Kieren @RonTLC

Remember when John Swinney promised an NHS recovery? Instead: 🔹 Operations down 🔹 Cancellations up 🔹 A&E at record lows 🔹 Waiting lists still through the roof After nearly 20 years in power, the SNP don't have anyone else to blame.

What nationalists don’t understand is that the referendum being ‘once’ was entirely by design by the SG. They were terrified of a Yes vote and then people realising the economic calamity they voted for and seeking another referendum to get out of the hole.

ScotFax @scotfax

23 hours ago

#557

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Oh shout up. Scotland was never an EU member state. It voted in 2016 as a constituent nation of the United Kingdom, the actual member state. The referendum was UK-wide under an Act of the UK Parliament. Scotland had already voted in 2014 to remain inside that United Kingdom. There is no constitutional mechanism for one part of the UK to veto or opt out of a UK-wide decision on EU membership. Only three regions of the UK recorded Remain majorities: Scotland, London, and Northern Ireland. The rest of England and all of Wales voted Leave. The UK as a whole delivered a clear majority for Leave. That's how referendums and democracy work in a single sovereign state. Pretending Scotland had some special veto power it never possessed is constitutional illiteracy dressed up as grievance. On the claimed costs: The £4 billion figure comes from Scottish Government modelling of trade friction alone. Broader independent estimates of Brexit's long-term UK-wide impact range from around 4% of GDP (OBR and others) upwards in some models, with adaptation and new trade deals (Australia, CPTPP, etc.) already mitigating parts of it. Scotland's economy remains deeply integrated into the much larger UK internal market. Claims of pure "lost revenue" ignore gains in fishing quota control, regulatory freedom, and new non-EU export opportunities. No serious analysis says Scotland is uniquely ruined while the rest of the UK sails on. Farmers face real challenges, seasonal labour shortages hit horticulture and soft fruit hard after free movement ended, and EU trade now involves paperwork and checks. But the UK Government expanded the Seasonal Worker visa scheme (now drawing from Central Asia and elsewhere) precisely to address this. Trade barriers are two-way and were always going to exist outside the single market; uncertainty has largely ended with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in place. Pre-Brexit, Scottish farmers also faced EU rules, quotas, and competition they didn't always like. Scotland didn't get everything it wanted in 2016 — just as it didn't get everything it wanted in 2014. But it remains inside the United Kingdom it chose to stay in, with all the fiscal transfers, single market access across the UK, and policy influence that brings. Blaming every post-2016 problem on Brexit while ignoring the 38% of Scots who voted Leave, the adaptation already underway, and the fact that Scotland was never in the EU on its own terms is just selective accounting. The UK left as one country. Scotland is still part of that one country. As for independence, that isn't a cost-free escape from one set of trade frictions; it replaces them with a much deeper economic rupture that has never been properly squared with voters.

Aamer Anwar here claims that the most dangerous problem in this country is young white men. He says no one talks about it, you make up your own mind on that point. In reality, we should stop vilifying Scottish people and focus on the epidemic of migrant rape in Scotland.

They'll sell anything on eBay these days

#557

@fhirinn @AgentP22 Maybe closer to strapping a parachute to yourself, and then telling everyone else on the plane to just jump with some rucksacks you found in the lost and found whilst convincing them they are parachutes.

@edwardrmgraham @AgentP22 "But it's legal tender!!"

As the SNP leadership continues to try to prevent any investigations into the loss of funds they could see legal procedures as they are likely to be culpable and reckless. John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon failed to take action when questions about the Ring Fenced Funds came to light. Instead they denied any funds were missing. Which now know was untrue. The latest falsehoods offered claiming the SNP and Yes Scotland Limited are separate organisations is exposed by the fact Yes Scotland Limited was set up by the then SNP in-house solicitor Scott Martin and monies appear to have been transferred between the 2 organisations.👇

@MrCarlosSultana @DougstarFF When the Irish Free State left the UK they took on pensions (with some exceptions), so he isn't lying. Britain didn't pay the pensions any more. I believe Ireland had to cut pensions a few years later because it was such a burden.

SNP currency confusion is back in the news. Alyn Smith says independence papers make everything perfectly clear. So what does this excerpt from the economy paper say? It says brutal austerity would be required in a sterlingised Scotland. But it doesn’t make that clear, does it?

ScotGov consultation on new CT bands published. The paper states that new primary legislation will be required to introduce new Bands I & J. However s.74(3)(b) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 allows other bands to be substituted for those set out in 1992 (A-H). Section 74(3)(a) has already been used the change existing multipliers in Bands E,F,G & H back in 2016. I have emailed Local Tax team in ScotGov to ask why they consider primary legislation to be necessary. There are big implications if this is so. x.com/scotgov/status…

Scottish Government @scotgov

3 days ago

We want your views on plans for a mansion tax. A consultation is now open on two new council tax bands for properties worth more than £1 million and £2 million respectively. Share your views ➡️consult.gov.scot/local-governme…

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Here @ScotExpress your photographer deserves a raise. I’ve always wondered what Swinney would look like if he had a bright idea 💡

@ottawascot Spain does have land Borders with Morocco so maybe not the best example to have used, mate. 🤣

John Swinney has been called on to finally implement domestic abuse protections which are still not in force despite being backed by MSPs five years ago. dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…

The spokesperson for Yes Scotland Limited which could only be either Scott Martin or Blair Jenkins claim all the funds were accounted for. Really? Massive amounts of money are unaccounted for and Yes Scotland Limited was legally required to be separate from the #SNP. So perhaps the #SNP can explain why Peter Murrell had to bail out Yes Scotland Limited in 2015? Both organisations don't support an investigation. The public isn't as stupid as they think they are. @DanVevers @ConnorGillies @MailOnlineScot @kacnutt

Yes Scotland. Total SNP support to Yes Scotland was approximately £1.168 million. The money transferred from SNP bank accounts to Yes Scotland’s bank account(s). Peter Murrell was the SNP Chief Executive at the time. He had control of the SNP’s principal bank account. He was able to make direct bank transfers from that account. The question - what happened to a large sum of money (£879,000) recorded in the 2014 accounts once the campaign ended — and why the company’s later filings show it effectively vanished with very little explanation. Yes Scotland - Director Scott Martin - worked closely with Peter Murrell inside the SNP for many years (Murrell was CEO; Martin was the party’s senior lawyer).

5 new supreme Court judges hand picked by John Swinney Have a keek at who's top of the list ! Our Judiciary is losing face & all trust of the people ! lawscot.org.uk/members/journa…

“And we shall have fun trolling the English, and they will troll in return” “Trolling, Sir?” “Every April we will tell them that St George was born in Turkey, and every July they will tell us that their pub is older than our country” “And we will mock each other’s food.” “Why, sir?” “Because we will enjoy it” “But why will we enjoy it?” “Nobody knows”

FTAOD. The Electoral Commission seems to think this is fine.