Spike RavenscroftThe Ayes Open. As many of you know, I went to hear/see Nicola Sturgeon talk last night. Im going to tell you all about it, but Im not going to focus on her speech in too much detail, because it was only the first talk and Id rather you heard it from Nicola directly. Im going to focus on the Q&A session after the speech. So, off to a good start with a standing ovation from the crowd. She said that she was very pleased to be taking over a party that is in such robust shape and in such a good position for change. Unlike Scottish Labour. Wry chuckles all round at that. She pointed out that their out going Scottish leader had described it as no more than a branch office of wm. And that Labour HQ thought that the best way to deal with that was....to bring in a westminster MP....giving Nicola an opportunity to use what now has to be her personal catchphrase, you couldnt make it up. She told us that she was very proud of the Yes movement and praised its continued good work and that it was important to keep moving forward. So, this group is working for the same goal as the new first minister, which is nice. She thanked Patrick Harvey from the Scottish Greens and suggested that it was likely they would work with them in the future. She also thanked Alex Salmond for his work, and this was very well received. She said that there was no back door to independence. She needs the Yes movement and the No voters to respect each other and work together for a better Scotland. She believes that the next step for Scotland will not be made by politicians, but by the people of Scotland. She said that there would be another referendum when the Scottish people were ready for it. Someone said The Morn!, which, as you can imagine, got a laugh On the subject of westminster government wanting to take the UK out of the EU, she said that if there was a referendum in 2017, as suggested at the moment, that she is working towards adding an addendum to bill so that England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Island should vote as countries in their own right so that if one country wants to stay, it isnt forced to leave by the other members of the UK Family and if DC actually believes that we are all equal in this kingdom, then there is no democratic reason to refuse this. Someone asked if a majority of MPs from Scotland were to be SNP, if that would be enough to give a mandate for independence. I dont know if that was what was said in 1979 or abouts, sorry, I can only write so fast. Nicola said that it would not be for 3 reasons. 1) There is a difference between voting in a referendum about independence and voting in a general election. People who might not want independence might vote for the SNP in a general election because they agree with the SNP policy on the NHS etc. That they vote for the SNP generally, doesnt mean that they want independence. 2) The referendum was brought about with the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement. Which means that if the Yes vote had been successful, it would have been legally recognised by the westminster government. 3) Scotland could declare anything it likes, but that doesnt mean the rest of the world has to recognise it. If we want to be taken seriously then we need to be formally recognised as an independent country. In the meantime, we will continue to work towards devo max and while we dont live in a federal system, if Gordon Brown is to be believed, No was pretty much the same as having a federal system because of the new powers. She is planning to keep up the pressure to follow through on The Vow and work with the Smith Commission to do so as well. Which is something I personally think we should be doing as well. Let the Smith Commission know how you feel and have your say. She also pointed out that if the 3 amigos (my description, not hers ) tried to back out of legislating for the vow, then not only will it be undemocratic, but they would be bringing the full fury of Scottish people upon themselves. (So, maybe we should start mixing the woad now?) When asked about fracking, she said that new technology shouldnt be dismissed just because it was new. She described the speed with which the licenses were granted and that the idea that some company could frack under your house without you having a say in it was outrageous. She said that they had done an assessment and while there was some advantages, there were serious disadvantages as well. Its still on going. A politicians answer if ever I heard one, but its also fair. Keep up the pressure if you dont want fracking. On the subject of an oil fund, she said that this was something that had been discussed frequently during the referendum and that it was something she was still pushing for. Since the UK and Iraq are the only oil producing places that did not have an oil fund, it was a priority. A question on Fiscal Autonomy was asked. (if you want to get the details on that, go here>> tinyurl/mv3d2d6). As you can imagine it was a bit of a complicated answer, but the jist of it was that if we could gain fiscal autonomy then that would be a step towards independence. If we could prove the case for fiscal autonomy well enough to the people, then maybe a referendum would reflect that. Basically, if we persuade enough people and can get as close to that as we can, it will be a big step to indy. On the quest of tax avoidance, she said she was committed to a) working to get more tax powers for Scotland and working with what we have and what we want, close as many tax loopholes as possible. If you are supposed to be paying tax, then you need to be paying that tax. There was a discussion about moving hospitals etc from a PFI PPP model to a NPD one. Its basically due to the budget for them being slashed. I can provide more details if you want. A lovely 14 year old boy who said he would have voted if he could have, asked Nicola what Alec was going to be doing next. She said as soon as he told her, shed let us know She pointed out that Alec and her had a very rare relationship in politics. They actually like each other. They are friends and work well together. Unlike things we may have seen with the Blair/Brown (just one example of many, many such relationships), where there was loads of jockeying for position and Brown trying to push Blair out and in-fighting etc, her relationship with Alec isnt like that. She said that she asked him not to resign the day after the referendum. She said that she is looking forward to working with him and having him at her back. She said that no matter what he was going to do next, it would be good for Scotland. And finally, I asked my questions. I started by saying, Im Spike Ravenscroft and I run The Ayes Open pro indy group. (I was expecting a Woot! from our members here ) I then referred to the new benefits cuts that the wm government is announcing on Monday and how the Scottish government was going to mitigate it. To which Nicola said that already the Scottish government was helping to mitigate the Bedroom Tax and to support those most affected by the cuts. She also said something we already know, but it was good to hear her point out that the benefit cuts had nothing to do with benefit cheats or scroungers and that it was hitting working families, women and the disabled the most and it was a disgrace. She said that the move from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment is going to leave loads of disabled people with a cut or total loss of benefits. The Scottish government is pushing to have welfare devolved so that they can stop the damage that is being done by wm. And so to my second question. I said And just on the off chance, do have an opinion on Gamer Gate? Nicola and Kenny Macaskill looked at each other starkly and some of the colour drained out of Kennys face, which was priceless in its self. They were aware that neither of them knew what it was and that they had missed something. It was interesting to see the reaction to an unexpected question. Kenny asked me to explain what that was and I pointed out that he had just answered the question. As our new first minister is a woman, I think it was appropriate to ask if she had a position on a very hot feminist issue. Of course, Nicola got another standing ovation as she left Which is pretty much sums it up, except that afterwards loads of people came up and wanted to ask questions about things, which was brilliant Im sorry if I missed anything. Feel free to ask questions. Maybe other people who were there could add more, but that should keep you going for a while.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:06:55 +0000
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