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SNP has failed to deliver



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While displaying typical arrogance and self-promotion, Alex Salmond is wrong to equate the pursuit of populist policies with his perception of an increase in his own popularity among Scotland's electorate (your report, 15 May), and he need only look back to Margaret Thatcher's era for evidence.
Arguably, Mrs Thatcher's most populist policy was the introduction of Right to Buy for council tenants, and while it was taken up by tens of thousands, it by no means increased her personal appeal to voters in Scotland and elsewhere, and the legacy it has left is the current crisis in the social housing sector.

If saving thousands of pounds in purchasing their home did not sway Scotland's electorate then, saving a quid crossing the Forth or the Tay is hardly likely to persuade undecided voters to suddenly take the SNP to their hearts. The reality is that the SNP in government has delivered little of substance and Mr Salmond's vacuous statement in parliament suggested little would change over the coming year. The honeymoon, for what it was, is surely over.

BILL GOODALL, Baird Terrace, Edinburgh





The full article contains 188 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 16 May 2008 8:59 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Scott by choice,

17/05/2008 02:08:56
Hilarious, very funny nonsense. Know another?
2

Mikey,

17/05/2008 06:23:55
Why do anti Scots keep referring to the Scottish government's popularity with voters as a 'honeymoon' period?

You lost the election, Bill! Get used to it and start campaigning for a self governing country.
3

Alec M,

Falkirk 17/05/2008 07:31:30
"The honeymoon, for what it was, is surely over."

A reference to UUendy's Boorish party.
4

Rulesbutnotrulers,

Federation, not separation 17/05/2008 07:34:07
A donkey would look good running Scotland when contrasted to the other Holyrood parties.

We must devise a system whereby high calibre candidates are encouraged and these also-rans discouraged.
5

Martinh,

17/05/2008 08:32:36
The SNP have still only really got one policy, and the latest public support for that (independence) is 30%, with 42% against. This figure of 30% drops to 24% if the Calman options of more powers for the Scottish parliament under devolution are taken into account. Given that Salmond has pledged his political life on a referendum on independence in two years time, he is now clinging to the hope that the economy will implode UK wide, and is deluded in his opinion that people will then turn to him and the independence cause, such is the size of his overinflated ego. Fat chance that people will turn to a fat saviour!
6

Steve,

Bo'ness 17/05/2008 09:14:41
This letter fails to point out that Alex Salmond is very popular with voters. So it doesn't really make sense.
I notice how unionists are clinging to the latest suspicious poll carried out by that bastion of impartiality, STV. What about the poll last month which showed a majority 41% in favour of independence? I dont recall ever seeing that reported as headline news on both BBC and STV, or brought up on Newsnight. It seems that each good poll favouring independence is suspiciously followed by a bad one a few days later.

Salmond either gets a 2 option referendum which he WILL WIN, or a 3 option referendum which after a few years of "more power" will built support for independence even more. I'd prefer independence now, but after 301 years, another 10-15 wont make much odds.
7

Upbeat,

17/05/2008 09:45:48
12 months and counting.

The electorate will not forgive or forget how droves of them were suckered into voting for the SNP by wild manifesto pledges, about student debt, about tax, about hospitals, about infrastructure projects, about 'feel good' factors , and the easy to win battles with Westminster that would claim back for Scotland the self determination over important areas of Scottish life.

What have we seen ? Pennywise largess over bridge tolls, and large headlines talking about throwing some more money at the NHS.A climbdown over police recruitment numbers and silence on too much else. There is little evidence of the promised efficiency drives sweeping through government offices, the long awaited and heralded infrastructure projects are mainly "in the long grass " awaiting detailed reports. Students can keep their debt and lump it, and the Holyrood budget still does not add up.

A sensationalist headline grabbing group of "rabbits startled in the headlights" of responsibility for actual government are holding as low a profile as they can, sitting out the period of office...hoping against hope that the electorate will feel they have not blundered too much to be unelectable in the years to come.

Whether the SNP can ever attract sufficient numbers to be a powerful movement for change in Scotland remains to be seen. But if their flagrant disregard for their principles...as displayed by their abandonment of their last manifesto... is any gauge, voters should be seriously wary of listening to any further promises the SNP may care to make in the future.
8

frank mcbride,

lusitania 17/05/2008 11:10:23
#7, Upbeat.

you seem pretty downbeat. Is that because the SNP Government, despite being a minority, is progressing its Manifesto commitments.

The facts are really quite simple. In the 1st year, of a 4 year Parliament, the SNP Government has retained vital A&E departments, has scrapped student endowments, has started on reducing Quangos, has returned decision making to LAs, has approved major infrastructure project (M74 & A9), has frozen Council Tax and started the process of introducing LIT.

Also, despite, a below inflation settlement in the SBG it has been able to allocate above inflation monies to LAs, which will hopefully be used to improve frontline services. This despite the fact that the Unionist Alliance have wasted £600 000 000+ on the Edinburgh TRAMLINE which could have gone more essential infrastructure projects, and/or frontline services.

Upbeat, your Unionist apology is very easily dismissed.

BTW, why has NuLab done a U-turn on its support for Sutherland? Why has NuLab done a U-U-U-U-Turn on a Yes/No Independence Referendum? Why did NuLab abstain in the Budget vote when its amendment had been accepted?
9

The Answer,

Glasgow 17/05/2008 11:52:14
10,000 less males in employment since "the obese one" came into power is nothing to be proud about.

I recall Hitlers rise to power was offering the mass unemployed a land of milk and honey, seems like "the obese one" might have the same idea.
10

Upbeat,

17/05/2008 12:02:22
Frank, we already know that for you the sun shines everywhere in SNP land.

In the mind of others the SNP are a party on trial. A party that were bounced unexpectedly into office, and have marginal support within Scotland. They are a party that tried , in their gamesmanship approach to the election and their election manifesto, to be all things to all people. Now in office they have realised that the reality of being in the "hot seat" is a very steep learning curve. They had no experience of this so did not understand that so much of what they proposed, and for which some people decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, is quite impossible for them to deliver.

The people who voted once for the promise that has not been honoured will not be so easy to mislead a second time. Meanwhile the list of things you say the SNP has delivered were, many of them , current business, inspired by their predecessors. The removing of tolls on the bridges affects most communities in Scotland, hardly at all..this was pandering to local sentiments. The support for the A&E departments in SNP heartlands was predictable, but hardly alters the status quo.( Wghat has actually occured is that they have decideed no to do something proposed previously ,rather than the other way round ! ) The approval of the A74 / M8 was an economic necessity which even the SNP could not have sidestepped. The tram project was too far along the track to have been cancelled...should anybody have been daft enough to move to cancel this the most constructive positive development in the Capital for a generation , many important and influential heads would have been "on the block".

I can understand that there are many still 'starry eyed' with the realitity of marginal success at the polls. But for those who gave there "a swing from labour" support to the SNP there is no such thing as a 'Demascus experience'. The prospects today under the SNP are no different for them than they were before, and they no
11

Upbeat,

17/05/2008 12:04:12
contd ..... and they now see the wholesale avoidance of manifesto pledges ,like the plague, by those SNP leaders who waxed so lyrical at the time of the election about what they would do and really achieve for Scotland.
12

Socrates,

17/05/2008 12:38:05
2# Describing anyone in Scotland who is not a separatist as anti-Scottish tells us all we need to know about the SNP fascists!
13

Alex X,

17/05/2008 12:55:52
#12 Not particularly Socratic eh?
14

Mikey,

17/05/2008 13:18:16
#13, distinctly not! I seem to recall the original Socrates as a thinker, something this version has forgotten!

Ever noticed how the failed unionists and their running dogs refer to veryone who disagrees with them as a fascist?

I repeat. If you don't want Scotland to be self governing, you're anti Scots! Why do all you unionists find this so hard to understand? If you prefer Scotland to be ruled by another country, you're anti Scots! Other countries have other words for these people. The Norwegians, for example, have a word, but I'll just stick to anti Scots!

I hope that when independence comes, which it surely will, all these anti Scots will either embrace democracy or leave! We have no room for fifth columnists!
15

Upbeat,

17/05/2008 13:42:08
Mikey,

You've said similar things to this too many times. You imagine that Scotland is ruled by another nation , when quite clearly we all live in a democracy where all the adult people have the opportunity to chose the composition of whatever Parliament stands over us.

It does not help you to be seen to describe those things you agree with as democracy, and those you don't as anti Scottish.

Under your interpretation the majority in Scotland would for ever be defined as anti Scottish...and this will remain the case. Most Scots will never chose the option that you wish for. That this is actually ....Democracy....I don't expect you ever to understand.
16

The Tin Man,

Over the Rainbow 17/05/2008 14:01:30
#14 Mikey

What a plonker you are.
17

Socrates,

17/05/2008 16:41:38
14# We certainly have no room for fifth rate idiots like you, matey.
Every major country in Europe is a union. Whether they include Feudal fiefdoms, Duchies, Principalities, Kingdoms or City states they all were, at one time, countries in their own right. Just take Spain, for example. Castille, Andulasia, Aragon, Catalonia and more, were separate states. The union of Italy was the combining of 12 states, including city states.
France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy are far better off being united than their constituent parts.
The same is true of the UK.
18

Beth Boyle,

NY 17/05/2008 17:17:13
I could not agree more with this piece.
19

Am Balach,

Isle of Skye 19/05/2008 00:22:48
Bill Goodall

Your refernece to Right-to-Buy is unfortunate since it has taken an SNP government to abolish the Right-to-Buy on all new council houses.

Your abusive language and argumnet is very similar - just a little toned down - from 'Upbeat'. I suspect you are the same person.

Your anger at your defeat, your feeling of impotence as the SNP Government goes from strength to strength, is tangible and very unattractive.

Get over it guys and start thinking about how you can help rebuild our country with the SNP.

 

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