Who Will You Be Voting For In The General Election?

[weeker2014]

With the General Election just around the corner, I thought it would be interesting to have a poll on voting intentions

[golach]

It certiainly will not be the snp for me.

[weeker2014]

It certiainly will not be the snp for me.

Are you going to stick a vote on or should I try to add another option for "Not Sure"?

[weeker2014]

Are you going to stick a vote on or should I try to add another option for "Not Sure"?

Don't think it will let me add another option in :( - I guess anyone who is not sure could choose other.

[golach]

Are you going to stick a vote on or should I try to add another option for "Not Sure"?I dont take part in polls that identify those taking part, And showing what or who they voted for, not democratic.

[weeker2014]

I dont take part in polls that identify those taking part, And showing what or who they voted for, not democratic.at

My apologies I didn't know it did show specifics of what people voted for. Don't think I am able to edit a poll as had a look earlier to see if I could add a "Not Sure" option. It's a shame you don't have faith in your convictions and are able to back up your choice, instead of hiding behing anonymity.

If you are not voting for the SNP as you stated, I would have hoped you would be able to explain your choice, which is exactly what this thread is about, not a propaganda area for the SNP or any other party. An open and honest discussion about what the choices are for the General Election and the pro's and con's of voting for each party with any luck.

[BetterTogether]

i for one am wondering why anyone would vote for the SNP given that they are the party that tell everyone they want to end inequality but then sit on a £444 million underspend this year.
In real terms thats enough to put pay to all the food banks in Scotland
To pay all the bedroom tax
or to pay massively in NHS scotland and stop some of the problems which are now caused through underfunding.
As always with the SNP they are good on promises bad on actually delivering, how can you honestly vote for a party that so chronically mismanages the countries finances and is focussed on only one thing which given the way they spend money on luxury hotels isnt the people of Scotland

[weeker2014]

[QUOTE=BetterTogether;1107686]i for one am wondering why anyone would vote for the SNP given that they are the party that tell everyone they want to end inequality but then sit on a £444 million underspend this year.
In real terms thats enough to put pay to all the food banks in Scotland
To pay all the bedroom tax
or to pay massively in NHS scotland and stop some of the problems which are now caused through underfunding.
As always with the SNP they are good on promises bad on actually delivering, how can you honestly vote for a party that so chronically mismanages the countries finances and is focussed on only one thing which given the way they spend money on luxury hotels isnt the people of Scotland[/QUOTE

I agree Better Together, an underspend is not good. However, I do like a country that lives within its means and doesn't have a massive overspend. Are they not just frugal in holding money back incase the gales decide to blow the roof off of something so to speak? A bit like keeping some money in the bank until all of the bills are paid.

[BetterTogether]

so better to have people going to foodbanks and starving than give them money
better to have people paying bedroom tax than alleviating the pain
better to have hospital unable to provide services through lack of funding
so much for inequality
especially when SNP councillors are living it up in luxury hotels and charging it to expense.

stinks of hypocrisy to me and ineptitude

[Shaggy]

so better to have people going to foodbanks and starving than give them money
better to have people paying bedroom tax than alleviating the pain
better to have hospital unable to provide services through lack of funding
so much for inequality
especially when SNP councillors are living it up in luxury hotels and charging it to expense.

stinks of hypocrisy to me and ineptitude

Why don't you phone up Dave and ask him to ALLOW the Scottish government to spend the cash then??
Oh and then theres the £30k trip the other month there for 14 Tories to go on a holiday at the taxpayers expense!

End of the day, it doesn't matter what story you come up with about SNP, they are not the ones who dropped us in the mess we are in now.

Roll on deflation and we'll soon see what the government are REALLY like!

[sam09]

i for one am wondering why anyone would vote for the SNP given that they are the party that tell everyone they want to end inequality but then sit on a £444 million underspend this year.
In real terms thats enough to put pay to all the food banks in Scotland
To pay all the bedroom tax
or to pay massively in NHS scotland and stop some of the problems which are now caused through underfunding.
As always with the SNP they are good on promises bad on actually delivering, how can you honestly vote for a party that so chronically mismanages the countries finances and is focussed on only one thing which given the way they spend money on luxury hotels isnt the people of Scotland



Over its two Holyrood Administrations from 1999, Labour had managed to underspend the Scottish Block Grant to the collective tune of £1.5 billion - money which was returned to the treasury at Westminster because, incredibly, Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish and Jack McConnel just could not think of anything to spend it on.

Food Banks in England are also the fastest growing banks, the N>H>S> in England is in a terrible state. All under the Tories.

[Rheghead]

I agree Better Together, an underspend is not good. However, I do like a country that lives within its means and doesn't have a massive overspend. Are they not just frugal in holding money back incase the gales decide to blow the roof off of something so to speak? A bit like keeping some money in the bank until all of the bills are paid.

It was the unionist parties that got us into this deficit in the first place.

[weeker2014]

It was the unionist parties that got us into this deficit in the first place.

Absolutely :)

[Even Chance]

so better to have people going to foodbanks and starving than give them money
better to have people paying bedroom tax than alleviating the pain
better to have hospital unable to provide services through lack of funding
so much for inequality
especially when SNP councillors are living it up in luxury hotels and charging it to expense.

stinks of hypocrisy to me and ineptitude

And remind me of the party that forced these awful things onto the Scottish people again? Aah, thats right, its the multicoloured Tory party with its varying shades of blue. Red/Blue, Yellow/Blue and also the very much Blue/Blues. On yersel neeps.

The only thing hypocritical here are your statements, these awful things are here simply because of your glorious party. Its on their heads. Thanks for that by the way.

[David Banks]

Recently, our "Harper Government" (conservative, federal) responded to a claim that they had not spent all allocated moneys on our veterans.

They "schooled" us on government budgets and individual plan budgets, by pointing out that under-spending on budgets is common in nearly all government plans.

Though I am no tory, it may be worthwhile to compare individual plan expenditures against budgets - rather than picking on one plan only. If this has already been done, I apologise for bringing up this point.

[rose123]

Have you noticed when a football team play badly it's the manager that gets sacked !!!

[Sandra]

I would vote Green if there was a candidate. Failing that an independent, depending on their policies, then may be SNP. I most certainly would not vote for Liebour or Condem or UKIP, in other words the Red/Blue/Yellow or Purple Tories!

[PantsMAN]

i for one am wondering why anyone would vote for the SNP given that BLAH BLAH BLAH the people of Scotland

It's called democracy. You get to vote for whom you want, and so do we!

[Gronnuck]

i for one am wondering why anyone would vote for the SNP given that they are the party that tell everyone they want to end inequality but then sit on a £444 million underspend this year.
In real terms thats enough to put pay to all the food banks in Scotland
To pay all the bedroom tax
or to pay massively in NHS scotland and stop some of the problems which are now caused through underfunding.
As always with the SNP they are good on promises bad on actually delivering, how can you honestly vote for a party that so chronically mismanages the countries finances and is focussed on only one thing which given the way they spend money on luxury hotels isnt the people of Scotland

I'm not happy that the SNP administration have such a large underspend but at least they haven't gone the way of the three major Westminster parties who have consistently overspent to the extent that the country is now in debt to a massive scale. The annual interest alone is greater than our Defence budget. The bad news is that the deficit is getting worse - daily.

I for one am wondering why anyone would vote for the tories, the liberals or labour who between them have created the current mess and increased the gap between the 'have's and 'have nots' exacerbating inequality in many areas of our lives. Between them these parties spent our money without a thought for putting anything aside for difficult times ahead.

[Humerous Vegetable]

The underspend can be carried over to the next financial year. The SNP government does not send it back to Westminster, like the Labour Holyrood governments used to do when they were still in a position in Scotland to "pool and share" our resources.
Amongst other things, the underspend will give the Scottish government the financial ability to help out apprentices affected by redundancies in the oil sector.

[Tam 2000]

I will be voting for the party that has been excluded in this pole, its a pitty it was set up incorrect .

[weeker2014]

I will be voting for the party that has been excluded in this pole, its a pitty it was set up incorrect .

Tam there is an option for other

[rob murray]

100% not the SNP, and I am surprised at the lead they have in this on line poll.....read below ( oh its all lies isnt it...just as any arguement against "freedom" was shouted down as lies ...) never ever ever vote SNP !

The North Sea industry is suffering, and any further price falls may well bring the whole industry to its knees . Of all productive oil fields in the world, the North Sea has some of the highest production costs, so it would be one of the first to be shut down by pro longed low prices. JObs are going and will go in there thousands.
With current oil barrel prices of < $50 continuing ( as it will ). just this year an independent Scotland would have faced an estimated £18.6 billion shortfall in revenues. If the oil prices persist at current levels for a few years to come ( and they may well do as this scenario is a lot different than 2009 ), that would be an effective yearly budget deficit on the SNP White Paper spending plans.

With annual borrowing requirements of £20bn+, there is simply no way to get finance on the international markets at sensible rates. Throw in the uncertainty over the currency and EU membership ( still unresolved, lies and lies from the SNP on this ), we would have been faced with financial Armageddon.
For a brand new country with no credit history and inherited debts of around £160 billion from the UK, this simply could not have worked. It would have meant an IMF bailout in the first year of independence which would have come with Greece-style austerity. Nevermind the SNP's vision of a Nordic-style, lovely, progressive welfare society. That would have been unaffordable, as we've been saying all along.

Its SCotlands oil eh !! Only when the dosh is there, wheres big Uncle Alexi when he is needed, as Surgeon and co are inept and clueless..mind you they lied through their teeth didnt they !!! I guess they blame westminster for it all eh !!

[rob murray]

100% not the SNP, and I am surprised at the lead they have in this on line poll.....read below ( oh its all lies isnt it...just as any arguement against "freedom" was shouted down as lies ...) never ever ever vote SNP !

The North Sea industry is suffering, and any further price falls may well bring the whole industry to its knees . Of all productive oil fields in the world, the North Sea has some of the highest production costs, so it would be one of the first to be shut down by pro longed low prices. JObs are going and will go in there thousands.
With current oil barrel prices of < $50 continuing ( as it will ). just this year an independent Scotland would have faced an estimated £18.6 billion shortfall in revenues. If the oil prices persist at current levels for a few years to come ( and they may well do as this scenario is a lot different than 2009 ), that would be an effective yearly budget deficit on the SNP White Paper spending plans.

With annual borrowing requirements of £20bn+, there is simply no way to get finance on the international markets at sensible rates. Throw in the uncertainty over the currency and EU membership ( still unresolved, lies and lies from the SNP on this ), we would have been faced with financial Armageddon.
For a brand new country with no credit history and inherited debts of around £160 billion from the UK, this simply could not have worked. It would have meant an IMF bailout in the first year of independence which would have come with Greece-style austerity. Nevermind the SNP's vision of a Nordic-style, lovely, progressive welfare society. That would have been unaffordable, as we've been saying all along.

Its SCotlands oil eh !! Only when the dosh is there, wheres big Uncle Alexi when he is needed, as Surgeon and co are inept and clueless..mind you they lied through their teeth didnt they !!! I guess they blame westminster for it all eh !!

PS

The oil price has dropped around 60% since June, to $48 a barrel, and BP expects that it will stay in the range of $50 to $60 for two to three years.BP announced onThursday that 200 jobs and 100 contractor roles would go after a review of itsNorth Sea operation. It followed similar announcements from Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips in recent months, oil and gas services group Schlumberger is shedding 9,000 posts internationally. Ie Schlumberger is reducing headcount in line with lower activity levels and this impacting on NorthSea operations and people." So BP Shell, Chevron, Schlumberger and Conoco Phillips all cutting jobs in Aberdeen…..more to come though, and I dont buy the "give us complete control over all fiscal matters" line comming from Sturgeon and pals.....what can they do about this disaster...nowt, its too late now, we have to deal with the here and now or rather the government of the UK has to ???

[whaligoechiel]

SNP the only party that has Scotland as a priority and the welfare of the people live in Scotland

[Oddquine]

PS

The oil price has dropped around 60% since June, to $48 a barrel, and BP expects that it will stay in the range of $50 to $60 for two to three years.BP announced onThursday that 200 jobs and 100 contractor roles would go after a review of itsNorth Sea operation. It followed similar announcements from Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips in recent months, oil and gas services group Schlumberger is shedding 9,000 posts internationally. Ie Schlumberger is reducing headcount in line with lower activity levels and this impacting on NorthSea operations and people." So BP Shell, Chevron, Schlumberger and Conoco Phillips all cutting jobs in Aberdeen…..more to come though, and I dont buy the "give us complete control over all fiscal matters" line comming from Sturgeon and pals.....what can they do about this disaster...nowt, its too late now, we have to deal with the here and now or rather the government of the UK has to ???

And that was the oil which could only be efficiently managed if kept clasped to the bosom of Westminster. You are a) forgetting that it is the UK bosom buddy, Saudi Arabia, (the country which provided most of the funding, and most of the pilots, on 9/11, but which Afghanistan and Iraq replaced as the recipient of invasion and bombing despite that.) which decides the amount of production and therefore the oil price. It has been as low as the current price before, on at least a couple of occasions, you know, and it has always risen eventually....because the oil sheiks have a lifestyle to maintain....and b) ignoring the fact that it is not just the reduction in oil prices which is the problem for companies in the North Sea, but also the level of taxes and the consequences of tax grabs on windfall profits..........which is down to Westminster.

You can't say for sure what the situation would have been in an independent Scotland in March 2016.........just as you can't say what the situation in the UK is going to be next month...but I do find it rather puzzling that the unionists on here don't seem to quite understand the difference between devolved and retained issues.....and manage to blame the Scottish Government for not getting enough money from the Westminster government to compensate the Scottish people for the unfairness and inequity of Westminster policies.

Out of interest..........where do you get annual borrowing requirements of £20 billion + as in your previous post? If it is meant to be our share of the UK borrowing.........then you obviously expect the UK to miss its current targets by a country mile, yet again........and if it would be the borrowing requirement of an independent Scotland....then you, like the OBR, the IFS and all Unionist economic pundits appear to think an independent Scotland would have continued with the same policies, run the same bloated government machine as Westminster does and been as woefully incompetent as Westminster.

Our deficits at the present time are due to Westminster spending more than the UK earns on the matters which are devolved to Scotland, Wales and NI and which have specific sums allocated to them, but which in England are funded from general taxation; on the reserved departments, like the MOD and Foreign Office etc; our share of the debt interest, which has been accrued because we are part of the Union.... not because of any benefit to the Scottish economy.

Would be good to have a look at the figures on which you base your £20+ billion debt, if it is applicable to an independent Scotland.......got a linkie?

And to get back to the thread.......I'll be voting SNP in all elections until we get independence, as I have done all my life, as long as it is the most obvious vehicle for my vote. I am however not a party member and haven't been since the late 1990s. In an independent Scotland, however, I likely wouldn't vote SNP, but that would depend on the policies of other Scottish Parties.

[gerry4]

I will be voting for the party that has been excluded in this pole, its a pitty it was set up incorrect .

How do you know that that party will be standing here? :) ;) I am a member of the Greens but on here voted SNP as the Svot Greens would be standing here.

[rob murray]

And that was the oil which could only be efficiently managed if kept clasped to the bosom of Westminster. You are a) forgetting that it is the UK bosom buddy, Saudi Arabia, (the country which provided most of the funding, and most of the pilots, on 9/11, but which Afghanistan and Iraq replaced as the recipient of invasion and bombing despite that.) which decides the amount of production and therefore the oil price. It has been as low as the current price before, on at least a couple of occasions, you know, and it has always risen eventually....because the oil sheiks have a lifestyle to maintain....and b) ignoring the fact that it is not just the reduction in oil prices which is the problem for companies in the North Sea, but also the level of taxes and the consequences of tax grabs on windfall profits..........which is down to Westminster.

You can't say for sure what the situation would have been in an independent Scotland in March 2016.........just as you can't say what the situation in the UK is going to be next month...but I do find it rather puzzling that the unionists on here don't seem to quite understand the difference between devolved and retained issues.....and manage to blame the Scottish Government for not getting enough money from the Westminster government to compensate the Scottish people for the unfairness and inequity of Westminster policies.

Out of interest..........where do you get annual borrowing requirements of £20 billion + as in your previous post? If it is meant to be our share of the UK borrowing.........then you obviously expect the UK to miss its current targets by a country mile, yet again........and if it would be the borrowing requirement of an independent Scotland....then you, like the OBR, the IFS and all Unionist economic pundits appear to think an independent Scotland would have continued with the same policies, run the same bloated government machine as Westminster does and been as woefully incompetent as Westminster.

Our deficits at the present time are due to Westminster spending more than the UK earns on the matters which are devolved to Scotland, Wales and NI and which have specific sums allocated to them, but which in England are funded from general taxation; on the reserved departments, like the MOD and Foreign Office etc; our share of the debt interest, which has been accrued because we are part of the Union.... not because of any benefit to the Scottish economy.

Would be good to have a look at the figures on which you base your £20+ billion debt, if it is applicable to an independent Scotland.......got a linkie?

And to get back to the thread.......I'll be voting SNP in all elections until we get independence, as I have done all my life, as long as it is the most obvious vehicle for my vote. I am however not a party member and haven't been since the late 1990s. In an independent Scotland, however, I likely wouldn't vote SNP, but that would depend on the policies of other Scottish Parties.

Well put, just cut to the chase, every informed commentator has stressed that a ) the SNP oil revenue prediction pre election and hence financial availability was and is massively wrong showing, how as you put it "woefully incompetent the SNIPS were and are b ) The extremists shouted down everyone who argued this point just as you are doing on here. The unionsists saved Scotland...thank god !

[gerry4]

The unionsists saved Scotland...thank god !

But the electorate believe in the SNP, latest poll tonight 28 point lead for May 2015 GE

[golach]

But the electorate believe in the SNP, latest poll tonight 28 point lead for May 2015 GEI am a member of the "electorate" and I for one will not and do not believe the snp, I will not be voting for them, no plan B , now the lies about the price of oil, the list goes on.

[Gronnuck]

If we’re honest these polls/debates/discussions are a bit of a waste of time since anyone with a modicum of intelligence could pick holes in all of the political parties just as a few on here are doing with the SNP.
Labour had their turn and spent any wealth the country had faster than any government before them. Gordon Brown even sold off our gold reserves at a knock down price! How stupid was that! They also involved us in wars of dubious legality. Scottish Labour sold its soul to its Westminster masters in the late 90s and more recently morphed into red tories. They will lose more than a few seats in May.
Jim Murphy tries to talk the talk but he’s a Blairite, a new Labour stooge and a Westminster red tory. He’s got an uphill battle to regain the support of the labour voters who voted ‘Yes’ last September.
The Liberal Democrats broke promise after promise from day one and spoiled any chance of regaining any credibility in the future. They will be relegated to the sidelines, they may retain their seats in Scotland but only because the electorate won’t let the tories take them.
The Conservatives are just not liked in Scotland, which is strange given that after WW2 they could count on over 40% of the Scottish electorate for support. Their post war treatment of Scotland has led to their demise and I doubt they will gain any more seats in May.
The SNP have no more faults than any of the other parties, love them or loath them they will gain seats in May.
Myself? I’m looking to the Greens because I prefer a scattering of wind turbines across the whole of Scotland to a forest of fracking drilling rigs across the central belt and the noxious gunk that they use polluting the most highly populated area of our country.

[Oddquine]

Well put, just cut to the chase, every informed commentator has stressed that a ) the SNP oil revenue prediction pre election and hence financial availability was and is massively wrong showing, how as you put it "woefully incompetent the SNIPS were and are b ) The extremists shouted down everyone who argued this point just as you are doing on here. The unionsists saved Scotland...thank god !

Every informed but unionist commentator/economist. If you had cared to read them, there were as many informed pro-indy or unaligned commentators/economists saying differently.

Regarding the oil price, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we............but the UK will miss the income much more than we ever would have if we had even been in the economic position in which it wasn't a bonus. It has never been a bonus for the UK.......it has been an integral part of its day to day income and is what paid to de-industrialise Scotland, pay for the big sell-offs of all the UK family silver....and the resulting unemployment.

[rob murray]

Every informed but unionist commentator/economist. If you had cared to read them, there were as many informed pro-indy or unaligned commentators/economists saying differently.

Regarding the oil price, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we............but the UK will miss the income much more than we ever would have if we had even been in the economic position in which it wasn't a bonus. It has never been a bonus for the UK.......it has been an integral part of its day to day income and is what paid to de-industrialise Scotland, pay for the big sell-offs of all the UK family silver....and the resulting unemployment.

The oil price....how long do you think it wil take to bounce back to the minimum $80 a barrel needed for North Sea activities, 3 months ?? Get real here, to suggest that Oil is a a bonus for Scotland is utter nonsense, what great diverse economic activities does Scotland have, and dont come out with the standard, tourism, whiskey garbage.We cannot go back in time and yes we were savagely de industrilaised so we dont have a manufacturing base any more period. The guff spouted by your darling Alexi on Scotland becomming the saudia arabia of renewable energy is utterly laughable were it not for the fact that jobs have been lost / lives affected due to several key players being liquidated / completly cutting back on wave power progression ( as well you know ) I take it your a yes fantatic are you ? Well accept the position we are part of the UK for better or worse and just now with economic events battering us Im glad we are. Under the present situation we would be heading towards becomming greece ( with the rain )

[rob murray]

And that was the oil which could only be efficiently managed if kept clasped to the bosom of Westminster. You are a) forgetting that it is the UK bosom buddy, Saudi Arabia, (the country which provided most of the funding, and most of the pilots, on 9/11, but which Afghanistan and Iraq replaced as the recipient of invasion and bombing despite that.) which decides the amount of production and therefore the oil price. It has been as low as the current price before, on at least a couple of occasions, you know, and it has always risen eventually....because the oil sheiks have a lifestyle to maintain....and b) ignoring the fact that it is not just the reduction in oil prices which is the problem for companies in the North Sea, but also the level of taxes and the consequences of tax grabs on windfall profits..........which is down to Westminster.

You can't say for sure what the situation would have been in an independent Scotland in March 2016.........just as you can't say what the situation in the UK is going to be next month...but I do find it rather puzzling that the unionists on here don't seem to quite understand the difference between devolved and retained issues.....and manage to blame the Scottish Government for not getting enough money from the Westminster government to compensate the Scottish people for the unfairness and inequity of Westminster policies.

Out of interest..........where do you get annual borrowing requirements of £20 billion + as in your previous post? If it is meant to be our share of the UK borrowing.........then you obviously expect the UK to miss its current targets by a country mile, yet again........and if it would be the borrowing requirement of an independent Scotland....then you, like the OBR, the IFS and all Unionist economic pundits appear to think an independent Scotland would have continued with the same policies, run the same bloated government machine as Westminster does and been as woefully incompetent as Westminster.

Our deficits at the present time are due to Westminster spending more than the UK earns on the matters which are devolved to Scotland, Wales and NI and which have specific sums allocated to them, but which in England are funded from general taxation; on the reserved departments, like the MOD and Foreign Office etc; our share of the debt interest, which has been accrued because we are part of the Union.... not because of any benefit to the Scottish economy.

Would be good to have a look at the figures on which you base your £20+ billion debt, if it is applicable to an independent Scotland.......got a linkie?

And to get back to the thread.......I'll be voting SNP in all elections until we get independence, as I have done all my life, as long as it is the most obvious vehicle for my vote. I am however not a party member and haven't been since the late 1990s. In an independent Scotland, however, I likely wouldn't vote SNP, but that would depend on the policies of other Scottish Parties.

OK 2 hear and now facts, not fantasy what ifs

1 Mohammed al-Sabban Saudi Arabia's minister of petroleum's former senior adviser has publically stated that they can cope with low oil prices for at least eight years and the country's policy is to defend its current market share by enduring low prices allowing prices to go as low aspossible will see marginal producers (north sea operators in particular ) move out of the market : in other words they can ride out the storm, and let lesser entities go to the wall and then in the longer term, pick up more market share
2 Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England warned that the Scottish economy was heading for a “negative shock” Carney told MPs on the Treasury select committee that falling oil prices would deal a blow to the Scottish economy but that the decline would be offse tby the boost to the wider British economy due to the falling petrol prices. “It is net positive for the UK economy,”he said. “It is a negative shock to theScottish economy, which is substantially mitigated … by the nature of theeconomic union that exists.”

The nature of the economic union that exists = the UK : But I will agree with you on one point only, we are part of the union and the union government ( westminster ) have to slash taxes on operators and provide incentives, we have to massage the hit, if they dont, then big trouble ahead. But whats the scottish government majority SNP's answer...set up a task force......in other words they are clueless and have to watch themselves politically, after all their case for independance / finances was based on $113 a barrel, so they are as guilty as westminster in playing politics with our future hence the wishy washy task force : Despite experts arguing pointedly over oil volatility...everyone was wrong bar Uncle Alexi and wee nicky and the extremists eh !! Well they got it wrong, dangerously wrong didnt they !! So keep on voting SNP your not going to change, but at least accept where we are and focus on the here and now eh !

[rob murray]

OK 2 hear and now facts, not fantasy what ifs

1 Mohammed al-Sabban Saudi Arabia's minister of petroleum's former senior adviser has publically stated that they can cope with low oil prices for at least eight years and the country's policy is to defend its current market share by enduring low prices allowing prices to go as low aspossible will see marginal producers (north sea operators in particular ) move out of the market : in other words they can ride out the storm, and let lesser entities go to the wall and then in the longer term, pick up more market share
2 Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England warned that the Scottish economy was heading for a “negative shock” Carney told MPs on the Treasury select committee that falling oil prices would deal a blow to the Scottish economy but that the decline would be offse tby the boost to the wider British economy due to the falling petrol prices. “It is net positive for the UK economy,”he said. “It is a negative shock to theScottish economy, which is substantially mitigated … by the nature of theeconomic union that exists.”

The nature of the economic union that exists = the UK : But I will agree with you on one point only, we are part of the union and the union government ( westminster ) have to slash taxes on operators and provide incentives, we have to massage the hit, if they dont, then big trouble ahead. But whats the scottish government majority SNP's answer...set up a task force......in other words they are clueless and have to watch themselves politically, after all their case for independance / finances was based on $113 a barrel, so they are as guilty as westminster in playing politics with our future hence the wishy washy task force : Despite experts arguing pointedly over oil volatility...everyone was wrong bar Uncle Alexi and wee nicky and the extremists eh !! Well they got it wrong, dangerously wrong didnt they !! So keep on voting SNP your not going to change, but at least accept where we are and focus on the here and now eh !

Update : http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/what-saudi-king-abdullahs-death-could-mean-for-oil-prices/ar-AA8uhLN?ocid=iehp

[Rheghead]

I very much doubt that lower oil prices mean better for the UK and worse for Scotland for 2 basic reasons.

1. Scotland is a very sparsely populated country compared with the rest of the UK. Therefore the ratio between product transport cost/manufacturing value will be much lower than the rest of the UK.

2. Job losses from the oil industry are unfortunate but will be relatively insignificant compared to the river of money that flows into the UK treasury from Scottish oil. And when prices recover, and they will, the oil industry will still need to keep that experienced level of workers in work or they'll lose the expertise. That can be seen in any industry.
So if the oil was managed by the Scottish Government, the jobs will be kept and the oil will still flow and the dips would be compensated by the oil fund.

More scaremongering from the Naesayers.

On the bigger picture, I see Westminister now frantically giving huge tax breaks and incentives for the oil industry (on top of what is already there), why? We all know the oil is on the wain and contributes massively to climate change.

How about having huge incentives to build a huge recharging network for electric cars across Scotland? How about ploughing huge investment into using the North Sea as a massive hub for offshore wind development? That way, we can use the offshore oil expertise into making clean energy that will never run out rather than producing belching CO2. Or is that to simple for them?

[Alrock]

The less oil extracted the better....

Leaving it in the ground now means more left to extract when Scotland is finally independent...

[whaligoechiel]

totally agree why put more money in the Westminster purse the have squandered all that has come out of the north sea so far