Scottish Election 6 weeks away.

ISP is standing on the list only and I believe AFI and Alba are also. I don't know about others.
I hope not too many of them are on the same lists.

God help Scotland ?

Niobe

Well that will makes things interesting! Two independence parties standing in the Scottish elections.

Five - SNO, ISP, Green Party, Scottish Socialists and now Alba. Maybe more, if anyone knows of any?

I'm not being obtuse Cathymac but £65 billion is about 8% of £820 billion and Scotland has about 8% of the UK population?

Aveline and Alegrias . I think probably the income received from income tax is interesting .
Scottish Government collected approximately £65 billion
Uk Government collected approximately £820 billion.

Alegrias1

The Alba party. Well, quelle surprise.

The egoist has landed!

Well that will makes things interesting! Two independence parties standing in the Scottish elections.

Thank you Lucca

The Alba party. Well, quelle surprise.

I understand that Aveline and I have no issue with people criticising the policies of any political party, or even making fun of them if they deserve it.

But telling voters for a particular party that they don't really understand what's going on is not acceptable. In my view.

About 2.5 million people pay income tax in Scotland, so about 46% I make it. 47% of people pay income tax across the whole UK so I'm not sure there's much of a story there. But even if there was, I'm happy to pay my tax for what we get as a society. You may not be, and that's OK too, we all have a choice in how we want the government to be run.

www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/factsheet/2018/12/scottish-income-tax-2019-2020/documents/analytical-note-on-impacts-on-income-levels-and-equality/analytical-note-on-impacts-on-income-levels-and-equality/govscot%3Adocument/Income%2BTax%2B-%2BDistributional%2BAnalysis%2B-%2BAnalytical%2BNote%2B-%2BFinal.pdf

I do respect your opinion Alegrias although it surprises me. I've just read that 51% of Scots are in receipt of of some form of benefit but only 40% pay taxes at all.
I have no problem paying taxes if I have confidence in the government spending them. SNP govt? That's a no.

Nothing in particular FarNorth it was a turn of phrase. If I have offended anyone I apologise. I suppose I was thinking that votes for the ISP might split the vote for the SNP.

Even ISP voters, Alegrias1? What do you have against the ISP?

Westminster has shown itself to have no interest in working with Scotland.
Johnson, in particular, is constantly trying to score tiny points.

People vote SNP because they want independence. Some may not like SNP much, now, but feel that it's their only chance to become an independent country.
I will probably vote for my local SNP candidate because I think he will make a good MSP and he wants independence, not just a comfy term in office.
I'll be hoping for independence then to be achieved quickly so that different parties can come forward.

£500,000 of taxpayers money wasted because Sturgeon had a beef with Salmond and wouldn't let go of the legal fight against him? Two women complainants thrown under a bus? Salmond bringing another legal case 6 weeks before election because he has a beef with Sturgeon? How is this a responsible/competent government? Education down the pan etc etc

Ah, heart over head again.

I have high hopes for Sarwar as well. But IMO he needs to get himself separated from the UK Labour Party and understand that the Labour Party in Scotland needs to have Scotland's needs at the fore, and not be an poor relation of the UK party.

I get a bit annoyed at people disparaging SNP voters as though we are thick. I don't do it for Tory voters, Labour voters or even ISP voters. Its not nice .

I have high hopes for Sarwar. He's intelligent and experienced. Just read how the attainment gap has widened yet again in Scotland. It's hard to understand how prospective SNP voters could contemplate more years of their incompetence. I sometimes wonder if they actually read about what's going on. They can only be voting with heart rather than head.
I want a sensible, balanced coalition willing to work with Westminster rather than, pointlessly, against it to score or try to score tiny points. We have so much to gain from being part of the union. Furlough money and vaccine roll out alone must underline this.
United we stand divided we fall - and it will be a plummet.

I can understand your ire Aveline if you live in Aberdeenshire which has lost all the lovely oil money. Be comforted that things are not “bad” everywhere.
According to his leaflet, my local Conservative candidate wants me to vote for him to keep the SNP out. His 5 pledges are so vague as to be meaningless, apart from the one to reverse bin cuts which I thought was a local government issue.
If Ruth Davidson had not bottled it, the Scottish Conservatives might have gained some credibility with me.
Meanwhile, my votes are still up for grabs.

Thanks A. Appreciated.

Kim19 - an explanation of the List system. It's quite an old article but quite good at explaining what's going on.

www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-parliament-electoral-system-explained-1477532

Just in case anyone outside Scotland is reading this thread.

Things are not "bad in Scotland". We haven't quite resorted to fighting each other with claymores yet to get to the last crumb of bannock.

I’ll be voting SNP again too, and think the FM has conducted herself admirably over both the pandemic and Salmond crises.

If we do manage to gain independence though, I’d be more open to returning to my Labour roots, although they have a massive uphill battle to fight in order to regain footing.

Kalu

Ruth Davidson has done nothing for Scottish Tories with her blatant backstabbing at Nicola Sturgeon. As a long serving Conservative voter, I feel RD has had her shot and blown it. Labour will be nowhere in the voting. How well would any other political party have done leading the country, remarkably committed as Nicola Sturgeon has shown? Credit where it is due.

Good post. Nice to see a balanced post giving credit where due.

SNP have had 14 year in power. Result we have the shortest lifespans in Europe, highest drugs death rate, education standard has plummeted (the report into the state of education has been withheld by the Scottish government to be released after the election. Wonder why. If it was good they'd be shouting about it.)
They've not disbursed all money sent by Westminster to support business and industry. I could go on. They have been dreadful. Don't be distracted by Nicola and her endless TV outings. Things are bad in Scotland.

I'm very interested in the 'list' system but don't really understand how it works. Anyone care to give me a pointer as to where I would find it explained simply, please?