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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think Nicola Sturgeon should do her day job

75 replies

Bilberry · 20/04/2015 13:12

she seems to spending her whole time campaigning at the moment so people might overlook the fact that her parliament has not been dissolved and she is being paid to run the Scottish Government.

Surely Salmon is up to doing his own campaigning?

OP posts:

HirplesWithHaggis · 20/04/2015 17:35

You do know WW2 ended 70 years ago, yes? I suspect most SNP members weren't even born then.

CrystalCove · 20/04/2015 17:36

Fair game I can't believe you think there is an English Parliament and this is an English general election! Westminster is the UK Parliament and whilst Scotland remains as part of the UK will send MPs to Westminster. Are you trying to wind Scottish people up?!

CrystalCove · 20/04/2015 17:39

NS is not intent on "wrecking" Scotland just because she believes in independence, clearly you see it differently, but to even mention the Nazis as if it is relevant in 2015 is nasty.

fairgame · 20/04/2015 17:41

Thankyou hirples for explaining it without taking the piss out of me.

Crystal no I'm not trying to wind you up. Not everybody understands politics at least im trying to grasp it and get in involved.

expatinscotland · 20/04/2015 17:43

'We went through hell here in Scotland during the referendum.'

We did? Everything ticked along just fine during it - transport ran, utilities worked, schools, shops and businesses were open as usual.

Original poster

Bilberry · 20/04/2015 18:03

The SNP seem awfully keen on centralisation and despite her talk of opposing cuts and austerity, there have been cuts in a lot of things Holyrood has power over, not least due to the capping of council tax. Care services for disabled, libraries, teaching assistants etc. Also rather than assisting councils who are having trouble recruiting teachers they plan to penalise them (further cuts) for it - not all Scotland is like the Central belt.

OP posts:

CrystalCove · 20/04/2015 18:07

Fair game I don't have s huge undetstanding of political matters either but not to know that Scotland are part of the UK and the UK government seems to feed right into the reasons a lot of people in Scotland want independence in the first place!

CrystalCove · 20/04/2015 18:08

I never experienced "hell" during the referendum either.

expatinscotland · 20/04/2015 18:09

Um, so don't vote for them then.

fairgame · 20/04/2015 18:12

I know that Scotland is part of the uk im not a complete idiot
But i also know that they have their own parliament just like the Welsh have their own assembly. I thought there were separate elections for Westminster, Welsh assembly and Holyrood.

Iggi999 · 20/04/2015 18:14

...there are.

dotdotdotmustdash · 20/04/2015 18:14

No hell for me here either. It was an interesting time and united as many communities as it divided. I think it did the Scots a lot of good, regardless of the result as there is definitely more interest in Scotland's part in the UK.

Duckdeamon · 20/04/2015 18:14

Politician campaigns during election , whatever next!

Iggi999 · 20/04/2015 18:15

Separate elections I mean.

voluptuagoodshag · 20/04/2015 18:18

Fairgame, there are separate elections for these but Wales and Scotland are still part of the United Kingdom as is England. England doesn't have it's own parliament.

APlaceInTheWinter · 20/04/2015 18:22

We went through hell here in Scotland during the referendum.
I didn't. My family didn't, even though we had members voting differently. I don't know this 'we' that you think you represent. If a campaign that mobilised most of the electorate and reinvigorated Scottish politics was 'hell' for you then I wonder how you'll cope with the election . . .

fairgame MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) represent Scotland in the Scottish Government. Our MPs (Members of Parliament) represent us at Westminster. We need both because major issues aren't devolved eg defence. MPs from every country in the UK go to Westminster so all parts of the country have an impact on the policies that affect us all. It means at different points, we have elections for local councillors who represent us at local authority level; MSPs who represent us in the Scottish Government and MPs who represent us at Westminster.

Iggi999 · 20/04/2015 18:24

There is also an assembly at Stormont in Northern Ireland.

SlaggyIsland · 20/04/2015 18:25

I certainly didn't go through hell during the referendum. I thought it was fantastic to see people engaged, thinking, talking and debating.

voluptuagoodshag · 20/04/2015 18:29

And we live in a democracy. I might not agree with what a political party or individual says or does but I don't need to vote for them. The SNP are a very large party now and as NS is their leader then it is absolutely right that she is campaigning on a wider level.

I think all the new parties are a breath of fresh air, even the ones I despise because it's shaken British politics to the core and that can only be a good thing.

The two main parties used to be Tory and Liberal until about a century ago when Labour stepped in to represent the working person.

Then things changed so the two main parties were Labour and Tory who had the exact opposite values. The liberals filled the grey middle ground for those who couldn't decide between the big two.
Over time, the gap and values between Tory and Labour has diminished to the extent that there is no red and no blue, they are almost the same as they try to please both sides to stay in power. Labour and Tory have become one big grey middle ground who only represent themselves as they tussle for power. As such, the Liberals have ceased to exist because there is no middle ground to fill. The UK electorate have become fed up with this and different parties have emerged to counteract this vast greyness and represent the diverse electorate we are. It's only natural. Bring it on!

CrystalCove · 20/04/2015 18:31

Fairgame I never said you were an "idiot" but if you know Scotland are part of the UK then it's strange you didn't realise that they are still part of the UK Parliament at Westminster, that is all.

fairgame · 20/04/2015 18:35

I just got confused with it all as i knew there were separate parliaments/assemblies and elections. It's all much clearer now

PrimalLass · 20/04/2015 19:27

We went through hell here in Scotland during the referendum.

Speak for yourself. I loved it.

chocoluvva · 20/04/2015 19:40

It is complicated though - Nic Sturgeon won't have a seat in Westminster. (fortunately IMO)

I don't think the SNP is a breath of fresh air at all - they are particularly bad for engaging in the type of behaviour that gives politicians a bad name ; point scoring, pushing through legislation on the quiet (armed police, state childrens' guardians) undemocratically overturning council decisions and forcing land sales (Donald Trump) interrupting each other, making pledges and promises they don't keep, being economical with the truth and the SNP have a horrible habit of claiming things for the Scottish people for which there is no evidence eg that scotland tends to be socialist and delighted to have immigration, is outward-looking, canny etc etc. What a load of crap. They encourage divisiveness - anti-Tory, anti-Westminster and use the culture of the central belt of scotland as short-hand for the whole of scotland. You're a brave person if you admit to having voted No in the referendum. IMO they will stop at almost nothing to get independence and why? For no good reason that I can see - the Scottish population isn't exactly an oppressed minority. We speak the same language and share the same religions.

They might not be part of the old boy network but they're as establishment as they come AS and NS have been in politics for a long time.

Khaleejikat · 20/04/2015 20:02

Lets see. During the referendum we had the "I would rather fly the flag of ISIS than the butchers apron" the "beheading is too good for No voters" the "Wings over Scotland" blogger-based in Bath who was endorsed by SNP and camp Yes who said "9/11 was a good day"
Now we have the Named Person Scheme. The SNP leadership now states one must never criticise the party in public. We have wee Nippy not ruling out another referendum and a general extreme Anglophobic rhetoric on the part of the wee Nat sycophants who believe every word from Nippy's lying mouth.
No one can deny this is the party that actively endorsed the Nazi leadership during the war.
They are Nationalistic and Anglophobic to the core. Had their been a Yes I shudder to think what would have happened to No voters. After all their former leader Jim Sillers said the would be "a day of reckoning for those who voted No".
And only today their deputy leader in Glasgow city council has been suspended for his homophobic comments.
They've blamed the young, the old and of course immigrants for the referendum result.
Make no mistake; they are a dangerous bunch and democracy does not figure in their plan for Scotland.

Ubik1 · 20/04/2015 20:08

Oh god here we go again

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