So British politics is in a bit of a mess, right? It's like a pantomime that's getting more and more ridiculous by the day.

Brexit is a shambles, Covid was atrociously handled with Boris supposedly saying he'd rather "let the bodies pile high" than order a third lockdown, public contracts going to Tory donors without being put to tender, James Dyson being offered tax breaks to build ventilators, Cummings releasing an explosive blog expose, and now the cash for curtains scandal... for those who don't keep up to date with politics:

Boris is accused of spending at least £60k of Tory donor money to refurb the flat above Number 10 (excluding the £30k allowance afforded to him by the UK treasury). The Electoral Commission believes there may be reason to think that an offence - or offences - may have been committed. In response, the Government has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Good, right? Only problem is, Boris's advisor - Lord Geidt - is leading the inquiry, and the person the committee reports to - the person who ultimately decides if Boris broke the law is... well, Boris.

With the local council elections in a week, you would expect this to result in a massive hit in local Tory councillors but, sadly, I think we'll see the return of a large swathe of Tory councillors as a result of FPTP in England.

In Scotland, however, I expect to see an SNP majority returned, despite the D'Hondt system. The Senedd and the NI Assembly are also looking more and more likely to return pro-seperatist parliaments, meaning the devolved parliaments are all leaning towards independence.

What's your thoughts? Is the union in an existential crisis? Will the United Kingdom survive our lifetime?

I don't think there's the appetite (yet) for a fully independent Scotland.  I voted No last time but am veering towards Yes if it comes up again because of

1. Brexit - hey, we all get blue passports though
2. because of the Tories

I do think we'll see the breakup in the next 30 years though.  Westminster doesn't care about the other countries in the UK.  I don't think the sleaze thing will matter...the general feeling is that all politicians are self-serving and corrupt so why single any one of them out.

I do agree that MPs tend to be a self-serving bunch, and whilst it does appear that I'm singling out DePfeffel, I'm more explaining the hot topic of the day for those who aren't aware. That being said, I won't even try to deny my disdain for the man who hid in a fridge instead of facing journalists' questions.

I also don't mean to preach about independence, the eventual break up of the union was really just a thought based on the state of Westminster over the past coupla months.

I, too, would say that a Scottish independence referendum is unlikely happen in the next year or two, but within the next 5 year term? Probably. If there is - as predicted - a majority returned to Holyrood, it's hard to see how a referendum could continue to be refused, in spite of Douglas Ross's assurances.

With the ongoing backstop / border issue in Norn Ireland, I can also see a strong case for reunification, but not being Irish, it's not my decision to make. I would like to see it, however. Furthermore, I believe the Assembley has the option to call a referendum on reunification every 7 years, and I think the person who replaces Arlene Foster will have some sort of bearing on the attitude towards the union in Ireland. From what I've read, Edwin Poots is the favourite to replace her. As a creationist and being anti-gay marriage, I think that will have a detrimental effect on the union in Ireland, but time will tell.

As for Wales, well, I find Adam Price's arguments to be very persuasive, so I wouldn't be surprised to see an increase in appetite for Welsh seperatism - particularly amongst the younger voters. I do think Wales are the least likely to cut the Westminster apron strings though, but once the dominoes start to fall...

I think the sleaze thing could have legs, and I disagree that people expect politicians to be self serving and so accept corruption. 

There's a huge story about the PPE contracts but the focus is on how much someone paid for wallpaper and not how companies that politicians either have direct or indirect interests in won large contracts without scrutiny. The wallpaper stuff in my opinion is being used as a smokescreen for that. Boris thinks he's bulletproof and that he can take a slap on the wrists while the other stuff gets quietly brushed aside. And it can be said that the PPE stuff was a special case, that there was a national emergency and equipment was needed fast, I have some sympathy with that. Let's not get in to why the stockpiles were lacking when there was an expectation that some kind of pandemic would happen and recent readiness assessments had shown a lack of preparedness! But there's a wider picture that starts earlier, the awarding of a large contract to provide ferries to a company with zero experience and crucially no ships for example. Sooner or later the brazen way this has been done will become a problem. But, on a national level the Lib Dems have an image problem they just can't shake off and I'm not sure they have much immediate prospect of doing so, and Labour is still tearing itself apart at every turn, personally I don't feel like there is any real challenge to the behaviour. And while I can't stand Cummings, he knows where the bodies are buried and he has an axe to grind, so that could be interesting. 

Brexit was always going to be a disaster when one of your negotiators doesn't know the importance of Calais as a port and the tories wanted no deal or paper-thin.   What disappoints me more is people overwhelmingly voted tory for a poor deal.   The other thing is, when the rest of parliament could work against the tories before the election, they wouldn't and gifted the tories a supermajority that will last years, after being goaded into it.

Covid wave 1 and early wave 2 meant my local hospital was using PPE out of date in 2008, but that still passed the relevant tests at stages,   The lack of money put into actual PPE companies and into Tory friends pockets, was horrendous, Same with companies who couldn't provide the relevant quality materials.   I think wave 2 Boris finally started listening to the science was great, but too little too late.

The tax breaks for Dyson didn't really exist, what happened is he wanted to make sure if his people came from Singapore, they would pay double tax as if in the country 6 months or less, they could pay in Singapore.   Dyson made no money off it and lost 20 million between R&D and production, and none of the ventilators was eventually used, and probably on way to India.

As for sleaze and falt costs, is a guy a few years back got a big government contract so, so surprised he wants to help Boris.    Is like the memes about being the health secretaries neighbour means you get a PPE contract.

Sadly as usual labour have infighting across the whole time of tory sleaze, and somehow make more headlines,    Even when tory sleaze gets worse, they somehow ride the vaccine success wave and boast they are not the third wave like the EU it seems.   We have the Welsh elections coming up and labour have given 16 and 17-year-olds the vote to try and get people to vote for them, but as usual many won't vote, 
After the Brexit party and tories doing well last time, both allegedly are due to a hit this time.

Lockdowns have still been unpopular as well as failed welsh education, healthcare policies so after 22 years of labour and labour coalitions, they are at a point where can't blame anyone else any more.

For years 10-15% has been it for welsh independence, and I don't see any reality of it for a long time, people want more powers for the Senedd just not full independence as want to see a mix of what it costs them, and how Drakeford can fail to meet objectives again,   I normally vote Labour but am unsure this time around who I will be voting for, I know it won't be abolished, tory, reform or ukip

Where we do part FPTP part, alternative vote, it gives us a mix but truth is the less and fewer people have faith in the politicians, and the more and more distanced from views, the harder it gets.   But is part of why I and my partner are looking to leave the UK, as honestly, we think things will get a hell of a lot worse before they get better.



 

The other big problem now for wales is every party is pretty much pledging to do exactly the same thing, with a budget that struggle to cover it, and a new tax-raising power that potentially hits people who are struggling already with talks of a 2p rise.

I'm gonna respond to this all in one post... Eggs - I genuinely hope it does have legs, but the MSM tend not to report on the failings of the UK government, particularly Conservative governments for fear of restricted access. It's weak journalism that allows the sleaze to continue. Gotta say though - personally, I hate the term "sleaze" used in this context, cos it's corruption, pure and simple. The word "sleaze" makes the things this government do seem less illegal, and allows it to continue imo.

You're right about PPE though - the whole PPE debacle was absolutely shameful, although I don't think it's really a big secret that the Tories have been trying to flog off the NHS for years. They don't believe in a socialist model, and opposed the creation of the NHS to begin with. Nowadays they just see it as a way to enrich themselves, which I find sickening personally. Underfunding it is just a sleekit way to make it appear to be unfit for purpose to make the thought of selling it off more palatable to the public.

Totally agree that the Lib Dems have fucked it too, and that's entirely Nick Clegg's fault for promising to scrap tuition fees, then getting into bed with Cameron and the Tories, and subsequently scrapping that policy. Students won't forget that, and I don't blame them. I'd love to see some effective opposition, but Lib Dem ain't it and Labour have been red Tories for some time now. The Blair era started off very promisingly, but ended with fuckin war crimes which have never been resolved or prosecuted! The only truly socialist Labour leader in the last 30 or so years since early-Blair was Corbyn, and he got completely dismantled by the MSM. That being said, he wasn't an effective shadow leader, he just had socialist tendancies that are in line with a Labour mantra.

I'd also absolutely love DomCum to release a proper tell-all story on Boris. His blog about Carrie Antoinette was sensational; I loved reading it, and I read it in its entirety - a couple of times, actually. Couldn't stand the guy when he was an advisor, but now that he's dishing the dirt, you can see how rotten this mob really are, and I actually think he may have been used as a scapegoat for a lot of the shady shit that went on behind closed doors during his tenure.

Gio - as far as the Tories having a supermajority in Westminster, that's almost exclusively down to Brexit and English exceptionalism, although the number of Welsh Tories returned at the last GE really didn't help matters. Given the subsidies the EU paid to Welsh farmers, you'd think they would have seen through the bullshit. That being said, a large majority of Scottish pensioners, boomers, fishermen and borders farmers fell for the same nonsense in 2014... fortunately most of Scotland has woken up to the lies and spin now though, thanks largely to 'The Vow' and George Galloway's "sooper devo-max" crap.

As far as Dyson goes, he moved to Singapore post-Brexit for the favourable tax rates. Beyond that we don't actually know much about anything because neither the PM nor Dyson have released the texts in their entirety. From what I've read, the discussion appears to revolve around the Country Day Count and Work Days restrictions. The fact that you're saying the employees would have come over to the UK to build ventilators completely contradicts your later assertion that Dyson took a £20mill hit on researching and manufacturing these ventilators - either the employees were coming to the UK to build vents or the vents were made in Singapore, it cannot be both.

Nevertheless, having looked at the IRAS website, foreign income paid into a Singapore bank account is not be taxed by the Singapore government, so no employees would have been hit with a double tax charge even if they had come over the the UK to work. Furthermore, as the UK basic rate is 0% for the first £12,500, these workers could have been paid twice the NMW for an 40hour week and still paid zero tax in the UK for 15 weeks - almost 4 months, so it seems unlikely that is the reason for Dyson's text messages. If you can offer me any evidence to the contrary, however, I'd be happy to read it (unless that evidence comes in the form of a Daily Fail column, of course).

I'm happy to take you at your word that Welsh independence sits at about 10-15%, but opinion polls had Scottish independence at 27% in a 2012 IPSOS MORI poll... regardless, I don't place much stock in polls if I'm being honest. That being said - as I mentioned earlier, I do think Wales are the least likely to vote for independence, certainly until the other celtic nations decide to opt out. At that point, I'd be surprised if Wales remained shackled to the London-centric Westminster government.

But the thing is there is no favourable tax rates in Singapore, really, is 17% in Singapore, and 19% in the UK, with the extra delivery costs, paperwork, etc Is no real benefit tax-wise of the move.   The big benefit for Dyson in the middle east is they actually buy his products there.   The European market for Dyson isn't that big.  85% of his products are sold outside the UK,   China especially has been a massive market for them.   Is the same when they moved production to Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines pretty much 20 years back.   There were tariffs, new taxes, comparable corporation tax etc. but it served the market he needed.   Was he a great example for the Brexit campaign on giving a damn about British workers, no?   As much as the R&D sits in the UK with the post-Brexit brain drain will see how long that lasts too.

The big problem for fishing and farming is the third country laws have sat there for years on phytosanitary conditions, what can be sold and can't be sold, and many of these same towns, voted for it anyway like lambs to the slaughter, even some of these businesses boasting about how great it would be now we have a 52 million supertrawler which can't get Norwegian cod as no deal.   Even now the media is still divisive over it, and won't change until it's regulated better, which social media users scream censorship at.

450 employees in Singapore in Uk built ventilators, people on both countries worked together.    Dyson lost 20 million in this, there was a covid pot he could have dipped into but he never.   Is 20 million something he can afford to lose, yes, is it a great PR method too yes.   So no is nothing contradictory involved. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56819137 maybe that article will explain better.   People just don't like the lobbying style method used as it looks dodgy and the potential breaches of the ministerial code.   If he had done the same via HMRC no one would really be talking about it,   The big struggle getting people from Singapore to the UK to work especially is the Tory clamp-on immigration.

The guardian put the dyson tax texts as:

"The texts don’t go into detail, but references to day counts suggest Dyson’s concern was for staff who, whether born British or not, aren’t domiciled for tax in Britain and thus cannot spend more than 90 days a year in the country without having to pay British taxes from which they would otherwise be exempt. Ask not merely what you can do for your country, but what it can do about the resulting tax liability."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/22/lobbying-james-dyson-boris-johnson


As for Singapore banking, although things like zero capital gains tax exist, the corporation tax rate is similar, and extra fees exist around banking, the employees on average are paid more than UK factory workers, and Singapore is more expensive to live, rent or buy property potentially offsetting any such tax gain you talk off.   Combined with that is other rules around banking for the industry to claw back money.

To me, Northern Ireland will be the first to go when the demographic shift moves enough, but i do think it will be chaotic even if honouring the GFA where people still live in religious segregation there.   I don't see the stories giving Scotland the independence vote, and I don't see them going UDI, and the worry for Scotland will be in an already hot economy, do they want to put up new borders for trade initially with both UK where the majority of their goods go, and the EU for the period of time it takes to join.   Wales know there are many problems, and the Senedd is still early in using its powers, and limited, Independence has to be a long term aim, so that powers used are used properly but at present tax powers are new, with secondary legislation the main thing Wales has had control of, so still limited.

On Singapore and Dyson/

Why are you discussing corporation tax rates if the personal allowance of his employees was the reason for these texts?

Also, corporation tax is capped at 17% in Singapore, but as you mentioned - there are numerous exemptions and tax breaks available for businesses, so it's not as simple as saying the corporation tax rates are similar, because the differences are quite complex.

Regardless, even if  it were a flat 17%, I would say that 2% on circa £711million annually is quite substantial. Since his Brexit move, that amounts to more than £70million - and that's working with the capped figure (which I highly doubt Dyson pays on its entire profit margin).

What I was saying is contradictory, however, is claiming that these personal allowance tax breaks are necessary to bring a work force to the UK to build ventilators, only to claim that he had already built them in Singapore and subsequently made a financial loss. Like I said previously - these statements are mutually exclusive; if one is true, the other cannot be. I can't see how that is anything other than contradictory.

Nevertheless, if he's sending texts for the purposes of lobbying for corporation tax breaks, as you're now suggesting, then he's doing it to increase his own personal wealth at the detriment of the UK treasury - nothing to do with an altruistic appeal on behalf of his employees.

As far as contacting ministers instead of government bodies, in the BBC (boke) article you linked, it literally says that he approached the treasury, was ignored and so messaged the prime minister - the self professed first lord of the treasury:

"But the BBC has discovered that Sir James also raised his concerns with the Treasury, and later the prime minister"

So it's not an issue of optics either - he was ignored via official channels, so literally bypassed the entire government tax department to petition his friend for preferential corporation tax rates. That borders on tax fraud, but since I don't want to make any overly rash statements let's stick to calling it "sleaze" for now.

On fishing and farming/

I agree. Farmers and fishermen were done up like a kipper. They were promised dividends following Brexit which were never going to come to fruition. Anyone who did any sort of research could see that there are third country regulations and restrictions to trade within the common market, but rhetoric and greed won out in the end. Personally, I would blame the media en-masse for not sufficiently highlighting the negative consequences, but given that the UK is a plutocracy, that's no real surprise. We can't have the peons knowing the truth about the plans of the super wealthy, now can we?

On independence/

I would be highly surprised if Ireland beat Scotland to independence, given that there have been something like 30 successive polls in favour of Scotland independence. Regardless, a UDI has never been the route suggested by the SNP - they've been petitioning for a S30 for 5 years. They're running their local election campaigns on the basis of holding another referendum within the next 5 year term, and are predicted to gain a majority of 65+ seats. Speculating on what the route is going to be if Boris continues to defy the democratic desire of a majority of a nation is a moot point in my opinion.

Re trade - as Scotland is a net exporter of goods, there won't be any trade restrictions from within the common market to third countries like England as the EU's goods standards are higher than third country standards. The issue would be if Scotland wishes to import from England from within the EU, but England doesn't have a whole lot to export, and with 27 other countries to import from - tariff free - I think we'll be fine.

As far as the GFA goes - in theory, it won't be necessary in the event of reunification, because there won't be a border in a unified Ireland. However, the polls suggest less of an appetite in Ireland for reunification than there is in Scotland for independence, so I'd suggest that Scotland are more likely to opt for a break away first. As I said though - I hope it does happen; the sooner the better in my opinion, cos that would certainly pave the way for Scotland to exit the union too.

Coz you talked about tax avoidance and why he went to Singapore.

Is plenty of tax breaks here, which is why people give our shares, reinvest to assets, service old debt. especially now post Brexit with so many European subsidiaries.   The UK has so many loopholes, but post-Brexit I see many getting closed to make up for all the business failures.   We have seen it since the 2016 finance act, with the investigation and record-keeping of tax havens.


70 million in tax compared to all the extra costs of moving, recruiting, extra pay, etc, quickly whittles down. As the articles say, the ventilators were built at both places at the same time, and likely pieced together in the UK for the final stage.   At no stage were they fully built in Singapore.

No corporation tax breaks mentioned in the texts, as the other article states.  but long term a lot will lobby against the fact corporation tax will rise massively soon, and more companies will leave as rises to 25% from 2023.  On top of a poor Brexit deal.   not gonna help..

He went to Sunak, got no response, so went to Boris.    as the articles also state.  is why I said he should go HMRC as an official channel.

The press pushed the best and worst-case scenario, a lot of people were smart enough to know would be somewhere in the middle.

Boris for all his buffoonery is calculating, I still don't see him or any other tory leader giving them independence vote, and Labour won't as they need SNP to overpower the tories generally.   With how England votes otherwise, will permanently have a tory rule.

Republic is happier as a public for reunification than the north, but the republic said, best not to do it around Brexit, as don't want the cleanup and costs of maintaining Northern Ireland, and the political ramifications.   With DUP awaiting a new head, i expect the same again, with them saying nothing is planned.

Going back home to the Republic is one of my options now, post-Brexit, but as half brit/half Irish, in all honesty, I don't see how the UK can go forward for a long time.   It has a shit show of a party in charge and no real opposition.

 

The truth is if Dyson wanted to dodge tax hard outside UK, Ireland, Eastern Europe including EU countries would of been far better options.  Some are under 10% corporate tax rates and in eastern Europe plenty of jobs for 350 a month pay.   Similar with lower overheads on land, running costs, and possible grants to create jobs.

Ahh, ok that makes more sense now. You're talking in broad strokes about the reasons for Dyson relocating, because I mentioned it in passing, whereas I thought you were talking in very specific terms about the whole ventilators thing. That's where our wires have gotten crossed.

Whilst I agree that the UK has many tax loopholes, commonwealth countries are rife with shell companies and are used for tax avoidance purposes - far more than the UK or EU countries are. The Spider's Web Britains Second Empire is an excellent documentary and discusses the whole thing in more depth than I can, and does it in a far more interesting way than I would ever manage.

Being one of the UK's historical dependancy countries, Singapore has retained a lot of the archaic secrecy laws which makes it appealing as a tax haven, in the same way Bermuda or the Cayman Islands are, and that's more likely to be the reason for Dyson's relocation, from what I understand. Since Brexit, the EU's laws (specifically, as you mentioned - the ATAD) have far less bite, which is the reason for Brexit in the first place. The UK can't be forced to comply with the laws of a bloc it's not a part of, after all.

So that's why I mentioned Dyson relocating post-Brexit to take advantage of the lower tax rates in Singapore. Sure, there may have been logistical benefits to him moving there, but on the whole, I think if you dig down into it, you'll find tax was at the heart of the reason for the move.

That was more mentioned as a throw-away comment though, and is perhaps a debate for another day. His text messages just show that he was lobbying for tax haven rates to be applied in the UK, which would have benefitted nobody but Dyson (the company) and by extension - James himself. Agreeing to it, just show that Boris is rotten to the core.

As far as 'letting' Scotland have a say in the governance of it's own matters, that's really not up to Boris, or even the UK anymore. The longer Westminster refuse to grant a S30, the worse the UK looks on the international stage. That's why we're now seeing billions of pounds promised in a Scottish love-in... the problem is, this was all was promised in 2014 - devo max was banded about and the world was promised to Scotland yet the only thing that happened after the vote was EVEL. None of the other levers or powers were ever transferred, and Scottish MPs had their influence curtailed instead, so now Boris is up against the ropes and he knows it. He may not want to be the one at the helm for the dissolution of the union, but that's looking increasingly likely now cos what's he gonna do if Scotland votes in a majority SNP government on an independence mandate? Refuse the democratic will of the Scottish electorate? Even Boris isn't capable of weathering that storm.

Since 2016 the EU has been far behind on tax law, with UK forcing countries to reveal information.   As this is the biggest problem, people don't want to reveal whose cash is where, even in Europe, Switzerland was famous for it, developing economies are prime for high-interest loans and were fuelling the fastest economic growth; the developed world is the best place for it.   Why else are china, UK so much in Africa?   We see this more so with vaccines heading to Africa from China and planned too from the UK before even the EU.  Economic shananigans.


The anti-tax directive, was one of the weakest pieces of tax law to come, with half of it already in the finance act, of 2016, but it chased the tax havens, and made countries report, or face economic hardship, the only language these countries know.   But was British overseas territories only.  It is also still part of UK law, even in the HMRC describes its effects as negligible.

IS a few good articles out there like https://www.politax.com/post/is-brexit-really-about-tax-avoidance on the reality of the tax avoidance lies attached to ATAD with some of the tax laws going back to the 70-s that the EU caught up on with ATAD.   The fact is national governments had been doing a better job than the EU this way.

In 2018, 75% of profits were from Asian markets and at a 40% growth rate, china presently has the highest demand for cleaners I see more as being closer to your market.   The funny thing is when the headquarters was moved, only 2 people moved I believed   CEO and CFO pretty much.   The Asian trade deal (RCEP) I would put as a big factor also for breaching markets, where Dyson is spread across Asia.

I don't think it does make Boris look bad not giving another independence reference after the last time it is called once in a lifetime referendum.
Though I do often hear English people saying we will vote you out.   Yes, things like Brexit have happened since, but Cameron never thought people would vote for it.   Boris was an opportunist,   He will ignore it, he will say, you had your vote, you made your choice, as that's what he said on it in the past.   With every paper saying he will break up the union he will try and look like he is keeping it together by not granting the vote, as he knows his people won't be elected in Scotland anyway.


https://www.thenational.scot/news/18159096.fact-check-claim-snp-vowed-indyref-once-lifetime-opportunity/

 

https://youtu.be/9_1rbl75vNQ

"This election is a once in a generation chance to transform our country" - Jeremy Corbyn, 2019.

So as a Labour man yourself, you're quite happy to accept that there won't be another General Election for the next 40 years? The leader of the Labour party said so himself, right?

Of course not, to suggest that would be absolutely ludicrous, yet every yoon and Tory supporting gammon loves to suggest that when the SNP use a political flourish, it's some sort of binding promise or guarantee. It's not, and political flourishes are just that. Furthermore, the Smith Commission - which all the parties signed up to - states:

"It is agreed that nothing in this report prevents Scotland becoming an independent country in the future should the people of Scotland so choose."

Nothing about timelines.

https://youtu.be/84xcD9ylK2o

"If we vote leave on June the 23rd, we can take back control of £350million a week, and spend on our priorities here in this country including on the National Health Service." - Boris Johnson, 2016

Should we also be sending Boris a bill for £350million per week? Not that it would do much good, mind you... rumour has it, the first lord of the treasury is all but destitute, and needs an annual salary of £300,000 just to keep his head above water.

Even the fact check link you provided clearly rubbishes the idea that statement should be taken as anything other than encouragement to participate in the referendum:

"However, it is abundantly clear from the context of this statement (and with others like it) that Salmond is not agreeing to some alleged, one-off constitutional device – to be used once then locked away in a cupboard for 40 years. Rather he is encouraging the Scottish electorate to seize a particular opportunity (“a rare and precious moment in the history of Scotland”) to oppose austerity and make a fairer Scotland."

I know nothing about UK politics but it can't be worst than Americas so congratulations 

Different context to the Corbyn one, one says this is once in a lifetime, one says this is once ina lifetime to transform our country.  As they don't push the same things, they don't give the same end result of 40 years of no elections.

Nothing in the report guarantees referendums till they get the decision they want.  Sturgeons out there now, trying to win PR with a challenge me in court shouts now issue to Boris, but most of it's about PR as they know.   Also, Boris has never ruled out Scotland never having a referendum again, just said is too soon generally as is all most of us hear from Sturgeon.   As 


The fact is more of us know Salmond and the SNP will be taking most seats, the same rejection of the tories but at not such a high level where the majority of Immigrants into Wales are from England.   So SNP will control Scotland, Labour/Labour coalition Wales and England will be stuck wondering why it still has a Tory government with a massive lead based on their choice.   Sadly last time the Brexit party did well by me, and i expect the same again with angry ex-labour voters.

Technically as track and trace count as NHS for budget reasons, even if a give a friend a job role, they are getting more than 350 million on paper technically.   Even if it is not how it should of been done, and instead each health trust awarded funds.  So technically you don't have to bill him, also with Suanks plans regarding investment which go against usual tory ways, they can easily claim the money is there too, which as tories they will.

Except that's not what he said, After Sturgeon signing the Edinburgh agreement was simple would not be a regular occurrence.   Sturgeon signed up to:

"“deliver a fair test and a decisive expression of the views of people in Scotland and a result that everyone will respect”. 

Except by saying that's not the result we want is not really respecting it.   The Scottish Governments 2013 white paper Scotlands Future, also the same, Once in a Generation opportunity.   Even Nicola Sturgeon put it that way herself.

https://theferret.scot/sturgeon-2014-independence-referendum-generation/ 

A generation is "all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively." It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and begin to have children." 

So i would expect a wait no matter the scottish results.

Different context to the Corbyn one, one says this is once in a lifetime, one says this is once ina lifetime to transform our country.  As they don't push the same things, they don't give the same end result of 40 years of no elections.

Of course - cos it doesn't fit your narrative to say otherwise. The fact remains Corbyn used the same phrase in reference to a vote, so what's good for the goose is good for the gander. We either take these words literally or we don't; selectively applying a literal definition is incredibly one-sided and biased.

Nothing in the report guarantees referendums till they get the decision they want.

There's been a material change in circumstances. Scotland was promised that staying in the Union was the only way to ensure we would remain in Europe. We voted overwhelmingly to remain in Europe (literally every single constituency in the country voted to remain), but we were dragged out regardless. If anything, it's Scotland that was lied to and cheated.

The fact is more of us know Salmond and the SNP will be taking most seats, the same rejection of the tories but at not such a high level where the majority of Immigrants into Wales are from England.

In the last 20 years of general elections, Scotland has returned more Tory MPs to Westminster than Wales has on only two occasions, despite Wales having roughly half the number of constituent seats in parliament.

Technically as track and trace count as NHS for budget reasons, even if a give a friend a job role, they are getting more than 350 million on paper technically.

350million a week for 4 and a half years is £81.9 billion - even the failed track and trace didn't have that level of investment; it fell short at less than half  that - roughly £37 billion. Furthermore, track and trace wasn't actually created by the NHS, it was delivered by Serco, Deloitte and Dido Harding. The NHS never actually saw any investment as a result of the track and trace scheme, it was just named the NHS Track and Trace app to disguise the fact that it was another failed cronyistic contract that was offered with no tender bids being gathered.

Except that's not what he said, After Sturgeon signing the Edinburgh agreement was simple would not be a regular occurrence.

I've lifted these quotes directly, and provided my source, so I don't know how you can say I've misquoted anyone. The vote also happened in 2014, which is 7 years ago now - the same length of time required between Irish reunification votes, so once again, Scotland is being held to a different standard in this "union of equals".

Except by saying that's not the result we want is not really respecting it.

Scotland is not independent, so the vote has been respected.

If anything, the promises the UK government made have not been respected - as I said devo max was promised over and over again by numerous campaigners in the No side, yet nothing even remotely close to federalism has ever come of these promises. EVEL, however, was enshrined into law immediately after the referendum, so despite the fact that Scotland is affected by a number of English policies - via the Barnett formula - Scottish MPs have had powers stripped.

No one enshrined in legal text, the other isn't as have already said, and showed links.   Nothing about my narrative, but how frustrated you seem says a lot about yours.   To me a year or so I will have moved back to the republic, or on to Australia/the EU.    The UK is crumbling with or without Scotland.

Like I said referendum came before the idea of Brexit, and Cameron always thought he would win it.

Yes, coz every time English people move into the UK, they build around each other generally, then vote a tory in as I already explained.
.  Is generally the richer areas/    

Which referendum are you talking about now,  If Eu, Well, we have been out since transition ended, 5 months ago roughly as health money was not on the Scotland referendum? Scotland applies that themselves.   If EU that vote was 2016, not 2014 where the 350 million was quoted, and we were bound to pay in even up to the transition period as is fair.   Some things we have committed to for many more years ahead as those are commitments we promised too, Other financial obligations are tied in the EU for over 20 years more regarding loans which the UK will be returned in time.   So 2 years of track and trace is 40 million roughly, that's 20 billion a year, or roughly 400 million a week for 2 years.   As covid won't just disappear.   We add vaccine money on top is even more.   This is how they will put it, even if as I said I don't agree with it.

Nop track and trace was created by the government and leased out to Serco, the same way instrument rental, cleaning, laundry, etc has worked in many health and social care facilities since thatcher decided hospitals should compete against each other for certain services, so why I would have to go to Bristol or Llanelli for specialist Burns treatment.   As tories and then Labours PFI's hit in more, more services became rented out.   Even the same people can be operating on a private patient, the same day in theory due to how hospitals have been built with PFI money.

I have shown you quotes, and exactly what the legal text says, you don't have to like, you don't have to agree with it, but is still the same, it is there like it or lump it.   Is plenty of laws many of us don't agree with, and things people have said, which suddenly don't count when they lose.   But that's the reality.   So when Sturgeon keeps saying, Westminster can't deny us a ref if we win, they actually can and likely will.   Like sturgeon will keep saying she wants Independence, most Tories will continue to say no.

When oil goes back hoping no value, Scotland's export industry has been destroyed, if Tory's were to offer a referendum, that is when it would be.   When Scotland needs the rest of the UK most, and can't afford to survive without them.  So sturgeon and Salmond went to the same thing whether in law or in speeches as I have shown, whether they meant it or not or how they meant it,   Everyone saw the Scottish referendum as one for the near future,   Sane as Brexit one-off, even if expected to be non-binding.


In regard to the powers, you keep saying promised in the vow, the start of them were going through parliament within a year of the referendum the Scotland act of 2016 being part of these powers around vat, income tax, air passenger duty, welfare.   The problem with the promises was they were vague and no timeline attached.  So is Scotland in the same position as with the Scotland act of 2012, no.   Was the smith commission there to make the fine print of it, yes.  Is it perfect, no, as still limits to the powers especially around new benefits?   Were some things amended to try and meet more of the needs quicker, yes?   Did the deputy first minister at the time, a member of SNP agree on the terms which Scotland ended up with, yes? for him to complain straight after they don't do what he wanted, much like Boris with Brexit.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/tax-and-devolution

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-qa-westminster-broken-promise-scotland

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14298415.john-swinney-denies-vow-delivered-historic-fiscal-framework-deal/

Makes you question further why is so much support for the SNP, who helped deliver this when only 9% of people in some polls believe it delivers on the vague vow.