

One man's dream is another man's nightmare.

Aschcroft stands down as peer

MrT - to take just a small part from 58206 .......
these low life taking these low paid jobs pay no tax

even if someone takes a "low paid job", he will certainly pay NI and quite probably tax too .... he will now have an NI number and be "in the system"
even if he works as a courier driver and forced to be self-employed, he will still have to be registered in the system

for sure there will always be people working in the grey or black economy some or even all of the time - eg many gardeners, house cleaners and the like - but they are just as likely to be what even you would agree to call "british" as "foreign"

===============

post 58210
MrT - i could rip that apart with the greatest of ease and in all sorts of ways, but i really cannot be bothered .... suffice it to say that it's absolute balderdash with little or no foundation for the worse than perjorative comment that you attach

Just to cheer all up.

or,

The one in the center looks like Broon Fred!

Ashcroft will still be a peer. He is just quitting the House of Lords. He keeps his title.

Why is he jacking it in?

Too much outside activities to make a meaningful contribution to the HOL.

I GET THE IMPRESSION NICOLA IS TAKING THE PXXH NOW LOL!!!


Nicola Sturgeon demands end of £26,000 benefits cap
The SNP leader says she wants welfare to increase by more than inflation each year and her party could still vote with Labour even if Trident is renewed.


By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor3:12PM BST 31 Mar 2015 Comments293 Comments
The SNP would demand a minority Labour government removes the £26,000 annual benefits cap, Nicola Sturgeon has said as she confirmed that the renewal of Trident would not prevent the two parties working together.
The First Minister, who wants £180 billion more public spending over the next parliament, said welfare payments should increase by more than inflation each year and there be no limit on how much households could theoretically claim.
Although she said the SNP would not enter any sort of formal arrangement to prop up Labour if the Trident nuclear deterrent was renewed, she said her party could still support Ed Miliband on a vote-by-vote basis on other issues.
Ms Sturgeon has previously described blocking Trident as her “absolute priority” but a minority Labour government could rely on the support of the Conservatives to ensure it cleared the Commons.
Her opposition to a benefits cap marks a lurch to the Left compared to her predecessor, Alex Salmond, who two years ago described some form of limit as a “reasonable thing to have”.
David Cameron told the Telegraph the first act of a new Conservative government would be to reduce the household cap to £23,000, with the £135 million annual savings used towards funding three million apprenticeships by 2020.
Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, has said her party would also examine cutting the cap in areas outside of London, where housing is cheaper.
But Ms Sturgeon told BBC Radio Scotland: “We’ve got a situation where the poorest in our society are plunged being deeper into poverty, where in-work poverty is on the rise.
“So I don’t agree with the obsession of benefit caps. I want to look at how we lift people out of poverty.”
She accused the main Westminster parties of “scapegoating and penalising the poorest” and said she wanted a higher minimum wage of £8.70 per hour by 2020, 70p more than Labour is proposing.
The SNP leader added: “I’ve said repeatedly that we shouldn’t be holding benefit increases below the rate of inflation because if you do that, and you continue the freeze that we’ve seen, you drive people on the lowest incomes deeper into poverty.”
But Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said: “The benefits cap is overwhelmingly supported across Scotland. I think people understand that you shouldn’t get more in benefits than the average family goes out and gets in work.”


Economic experts have warned Ms Sturgeon’s demand that Scotland cuts all financial ties with the UK would create a £7.6 billion annual shortfall, following the collapse in the oil price.
However, Ms Sturgeon said “full fiscal autonomy” would not happen straightaway if agreed by Westminster.


Labour has previously ruled out a coalition with the SNP and Ms Sturgeon said the renewal of Trident remained a “red line” that would prevent a less formal “confidence-and-supply” deal to keep Mr Miliband in Downing Street.
But, even if the nuclear deterrent was renewed, she said the SNP “would vote for things we agree with and we wouldn’t vote for things we don’t agree with”
She argued that a minority Labour Government would not necessarily fall if it lost a Commons vote on Trident and the nuclear deterrent’s renewal may not mean the SNP opposing the Budget.
Anna Soubry, the Conservative defence minister, said: "We’re living in one of the most dangerous times – and we need Trident to keep us safe.
"What’s Ed’s red line? He knows his only way into Number 10 is riding on the coat tails of the SNP – it's terrifying to think he’d trade Britain’s security for the price of power."


Labour has previously ruled out a coalition with the SNP and Ms Sturgeon said the renewal of Trident remained a “red line” that would prevent a less formal “confidence-and-supply” deal to keep Mr Miliband in Downing Street.
But, even if the nuclear deterrent was renewed, she said the SNP “would vote for things we agree with and we wouldn’t vote for things we don’t agree with”
She argued that a minority Labour Government would not necessarily fall if it lost a Commons vote on Trident and the nuclear deterrent’s renewal may not mean the SNP opposing the Budget.
Anna Soubry, the Conservative defence minister, said: "We’re living in one of the most dangerous times – and we need Trident to keep us safe.
"What’s Ed’s red line? He knows his only way into Number 10 is riding on the coat tails of the SNP – it's terrifying to think he’d trade Britain’s security for the price of power."