Mr Bairn Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Okay here goes. As many of you know I'm a passionate Brit who struggled to defend the union during the campaign. My final excuse for a No vote when discussing the issue with friends is that I want to improve things for all 65m people in this country, not just the 5m that happen to live in Scotland. Anyway, here are my proposals for the UK government to consider 1. Grant "Devo Max" to not only Scotland but also Wales and Northern Ireland, leaving only defence and foreign affairs under Westminster control. 2. England will also see power devolved to the "Devo Max" level. Give them a referendum on whether they want a single English parliament based in Birmingham or around 10 regional parliaments serving roughly 5m people each 3. Reduce the voting age to 16 for all elections 4. Legislate for an elected upper house to replace the house of lords 5. Shelve the idea of an EU referendum unless Eurosceptics were to win a majority of MPs 6. A full scale review of the role nuclear weapons play in our defence, including examining cheaper options 7. Give all devolved parliaments the power to reintroduce the 50p and 10p tax rates first 7 that spring to mind. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracowjambo Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 If this was a option I would support it but it never will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 The power hungry at Westminster will never agree to that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QPSAFalkirkFirm Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 f**k me, the UK population just went up by 5 million people. Is there no end to the skulduggery? Or is that the official UKIP figures that you're quoting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeTillEhDeh Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I don't particularly think rushing legislation for the sake of it is a good idea. The obvious starting point is to get agreement for change in principle with a realistic timescale to avoid it being kicked in to the long grass. That means having: * A second reading on the principle of reform before the General Election * A firm commitment from all parties for change in their manifestos * A clear timescale after the General Election for a settlement - by the next Scottish Parliament elections would be sufficient Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 f**k me, the UK population just went up by 5 million people. Is there no end to the skulduggery? Or is that the official UKIP figures that you're quoting? Eh... the UK population is estimated to be appx 65 million. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Full tax powers can't really be devolved - doing so with VAT and allowing the rate to be varied would be illegal under European law. Anyway - Federal UK. 10% federal income tax and collect the VAT. Defence, constitutional affairs and foreign affairs rests with Westminster. Westminster to be vastly scaled down due to an English parliament. I suggest one or maybe two two MPs for each UK county. Retain fixed term parliaments but make it every four years, and have an elected house of lords that is every four years as well, but on an alternating cycle. Ah, I'm a dreamer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 This BT argument that "I care about the poor all over Britain, not just Scotland" is one of the most baseless, ridiculous arguments ever made. The reason we have so much poverty everywhere in Britain is BECAUSE of the union. We hang on to being this world superpower through our lingering colonial pride in the empire, and as such squander huge amounts of money on nuclear weapons, extortionate military costs and accommodating to the needs of corporate arseholes who are in charge of making us a world leader but by doing so only serve themselves and the wee region they all live in. It makes me sick how quickly people defend all that because of some rose tinted British joviality based on WW2 and pretty much f**k all else. Scotland could've made things so much better for all of Britain, by ripping up our archaic collective identity and forcing everyone to start afresh, forcing politicians of the future to focus on what needs done for the people who elect them and not the finance/murder business. Alas, we made a roaring c**t of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 The only way I can see things improving is if the majority of English people stop electing Right Wing governments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Will never ever ever ever ever happen. Nothing will change. I also heard the new powers that are being offered to Scotland sort of make the Barnett Formula useless and there would be no point using them. Can anyone expand? Nothing will change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Well, if Scotland gets tax raising powers then alterations will have to be made to the Barnett formula as Scotland will be collecting its own taxes rather than them being collected and then given as a block grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontPage Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 If the OP's wishlist were realistic, I'd be behind them. 1, 2 and 3 are realistic with the rest pure fantasy within the next 300 years. I'm not convinced the line about Scotland leading the way for the rest of the UK under independence is accurate, we're already streets ahead of the rest of the UK in social services and there arent riots in England, nor the political will calling for the same down here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoseKillie Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Okay here goes. As many of you know I'm a passionate Brit who struggled to defend the union during the campaign. My final excuse for a No vote when discussing the issue with friends is that I want to improve things for all 65m people in this country, not just the 5m that happen to live in Scotland. Anyway, here are my proposals for the UK government to consider 1. Grant "Devo Max" to not only Scotland but also Wales and Northern Ireland, leaving only defence and foreign affairs under Westminster control. 2. England will also see power devolved to the "Devo Max" level. Give them a referendum on whether they want a single English parliament based in Birmingham or around 10 regional parliaments serving roughly 5m people each 3. Reduce the voting age to 16 for all elections 4. Legislate for an elected upper house to replace the house of lords 5. Shelve the idea of an EU referendum unless Eurosceptics were to win a majority of MPs 6. A full scale review of the role nuclear weapons play in our defence, including examining cheaper options 7. Give all devolved parliaments the power to reintroduce the 50p and 10p tax rates first 7 that spring to mind. Thoughts? Maybe you should ask yourself why that was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SodjesSixteenIncher Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Bit curious as to why it's the 65m living in Britain that we should be aiming to help given how many people No voters and politicians wanted "to remove borders, not create new ones". Surely if we had the security and strenth of a even more countries, things would get even better. I care about our countrymen in Liverpool but I also care about those in Portugal, Spain, Ireland etc. Only a vile nationalist would disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QPSAFalkirkFirm Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Will never ever ever ever ever happen. Nothing will change. I also heard the new powers that are being offered to Scotland sort of make the Barnett Formula useless and there would be no point using them. Can anyone expand? Nothing will change.In the case of new tax pores the Barnett formula will be obsolete and scrapped. Therefore, we have less money but the power to raise more money. To maintain services any new Scottish Government will be obliged to raise taxes thus making them unpopular with the public.Of course, if we had voted for Independence we would have lost the Barnett Formula also, but instead of just having tax raising powers we would have all the revenue from our many healthy revenue streams. And then we could have made real and prosperous choices. As it is now, we'll get whatever Westminster decides and then we have to decide who eats and who hungers. It's the story of the lovely old song, You Take The High Road, loved and revered by the Tartan Army. It's actually a tale of two Scottish soldiers imprisoned at Carlisle Castle during the Jacobite Revolution. One was to be sent back north to tell the Jacobite army not to come any further south. The other was to be executed. The two soldiers were then left to decide who would go north and who would die. Maybe that should be our new national, sorry regional, anthem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperCaleyGoBallistic Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 It would be absolutely superb if the other countries of the UK and regions of England were given more devolved power. Power is way too centralized in Westminster and it's an archaic way of governing IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendan Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Bit curious as to why it's the 65m living in Britain that we should be aiming to help given how many people No voters and politicians wanted "to remove borders, not create new ones". Surely if we had the security and strenth of a even more countries, things would get even better. I care about our countrymen in Liverpool but I also care about those in Portugal, Spain, Ireland etc. Only a vile nationalist would disagree. Exactly. Mr Bairn exposed for the ethno nat he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 Exactly. Mr Bairn exposed for the ethno nat he is. You are seething. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 You are seething. Why do you not care equally about the wellbeing of the 742.5m in Europe, not just the 65m? Be very specific. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itzdrk Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Couldn't care less about rUK tbh 5m for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.