Should I vote SNP?

Last year the LibDems promised to add 1p to the Scottish basic rate of income tax to be spent on education. As I understand the Scotland Act, any extra revenue generated by this would mean a reduction in the block grant, so the taxpayer would be worse off and no difference made to the budget. Now the same LibDems want to increase income tax across the UK to go to mental health, which according to Barnett consequentials would mean extra money coming to Scotland via the block grant which could be spent any way the Scottish parliament sees fit.

www.thenational.scot/news/14899551.The_Con__Only_9__of_Scots_believe_The_Vow_has_been_kept/

As I have said umpteen times before the 'once in a generation' statement was not a Promise, rather a rallying call to use this unique opportunity to have your say on the Nation's future. Anyway, why worry about something which Trust Me Theresa has said will never happen?

Now THE VOW was not just a promise but a full blown VOW signed by all 3 Better Together party leaders and look what happened to that!

Oh dear Paddyann, you have a short memory. It was not just Alex Salmond (then SNP leader) who promised that the referendum would be "once in a generation" or even "once in a lifetime", his then deputy, now leader Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly promised the same thing. If you cannot remember this, perhaps you should remind yourself by listening to what she told us all in 2014. If neither Salmond nor Sturgeon can speak for the SNP who can we rely on?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-hV_nPhzzs

*Varian" Carmichael IS A LIAR he has been taken to court and the judge AGREED he was a liar ,he compounded his "crime" by asking a charity to pay his court expenses ,In any other job if he had lied about someone and produced "evidence" to back up his lie he'd have been out on his ear.Willie Rennie lives on a different planet,nice wee man but inefectual.The SNO DIDN'T PROMISE the referndum was once in alifetime that was a remark made by Alex Salmond and not a PROMISE to anyone why WOULD A PARTY WHO HAS INDEPENDENCE AS ITS CORE POLICY EVER SAY SUCH A THING .I suggest you find where Alex said it and the context it was said in.The SNP have done far more for the people of Scotland in 10 short years than Labour did in 7 decades or more.There really is no point answering people like you who will say SNP BAD at every opportunity.Independence is not about the SNP its about SCOTLAND being in control of Scotland and thats something that cant/wont happen while we have only 10% of the MP's England has.England will win every time !!I believe you dont live here so maybe you dont see the full picture I'll give you the benefit of the doubt,I can tell you I have many friends in England who think we were mad not to vote for independence and back us all the way

What a pity Granhy23 that you started well with a friendly post, then had to spoil it by gratuitously insulting two good LibDem politicians.

As we were promised by the SNP that the 2014 referendum was "once in a lifetime" it would have made sense for the SNP to disband until, say the year 2100 (quite a lot of lifetimes are 86 years of so). Sadly the SNP lied to the electorate

Varian Last night we attended Hustings, organised by the Regional Equalities Council. A good turn out of the public gave everyone a fair hearing although there was some heckling for the Tory as he tried to defend his party's policies on Immigration, WASPI and the 2 child policy/rape clause. He was booed for his lame response to a 'man in a wheelchair' who had lost his mobility vehicle and was now struggling to carry on working.

However, what I wanted to tell you was that the Liberal candidate, a lovely warm older man who had himself been a refugee, spoke calmly but authoritatively on every topic and was rewarded with loud applause every time he spoke. This from a mainly SNP supporting audience. I was struck by how much we and the SNP Candidate could agree with. As Independence was not really an issue(except for the very poor Labour Candidate who laid the blame for all ills on the SNP controlled Scottish Government) the focus being on fairness and equality' the SNP and Liberal stances on the issues were as one. I so wish the Liberals would at least support 'Scotland's right to choose' if not going the whole hog and supporting Independence. The Liberal Party would undoubtedly flourish in an Independent Scotland as 'SNP until Independence' voters choose who to support thereafter.

The Liberal Candidates name is Iliyan Stefanov. He should be featured more as a Party Representative rather than proven liar Carmichael or waffling Wee Willie Rennie.

Another remainder here. United we stand divided we fall. We are part of the UK. Its a shame that we were outvoted on brexit but we are where we are. I'd rather be responsible to Westminster than EU Parliament even if an independent Scotland could meet their economic threshold which it can't.

Granny23 you and I are in total agreement that brexit is a potential disaster. Neither of us want our country to be dragged out of the European Unoin.

Where we disagree is that I follow through the same logic and am opposed to Scotland being dragged out of the United Kingdom.

We should resist separatism and understand the spirit of Jo Cox, when she told us "there is more that unites us than divides us"

She was a Labour MP and neither you nor I support her party but she was a wise and good person and it was such a tragedy that she was murdered because of what she said and what she stood for. We are Better Together.

Varian You are putting words,conjured up by your own fears, into Nichola's mouth. All she has said is that she would work with Labour or other Parties where their manifesto commitments coincide. People are not as stupid as you seem to think and as Hilda has noticed, mull over statements and come to their own conclusion that they are hearing common sense or bullshit. Almost of the SNP MSPs and MPs have had careers in the real world before being elected and I think that shows in their sensible 'take' on issues when compared to MPs who have gone straight from University into the Westminster bubble as interns, protegees.

Just back from a wonderful weekend at the Strathyre Music Festival and checked the thread for pearls of wisdom and positive reasons to vote Tory, Labour or Liberal in Scotland but still Zilch. So here's an easier question:

Why is someone who wants Scotland to govern itself and be an Independent Country a 'separatist' while those who want to separate from the EU, taking back Sovereignty' are not?

I am Scottish and British and have lived in different parts of the UK and abroad. I have seen the damage done by the nationalists, not just in Scotland, but the knock on effects for the whole country.

I agree that some SNP politicians are good speakers. I also agree with some of their policies, for instance their opposition to brexit but I am totally opposed to their core aim of separatism.

They can talk the talk, and take in quite a lot of people in the process. That is what makes them a real danger to the survival of our country.

Its odd....I'm English (British) whatever....I've lived in the south of England all my life and have no family connections with Scotland and would loathe it if Scotland left us (hells teef we need all the friends we can get) BUT every time I hear an SNP politician talk they seem to make so much more sense!!! Really not sure which way to go.

In an interview with the BBC, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon told Andrew Neil that she would work with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in a hung parliament though she doesn't consider him a "credible alternative" as Prime Minister.

In other words, she prefers having Theresa May, who she obviously judges to be more credible, and she knows that saying she would work with Corbyn will help elect a Tory government, just as it did in 2015.

Having a Tory government suits the SNP separatists agenda of non-stop whinging for another neverendum. A Labour government would give them less to complain about.

Yet again Nicola Sturgeon is doing her utmost to ensure that the UK elects a Tory government. She is saying she would try to work with Labour, knowing full well that when she made that triumphalist statement in the last week of the 2015 election campaign it provoked a huge pro-Tory reaction right across England
giving the dirty tricks department of the Tory party the ammunition they needed to take LibDem and Labour seats and gain an undeserved majority.

Clearly the SNP want another Tory government and know that their offer to support Corbyn is likely to bring that about.

Yes, I saw it.

I expect the person was angry to see a group of Conservatives campaigning illegally.

It wasn't just one. The video was widely shared on the net.

Not "they" - one person did that and of course it was a stupid thing to do.
It was not canvassing by "the SNP"

Those Conservatives were definitely canvassing when they should not have been and have probably ended up with feet full of buckshot because of it.

So somehow following people in a van with a loudhailer isn't canvassing either? That sort of SNP harassment only serves to put people off them even more. I don't think they realise how counterproductive that is. Fair enough. Let them keep shooting theymselves in the feet.

One person, only, was doing that.

Those particular Tory canvassers were out in the streets when campaigning was supposed to be suspended.

They were in trouble the other day when they were reported to be following Tory canvassers and drowning out what they were trying to say.
No surprises there!

FARNORTH No shouting but trying to shove unwanted ballons and leaflets into your hand.I took great delight in telling them i was voting Tory (havent decided who to vote for), more than one person told them the same.
No doubt photos will appear on social media with families laughing and smiling on a lovey sunny day with the children holding snp ballons so it looks like they support this party, great propaganda !

Everywhere like a rash as DH would say grannypiper

Were they shouting or trying to drag you to the stall, grannypiper?
How did they disrupt your peace?

I have just returned from a village Gala day and the bloody snp even have a stall there touting for business. Cnat they give anyone peace ?

What I should have expressed more clearly is that many people see 'SNP' and just move on without reading further.