Scottish General Election

[Differentforgirls]

Who are Scottish people voting for next month?

The only way that I think a second referendum right now would be justified is if that were the ONLY policy of a party that then wins a majority. Otherwise, I feel it is wrong that the SNP somehow think that if they get a majority, that’s what ‘the people asked for’. As if they only have that one policy.

I think the SNP would have much more respect if they had accepted the last (pretty recent still) referendum and parked their dominant focus on that, and said so. Then focus on everything but Indy 2. I would have respected that especially when there are so many things that need attention, time, and improvement. But I know that would never happen as that is why they exist.

That will never happen though as people are also voting for a 5 year Govt.

@Freysimo i did notice that, picked up on one comment re trans to tell me to look at the wider picture whilst completely ignoring the wider issues I stated.

As for another indyref. We really need to move on from that and concentrate on fixing the current issues but I suspect that it’s easier to blame Westminster for everything rather than roll up the sleeves and govern.

Scotland gets more than £20 BILLION pounds a year more in spending than it brings in via tax.

Every year.

Sounds like we're both very happy for Scotland to lose that.

This is not true. Scotland runs a large net fiscal deficit and receives a substantial implicit transfer from the rest of the UK (predominantly England, as it is ~84% of the UK population and economy).
Latest GERS (2024-25): Scotland's net fiscal deficit is £26.2–26.5 billion (11.6–11.7% of GDP).1b71ca
UK-wide deficit: 5.1% of GDP.

Implied transfer to Scotland: Roughly £14–15 billion per year (the gap between Scotland's actual deficit and its population share of the UK deficit). This equates to ~£2,600+ per person higher public spending than the UK average.

Scotland raises roughly the UK-average revenue per head but benefits from much higher spending per head (via the Barnett formula and other mechanisms). This redistribution comes overwhelmingly from England's taxpayers.

There are only two areas of the UK that are net contributors.

You are quoting figures from GERS, this includes money spent on Scotland's behalf by the UK.

We never see this money. We are given a fixed amount of grant money, once it is spent, it's gone.
Deficit is run up on money spent by the UK government, and is a national figure which assumes we would spend exactly the same amount if independent, on the same things.

We are only poor as part of the UK. Being able to be independent means having fiscal choice not to spend money on HS2, Channel Tunnel, London Underground, none of which benefit us but under GERS we are responsible for payment of all of these.

Oh FFS why are people still spouting this nonsense. Any indirect link from Scottish taxes to HS2 is balanced by extra block grant funding via Barnett.

I’m politically homeless. I’ll never vote SNP because their track record is dire, won’t vote Lib Dem because they don’t know what a woman is, the greens aren’t focussing on green issues and have very strange views, and labour are a complete disaster. Reform will attract all manner of extreme people.
That leaves Conservative who are extremely weak 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️.

@GargoylesofBeelzebub, yes, that is why the GERS figures show a debt!

We had a 'share' of HS2, so the debt from infrastructure projects is added to our spending as if it was spent by the Scottish Government.

So the costs are deducted BEFORE the block grant is paid, and paid by the UK government on our behalf. The block grant is a fixed amount and no extra is given to the Scottish Government.

The UK government spends our money for us, and when they overspend, they allocate the deficit to us, which is the deficit reflected in the GERS figures.

I mean in terms of we, as a country, are the third biggest net contributors to the UK.

That's third out of four.

No it isn’t.

England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, that's four.

Are all the manifestos out now? I can’t find Green or Lib Dem.

No this is not true. GERS show the notional fiscal position including the block grant.

www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/articles/countryandregionalpublicsectorfinances/financialyearending2023

You’re mistaking countries as regions.

I also think Reform have gained popularity because they have filled a political void. None of the mainstream political parties wanted to address immigration issues for fear of being perceived as racist. And so this is what we end up with.

That just gets me to a correction page, just tell me who you mean when you say "we, as a country" and who you are comparing it to.

You said "we, as a country" so it's fair enough to assume the comparison is with other countries.

England is the net subsidiser; the other three are net recipients. Both Scotland and Wales receive more than £20 billion per year more than they pay in tax. Scotland receives the most.

And trans women are men.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=how+many+regions+does+the+uk+have&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

You just don’t have a grip of Uk finances.

I'm capable of using AI myself, thank you.
Why are you comparing a country with reagions?

Just accept you got it wrong. Who are you voting for in May?