Freedom for Scotland

[amsterdammer]

With the news that prescription charges in Scotland are to be reduced by a quarter next April, & abolished in 2011, and with taxpayers in England subsidising Scotland to the tune of �22 billion per year, is it time to encourage them towards total independance, & end this madness!

[Gromit]

But if as you say we are paying their bills, they are unlikely to buy it (preferring England to buy it).

Wouldn't a more sensible approach be to encourage your MP and the Government to scrap the charges in England.

Or are you looking for the first excuse to off-load the Scots?

[amsterdammer]

GROMIT
Paragraph 1 ( Probably0
Paragraph 2 ( No. theyll only get the lost income
by other taxes)
Paragraph 3 ( you guessed right)

[Gromit]

amsterdammer

Re: Your reply to Para 2.

It is not lost income, it is expenditure. When you elect a Government it decides what it is going to spend your taxes on.

If it decides to pay for free perscriptions like the Scottish Government have, then it will have to spend less on something else.

The pot of money is always the same, it is how you prioritise the what you spend it on.

[kwicky]

devolution could result in revolution

[jno]

and now the rotters are giving their police force a proper pay rise! I suppose that means we'll end up paying English ones more just to keep up. It's a vicious circle!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles /news/news.html?in_article_id=500144&in_page_i d=1770

[fletcher.5]

At least the Scots have got their head out of their backsides unlike their English counterparts, who do not consider the public. They are taxed up to the hilt & accept it with their pathetic acceptance & moronic cliches such as "Thats the way things are" & "what can you do about it".
I would suggest get off your F in arses & make the corrupt ruling classes aware that YOU are aware of what is going on. They think we are Idiots, & that goes for all parties

[Booldawg]

You wait until all the economic migrants get wind of these concessions in Scotland, they'll be straight up the M6. Must say I've been tempted by the cheap housing and amount of employment up there. Most of my Mrs' family have moved up there and got jobs straight away and small mortgages.

[jake-the-peg]

Trident's replacement would be interesting in an independant Scotland.

Would we have to keep Faslane like Gibralta do you think?

[amsterdammer]

Ah, Raggy, 08. 52 posting, are you at work, wasting your employers time, or up early & off to collect your Benefits?
I seem to have moved from my Brighton council flat, to the edge of Dartmoor this week, as long as it isnt Wales, carry on dreaming! ( Just to correct you its Exmoor) & with a good pair of Carl Zeiss 10x 50w, I can see the Welsh coastline) near enough I think!
Of course living in Wales, you must find free prescriptions a boon, but scant consolation for living there I think!
Cant stop, only came on to read my E- Mails, & answers to posting. Off for a round of golf, just hope weather holds, looking ominous your way though.

[PhilLew]

Amsterdammer

Scots have always paid their way

Try qouting facts not myths

....Critics say that Scots receive �1,500 a head more than people living in England, but the new analysis suggests the truth is more complicated. Despite its pockets of deprivation - one-third of the UK's landmass and far-flung communities are in Scotland - the average �9,631 public spending per head is less than London's �9,748 or Northern Ireland's �10,271. While cities such as Glasgow receive high levels of incapacity benefit, the overall welfare bill per head, �3,086, is lower in Scotland than in large parts of northern England.

The tax take from Scotland is only outranked by London, illustrating how Scots and their businesses are making their contribution to UK coffers, the report said. Not only did the North Sea bonanza swell Britain's public purse, but the nation's heavy smokers, though banned from smoking in public places before the rest of Britain, swelled the tobacco duty contributions disproportionately, contributing more than �1bn a year out of a UK �8bn....

Read the full article here

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/scotland/story/ 0,,2204566,00.html#article_continue