Devo Max

Devo Max with corporate tax cut ” disastrous” for NI

Brian Walker on November 21, 2014, 1:54 pm | Readers 622

This powerful case against the SNP’s Devo Max plans including a 3% cut in corporation tax is made in the academic website The Conversation by Arthur Midwinter Associate Professor, Institute of Public Sector Accounting Research at University of Edinburgh and a former adviser to the former Labour leader in the Scottish Parliament Johann Lamont. It is difficult to see how “devo max” could be workable in the UK system. The aim should be to achieve maximum devolution and accountability while …

SNP must fight their campaign, not rely on foibles of #IndyRef opponents

Mick Fealty on April 5, 2013, 10:29 am | Readers 42

Great piece from Lallands Peat Worrier, who is, erm, worried that the SNP is too quick to dismiss the possibility of the Conservatives, Lib Dems and even Labour of making good on hints that some form of Devo Max could be on the table if the Scots reject independence. Yes, the British state is given to unprincipled strategic trimming. Yes, the Tories exhibit no principled reason to support more devolution. Yes, the recent history of all three parties has exhibited …

The pro-Union wheels are starting to turn in Scotland. But they could still come off the bus

Brian Walker on March 27, 2013, 11:08 am | Readers 52

Not before time, the wheels may be turning at last in the creaking pro-union machine to craft an effective reply to the SNP’s delivery vehicle for Scottish independence. The leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson has done a U-turn (£) to explore the idea of more and greater taxation powers for Holyrood. I wonder if The Herald’s editorial is right, that this is as much a problem as an opportunity for Ms Davidson? The problem for the Tory leader is …

Independence only for the Scottish referendum – DailyTelegraph

Brian Walker on September 20, 2012, 12:36 pm | Readers 58

The strongly pro Union Daily Telegraph boldly claims that Alex Salmond is about to concede that the referendum should be about the single question of independence when the details are finalised next month. This must be in part because of the difficulty in framing a clear second question about the extent to which devolution powers might be extended, whether “devo max” or “devo more”. If true, the SNP climbdown represents a tactical victory for Westminster which has been holding out …

Gordon Brown may not have helped the Union cause

Brian Walker on August 14, 2012, 11:58 am | Readers 44

The papers have caught up with Slugger on Gordon Brown’s emergence from political purdah to join the debate over Scottish independence. Brown it will be noted isn’t claiming an Olympic effect on a referendum that’s over two years away. His argument is in two parts; first, the Better Together case. One thing I take from the Olympics, a point that Sir Chris Hoy has already made for me – when we pool and share resources for the common good …

Referendum debate lacks a compelling story about a Scottish Future….

Mick Fealty on July 9, 2012, 3:09 pm | Readers 8

Interesting piece from Gerry Hassan who sees the debate over Scotland’s future as sterile, managerialist and devoid of any real emotional sense of what that future might be: The next two years will be shaped by hope, optimism, fear and anxiety, by the full gambit of human emotions and responses, and none of these are wrong. Whether pro or anti-independence, none of these are the product of false consciousness. Where are the pictures of our compelling stories about the future …

How to win a Scottish Referendum – ten iron laws…

Quintin Oliver on March 8, 2012, 10:45 am | Readers 290

Leaving aside the politics of the upcoming referendum, for a moment, however hard that is, let me explore the ten iron laws of referendum campaigning: Referendums are not elections – they encapsulate issues and ideas in theory, rather than people and personalities; that is why political parties find them so hard – because parties are irrevocably wedded by endless experience of promoting candidates to viewing them through that prism. It also explains why opponents are usually keen to pin a …

The power of politics to change constitutional terms of reference …

Mick Fealty on March 1, 2012, 9:33 am | Readers 10

Brian Taylor, the BBC’s political editor in Scotland: It is simply remarkable to note the extent to which the Scotland Bill, building upon the work of the Calman Commission, has been overtaken in political debate. One does not need to subscribe entirely to the view that the bill and the status quo “now seem lost in the mists of time” (author, Sir Peter Housden, permanent secretary, Scottish Government.) However, the Calman package – which involved such detailed discussion and prolonged …

DevoMax may be more disruptive to English regions than Independence…

Mick Fealty on February 23, 2012, 9:06 am | Readers 72

Great piece by Mark Hennessy who digs into a part of England where they probably have a more nuanced understanding of the Scots instinct for greater autonomy than any other. …the northeast of England worries about the powers that the Scots already have, let alone the possibility that they might get powers over corporation tax rates. Last September, it emerged that online retailer Amazon chose Edinburgh rather than Newcastle for a new operation after Scottish Enterprise offered training grants the …

In a Scottish three way split the middle option is the likely winner….

Mick Fealty on January 25, 2012, 12:41 pm | Readers 56

In The Scotsman today, John Curtice notes that relying on anti English sentiment is providing Alex Salmond and the SNP with very limited agency in getting the ball the across the win line. In fact in some polls, Independence is scoring less than it did five years ago… Above all, the First Minister and his colleagues reckon Westminster’s intervention has neatly served to remind Scots that, even under devolution, it remains the case that a UK government for which few …

David Cameron has transformed the SNP’s long game of Scottish independence into a penalty shootout

Brian Walker on January 9, 2012, 6:49 pm | Readers 63

David Cameron has hugely raised the stakes over Scottish independence by planning to give the Scottish Parliament legal powers to hold a binding referendum, provided it takes place within a tighter time frame than that envisaged by the SNP government. See the chess analysis by the doyen of Scots commentators Magnus Linklater in the Times (£, unfortunately) If this were a game of chess, the Prime Minister would probably be judged to have used yesterday the King’s Indian …

Unionism silent on Scotland and the ‘Devo Max’ question?

Mick Fealty on November 10, 2011, 11:20 am | Readers 99

A friend pointed out to me in Belfast yesterday that whilst Sinn Fein has its outreach project to the south to keep it’s support engaged and happy, Unionism seems to be making very little contribution to the devolution max versus independence debate in Scotland, and more recently, London. The Scots themselves have been out looking at other pre-existing relationships that Scotland might take up, albeit short of full independence (which is increasingly popular), in order to hammer down realistic options. …