tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399785089945207672.post1441428375128145069..comments2021-10-20T19:13:29.167+01:00Comments on Eleanor M Harris: Scotland's FutureEleanor M Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12402514322954279951noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399785089945207672.post-25598654768725401962014-02-15T12:37:18.363+00:002014-02-15T12:37:18.363+00:00"All Scottish influence would be withdrawn fr..."All Scottish influence would be withdrawn from Westminster. "<br /><br />True, but even if we stay part of the UK our political influence is about be diminished anyway with a reduction in Scottish MPs to 52 in 2015. <br /><br />The following is a historical look back at how the UK election would have different if there were no Scottish MPs. http://wingsoverscotland.com/why-labour-doesnt-need-scotland/<br /><br />-1964 Scottish MPs have turned what would have been a Conservative government into a Labour one. The Tory majority without Scottish votes would have been just one MP (280 vs 279).<br /><br />- the second of the two 1974 elections Scottish MPs gave Labour a majority (319 vs 316) they wouldn’t have had from the rest of the UK alone.<br /><br />- in 2010 the presence of Scottish MPs has deprived the Conservatives of an outright majority, although the Conservatives ended up in control of the government anyway in coalition with the Lib Dems when Labour refused to co-operate with other parties in a “rainbow alliance”.<br /><br />Regardless of Scottish influence in WM it takes political will to affect change and there needs to be action and not reaction as is currently happening in England with the flooding. I believe that solutions to the current environmental crisis will be found locally, but that still needs the backing of the State. In Scotland that will be best served, by a Scottish government.<br /><br />The recent terrifying YouGov/ The Times poll that showed the only 52% of people believe climate change is responsible and only 30% believe is man-made, despite the evidence that climate change is contributing http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26084625.<br /><br />A case of the public believing climate denying politicians over science based evidence. It doesn’t help when Government ministers, people in positions of power and responsibility, rubbish the credentials of Environment Agency staff by calling them “so called experts”. They are the experts and they have been warning about extreme weather events, the effects and what needs done, it is chronic underfunding to the scale of the problem that is the issue and treasury rules regarding “return on investment” for infrastructure projects like flood defences. <br /><br />No one has a future in a world of environmental crisis. I agree that Scotland “could do what it has done before: be the catalyst that changes the global discourse: that changes the world.” But at the moment our voice is largely ignored, crowded out by the WM government and would be heard far more clearly around the world as an independent nation.<br /><br />Alan Elliottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399785089945207672.post-7067141264894660412014-02-15T12:35:10.225+00:002014-02-15T12:35:10.225+00:00"Scotland would spend the next decade or so e..."Scotland would spend the next decade or so establishing institutions, realigning parties, finding its economic feet and its diplomatic place in the world."<br /><br />I agree that it may or may not be too late to avert catastrophic environmental crisis and based on the part of the research I do projections of how climate change and human population pressures will likely affect wild populations of plants is frankly depressing. We might spend year finding our feet as a nation but we are already on the way. The Scottish Enlightenment was a reaction to the massive political upheaval of the time. I believe that it is likely that independence would trigger the similar burst of energy.<br /><br />For me independence isn’t about a heroic idealistic freedom. We can’t affect real change constricted by Westminster. I’d argue that if the current political alignment in WM is overturned at the next election we then have a term of the winning side are likely to spend their political energies undoing what they didn’t like or resigning themselves to continuing what is happening now. Not engaging in the environment crisis.<br /><br />If Scotland does vote for leaving the UK we are not starting from scratch; we have the talents, skill and infrastructure already. Investment and research in renewables, green technologies and conservation will continue because the Scottish Parliament, not just the SNP, have shown that they understand how important this is. WM Government funded research budgets have been dramatically cut, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who fund research councils like the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, have to find savings of £570m in the 2014-15 financial year and over £800m the following year.<br /><br />On leaving the UK we might just get a government that will create evidence based policy, unlike current and recent WM governments. The current environmental policy toward badger culling is case and point, pandering to Conservative voters not following the science. There was no evidence that the cull would make any difference and it hasn’t, but it went ahead. Just this week DEFRA released data showing that Wales’ no-cull, biosecurity, and vaccination policy, which was largely rubbished by pro-cull supporters as ineffectual, has reduced herd TB by almost 25%.<br />http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2281811/defras_astonishing_new_tb_figures_an_end_to_the_cull.html<br />Alan Elliottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399785089945207672.post-67753315129099086032014-02-15T11:03:18.379+00:002014-02-15T11:03:18.379+00:00Interesting piece, however it assumes that our voi...Interesting piece, however it assumes that our voice will continue to influence Westminster and therefore global politics. This is no longer the case. Westminster politics is broken, they serve only the elite and the corporate powers suck power, resources and the natural environment to serve their ends. Scottish independence is the dream of a new form of politics with justice and fairness at the heart. The green party backs it they know that Westminster does not want to address global warming. So I disagree we need to cut free from the old political elites in order to create a more sustainable futureAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com