Referendum aftermath

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/poll-66-of-scots-want-another-indyref-in-the-next-10-years.1414764259

Poll: 66% of Scots want another indyref in the next 10 years
Friday 31 October 2014
Two-thirds of Scots want another independence referendum to be held in the next 10 years while more than half think a vote on the country's future should take place within just five years, a new poll has revealed.

A total of 66% said they backed another referendum within a decade, regardless of the circumstances, according to the survey by Ipsos MORI.

The research, which was carried out for STV News, also found that regardless of what happens, 58% of people support having another vote in the next five years.

The polling firm questioned 1,029 people in Scotland for the survey, which was conducted between October 22 and 29.

More than half (53%) of people said they supported having another referendum if the Conservatives win a majority in next year's general election while 54% said a vote on Scotland's future in the UK should take place if the Tories win in May but do not have any MPs north of the border.

Meanwhile, 55% are in favour of a second independence referendum if the UK votes to leave the European Union in 2017.

Mark Diffley, research director at Ipsos MORI said he was "not particularly surprised" by the findings.

He said the September 18 referendum had generated an "unprecedented" interest in politics, with turnout in the vote reaching 85%.

Mr Diffley added: "As 45% of people voted Yes, you would imagine all of them would want another referendum.

"In terms of No voters, they could want another referendum for a variety of reasons, they are maybe somewhat disappointed with what has happened since in terms of extra powers and there may be people who were tempted to vote Yes but didn't go through with it who would like the opportunity to have the debate again."

Remind me again, who won and who lost? Because the Scots weren't supposed to enjoy that one so much, they want another one ASAP.

George Parker, Political Editor, Financial Times

Alistair Darling, the former chancellor, is to stand down as an MP at the next election, in a further blow to a Scottish Labour party which has collapsed in the opinion polls and now faces a leadership vacuum.

But Mr Darling insisted the time was right for him to step aside while he was “still relatively young” and threw his support behind Jim Murphy as the person best placed to restore the party’s fortunes north of the border.

Mr Darling, 60, told the Financial Times he was “frustrated” that the Labour party had not used September’s independence referendum – which the No campaign won by a “decisive” margin of 55:45 per cent – as a springboard.

Johann Lamont resigned last month as Scotland’s Labour leader, with some opinion polls giving the Scottish National party more than 50 per cent of the vote and predicting near annihilation for Labour at next May’s election.

“My frustration is that we actually won,” he said. “You can’t say it often enough. We made the arguments, we had confidence in ourselves.” He hopes that Mr Murphy, the combative former Scottish secretary, can pick up the pieces.

He fears that unless Labour can halt the SNP advance, Scotland would soon be confronted with another independence referendum. “Most people in Scotland don’t want to be living in Neverendum Land,” he said.

Mr Darling said David Cameron had been “unwise” to inflame sentiment by linking further devolution to Scotland to the issue of “English votes for English laws” – including possibly barring Scottish MPs from voting on income tax at Westminster.

He said such a move would create “inherent instability” and could be disastrous in a future financial crisis, if the markets felt that a UK government did not have full control over the ability to raise income tax at Westminster.

“If you can’t raise money it has huge repercussions not just on what you can spend on your creditworthiness,” he said.

Mr Darling, who chaired the Better Together campaign, said he hoped to use his experience by helping a campaign to keep Britain in Europe in a future referendum, saying that such a vote now seemed inevitable at some point whoever wins the next election.

“It’s a boil that has to be lanced,” he said, but warned that the Scottish referendum had shown the danger of ceding too much ground to your opponents. “If you sit back and wait till the other lot have taken so much ground then you’re on the back foot,” he said. “You pay a heavy price.”

Meanwhile he urged Labour to tackle a sense of despair among voters by promising major investment in housing and transport infrastructure – funded by more borrowing at low rates of interest – to put the economic recovery on a stable footing.

Oops, there goes another SLAB high heid yin...

OMG, I didn't see that one coming, LL! I actually don't think Labour in Scotland can be saved - they are NEVER going to be forgiven for what they did, jumping into bed with the Tories.

If they had backed independence, as many of their members wanted, YES would have won easily, and Labour would have been kings and queens of Scotland for decades. Which would have been pretty bad, now I come to think of it....

The spectacle of ordinary Scots weeping in the streets as the results came in, while Labour celebrated with the Tories, damned them forever.

http://wingsoverscotland.com/

Is about the best blog for an all-round look at the ongoing Labour Nights of the Long Knives; the backstabbing is happening almost too fast to keep up with.

This is amazing.  

It's a pity they hadn't done this six months ago, Lily, instead of pretending all was sweetness and light. The independence negotiations would be coming along nicely now. Thing is, it's not the 45%-ers that are angry, we all knew they were a shower of sh*ts, so this is popcorn time. It's the rest of the electorate, who so foolishly believed them.

That Murphy creep wants to be the next SLAB leader, but there's no guarantee he'll get elected, as Labour still has an antiquated system involving trade unions having block votes on the Labour leadership, and the unions detest him.

So, it's all good, and doubtless there is much more to come.

So....you will get there in the end although later rather than sooner.

There's also the possible EU referendum, Lily. Scotland does have reservations about the way it's being run at present, but wants to stay in. England wants out, if the polls are anything to go by:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/scots-want-to-stay-in-eu-as-the-rest-of-britain-wants-to-say-goodbye.1414934009

Some 57% of people in Scotland would vote to stay in in the EU if a referendum were held, compared with 37% of people across the UK, a YouGov poll found.

Just 28% of people in Scotland want to leave compared with 47% across the UK.

First minister-in-waiting Nicola Sturgeon said the results reinforce her demand for an EU exit to require the assent of all of the nations of the UK, rather than a simple UK majority.

But the poll also shows that the Wales/Midlands area may be the most eurosceptic with support of the EU running at just a third, compared with almost half who want to leave.

Ms Sturgeon has not ruled out holding another Scottish independence referendum, particularly if Scotland is at risk of being withdrawn from the EU against its will.

"If another referendum happens will not be dictated by politicians - it will be down to the will of the Scottish people," she told Sky News's Murnaghan programme.

When asked if an EU exit would precipitate another independence referendum, Ms Sturgeon said: "I think if that scenario was to unfold there would be significant disquiet and concern within Scotland because it would be disastrous for our economic interests to be outside of the EU.

"Europe needs reform and change, it's not perfect, but our interests are best served within it and for us to be taken out against our will would be democratically indefensible.
"I put forward this week what I think is a democratic fair proposition.

"If you wind back to the referendum campaign, we had Westminster politicians queuing up to say the UK was a family of nations, a partnership of equals, Gordon Brown even said if we voted no we would be as close to a federal state as it is possible to get.

"What I am suggesting is if there is an in/out EU referendum, as I now think is inevitable, then for the UK to come out of the EU it would require not just a vote for that across the UK but a vote for that in each of the constituent nations of the UK.

"That to me would be the kind of federal solution that Gordon Brown appeared to be promising, and it would be a protection against any of the equal members of the family of nations being taken out of Europe against our will."

YouGov surveyed 1808 adults across Great Britain with 157 in Scotland on October 30-

I see NO way any of these circles can be made to fit any of the squares if Scotland stays in the Union.

Sh*t Creek, up, and paddleless. And it couldn't happen to better people.

Result!  

So much for being 'Better Together'.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/alex-salmond-effigy-to-be-burned-at-lewes-bonfire.1415202044

Alex Salmond effigy to be burned at Sussex bonfire

Jill Castle
Assistant Digital Editor
Wednesday 5 November 2014
He's a controversial figure, loved by some and hated by others, but now the residents of a Sussex market town have given their verdict on First Minister Alex Salmond.

Picture: East Sussex County Council, Twitter




A guy of the First Minister has been unveiled as the centrepiece of the prestigious Lewes bonfire celebrations.

The official East Sussex County Council Twitter account tweeted a picture of the effigy, which includes Nessie and a 45% symbol, with the message "A sneak preview of Alex Salmond and Nessie ahead of tonight's bonfire in Lewes - it just rolled up at County Hall."

The First Minister also made a list of possible guys for the Edenbridge Bonfire Society's celebrations in Kent but was pipped to the post by former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The unveiling of the bonfire celebration centrepiece provoked anger on Twitter.

Ross Matthews tweeted: "@EastSussexCC completely enraged by your anti scottish behaviour. Will not be visiting East Sussex again."

David McElroy tweeted: "@EastSussexCC What have you been drinking down there to think this was a good idea?"

Finlay Harris tweeted: "@EastSussexCC are you honestly burning an effigy of Alex Salmond...?? What an abhorrent thing to do..."

Lynsey Macfadyen tweeted: "@EastSussexCC that is utterly disgraceful! What if Scotland were to burn thatcher or Cameron? We'd get hate but naw it's okay for you?"

Alex Cox tweeted: "@EastSussexCC Burning the man who tried to break Westminster? You don't really *get* Guy Fawkes' Night, do you?"

Lewes Bonfire is a series of celebrations in the East Sussex town which form what it says is the UK's largest and most famous Guy Fawkes Night festivities, with Lewes laying claim to the title of Bonfire capital of the world.

The event not only marks the date of the uncovering of the Gunpowder plot in 1605, but also commemorates the memory of 17 Protestant martyrs from the town who were burned at the stake in the 16th century.

There are six societies putting on five separate parades and firework displays: this can mean 3000 people taking part in the celebrations, and up to 80,000 spectators attending in the small market town, which has a population of just under 16,000.

Utterly vile, disgusting and racist.

That is unbelievable.  Sick, stupid and utterly puerile.

lily wrote:That is unbelievable.  Sick, stupid and utterly puerile.

I am afraid there are still certain parts of the UK, not I hasten to add, further north or west, where such behavior is the norm. LL

That is such a great shame, LL.  The UK used to have a wonderful reputation for civility and fair mindedness.  

lily wrote:That is such a great shame, LL.  The UK used to have a wonderful reputation for civility and fair mindedness.  

When I moved south I found that my Orkney/ Austiain accent was one hell of a bar in England so I learned to speak 'English as she is spoke' so as to blend in. I can switch between my three accents with great ease! LL

All at the same time, LL?

I think most Scots do that when speaking with furrin, southron types, LL, their 'English' is different from their normal Scots speech. You can't even use the same words because English people don't understand them.

lily wrote:All at the same time, LL?

Silly girl!! I use the English one when talking to the English, Scots north of the border and Austrian where required. I was taught how to by an old actor friend of my dad's. Like my name, I switched my first name with my second as it was easier for people to pronounce and made it less obvious I was of foreign blood In other words, I practiced a small but rewarding con trick . LL

I can't stand Bonfire Night anyway, it's a barbarian, sectarian relic. We don't have Brighton Bombing nights, do we - and that was a lot more successful than Guy Fawkes' effort.

We have Bastille Day. And all that got released were three burglars, one murderer and one recalcitrant aristocrat. Not a political prisoner in sight.

http://scotgoespop.blogspot.co.uk/

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Many thanks to Tory-controlled East Sussex County Council for helping bring the date of Scottish independence forward again
I literally cannot believe what I've just seen on Twitter. At first I thought the suggestions that East Sussex County Council (run by a minority Tory administration) were planning to burn a giant effigy of Alex Salmond tonight for Bonfire Night were just the result of a piece of spectacularly ill-judged humour. But the photographic evidence, in which the effigy is sporting the words "Yes" and "45%" on his person, suggest otherwise. In other words, the Tory party are not only symbolically burning one of Scotland's two most popular politicians, but are also burning the 45% of the entire Scottish electorate who voted for independence (and presumably by extension the majority of the population who at least seriously considered voting for independence).

I initially thought Tommy Sheridan's suggestion of a second independence referendum as early as 2020 was a bit fanciful (barring a British withdrawal from the EU). With every passing day, I'm becoming less sure if that's true.

I gather the council is being inundated with complaints, and furious phone calls are being made to the local police to stop this as it is a clear, racist hate crime.

Oh, and it's all over the Scots media.

Never mind, like the man says, it's all more members for the SNP.

They never think these things through.

So much for, We love you Scotland, please don't go.

They only want the money.