Unholy alliance of Starmer and Farage will help SNP cling on to power in Scotland
An unholy alliance of Nigel Farage and Sir Keir Starmer is set to assist John Swinney achieve his sole objective of breaking up Britain in next year's Scottish Parliament election.
That was the message that came over in a series of often bitter speeches from the leaders of the three main parties as they set the ball rolling exactly one year before the latest poll for Holyrood.
The threatened acrimony between the three was nowhere better highlighted than in the pitch by Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay who claimed that Swinney was backing Nigel Farage's Reform UK because it helped his case for independence.
It was, he said, the First Minister's 'dirty little secret', as every vote for Reform was a 'gift' for the SNP.
John Swinney believes that Keir Starmer's policies are helping the nationalists reverse last year's general election result.
It's also now crystal clear that First Minister John Swinney believes that Starmer's unpopular UK Labour policies on withdrawing winter fuel payments and increased energy charges are also helping the nationalists reverse last year's general election result.
Last July they lost 38 seats to Labour but now new polls suggest that the SNP are favourites to emerge as the biggest party in the Holyrood election one year from now.
And while he continues to publicly attack Farage's Reform UK party, there is no doubt that the more votes Reform takes off both Tory and Labour, the better it will be for Farage's candidates. Tory election strategists have accused Swinney of 'weaponising' Reform and a new poll suggest that the SNP will be major winners in next year's Holyrood vote, with Reform emerging as the runners up, Labour third and the Tories a distant fourth.
As one senior Conservative commented: 'All Reform is doing is splitting the Unionist vote and making it easier for the nationalists.'
And the Scottish Tory leader claimed that Swinney didn't want to confront Reform, but to help them, adding: 'It's John Swinney's dirty little secret. Publicly he pretends to despise them – privately he adores them. A vote for Reform is a gift to the SNP.'
Exactly one year before the polls open on the May 7 vote for the Holyrood assembly, the leaders of the three main parties set out their stalls about how they'll campaign.
There was precious little from the First Minister in defence of his record in government, perhaps because in key issues such as the NHS, education and drug deaths the SNP government has been under almost constant attack.
Instead, Swinney focused almost entirely on the record of Keir Starmer's UK Labour Government which had seen winter fuel payments cut and energy and business taxes had increased.
And he also made it plain that if he did win a majority in next year's Holyrood election he would again focus on achieving a second independence referendum – indyref2 – which he said would be 'a win for Scotland'.
Furthermore, he made much of the UK Government's decision to save jobs at the steel plant at Scunthorpe, in England, while 'ignoring' job losses at the oil refinery in Grangemouth, in Scotland.
He insisted that independence would allow Scotland to sit at the 'top table' of European nations but I can't be the only one who reckons that Scotland is already top of another table – for drug deaths.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
34 minutes ago
- Spectator
Is Britain ready to defend itself against Iranian reprisals?
Operation Midnight Hammer, America's air and missile strikes against Iran at the weekend, did not involve the United Kingdom. Although the Prime Minister was informed of the military action in advance, there was not, so far as we know, any request from the United States for British approval, participation or support, and Sir Keir Starmer continues to call for a de-escalation of the conflict. There had been a great deal of suggestion that the UK might be drawn into action against Iran. The most likely scenario was thought to be a request from Washington to use Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, the maritime and air base America leases from Britain in the Chagos Islands, for the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers which struck the nuclear facility at Fordow. In the end, the aircraft conducted their attack from their usual home at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri – but this is not an irrefutable alibi which will be accepted by the régime in Tehran. We should not imagine that such a 'crisis or conflict' is in the far-distant future Decades of standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the Middle East with the United States means that Britain is seen as America's close and almost inevitable ally in the region. Our participation in the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 set the pattern in that regard. For Iran's leadership, however, Britain has a special and outsized villainy: it has not been forgotten that the United Kingdom was the driving force behind what it called Operation Boot and the CIA referred to as TP-AJAX, the overthrow of Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in August 1953 to protect the interests of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. This means that when Iran now threatens retaliation for the US strikes at the weekend, Britain and British interests are effectively on the front line. The Defence Secretary, John Healey, announced on social media on Sunday that: The safety of UK personnel and bases is my top priority. Force protection is at its highest level, and we deployed additional jets this week. There is no shortage of British targets in the Middle East for Iran to strike at. The UK naval support facility in Bahrain is the base for Operation Kipion, the long-standing air and maritime security mission in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, the UK joint logistics support base in Oman has a dry dock large enough to accommodate the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and the Omani-British joint training area provides the British Army with a base for expeditionary warfare. There are also RAF units stationed at Al Udeid air base in Qatar and growing facilities at Donnelly Lines at Al Minhad air base in the United Arab Emirates. Slightly further afield, British Forces Cyprus, more than 10,000 military and civilian personnel, occupy sites across the UK sovereign base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus; since the current crisis between Israel and Iran began nearly two weeks ago, additional assets have been deployed so that there are now 14 Typhoon aircraft based at RAF Akrotiri. The government must think wider still. Last week's attack by Palestine Action agitators at RAF Brize Norton has proved that military installations in the UK are not immune from international events. There is also the threat of potential Russian espionage against sites in Britain where Ukrainian military personnel were being trained. Iran is a much diminished military power, but we must still regard its reach as global: Saturday's protest march in London by supporters of the blood-drenched Tehran theocracy proved that the Islamic Republic finds no shortage of useful idiots. What the activities of Palestine Action at RAF Brize Norton also demonstrated was that the security of military facilities is inadequate. The recent Strategic Defence Review warned of 'attacks on the Armed Forces in the UK and on overseas bases' and advised that the Ministry of Defence must 'have additional capabilities for the protection of bases and CNI [critical national infrastructure] in the event of crisis or conflict'. We should not imagine that such a 'crisis or conflict' is in the far-distant future; indeed, it may already have arrived. Last week anti-Israel activists were able to breach the perimeter at Brize Norton, ride electric scooters across the runway and damage two of the RAF's 14 Voyager tanker aircraft at a potential cost of £30 million, in addition to compromising the immediate capability of the armed forces. The government has ordered a review of security, and that must be urgent and comprehensive. The UK is vulnerable. This is not news, or should not be, but we have preferred to ignore it until recently. The likelihood of Iran seeking to retaliate against the United States and its allies merely focuses the mind. The government needs to establish what additional protection military bases at home and abroad reqrequire and how it can be provided – and then it must get on and do it. This cannot wait for quieter times. The front line is everywhere.
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
Highland-wide holiday lets control zone proposed by councillors
A Highland-wide control zone to limit Airbnb-style lets has been suggested as a way of tackling a shortage of homes across the proposing the move said 7,011 short-term let licences had been granted across the Highlands, but only four lets are not banned in control areas, but operators need planning permission as well as a short-term lets councillors said the powers could be used where there was local demand for them. Highland Council officials said control area status for the whole of the Highlands would require research and, if it was introduced, could mean additional costs and workload for its planning department. The idea of Highland-wide status has been suggested by Inverness councillors Michael Gregson and Duncan a paper going to next week's meeting of the full council, they said the region needed more than 24,000 homes over the next 10 added: "The private long-term rental market has shrunk disastrously: estate agents are withdrawing from letting out properties because of the shortage of properties available. "Even taking into account the efforts of Highland Council and the Housing Associations, there is a shortage of affordable housing."The councillors said the local authority should first ask the Scottish government to revisit its original plan to have an overprovision policy within short-term lets said if that was not possible, then to seek approval for Highland control area their response, officials said there would be financial implications for the local authority around both suggestions from the also said there could be potential challenges to Highland-wide of Edinburgh Council had to amend its licensing scheme following a court ruling. The whole of the City of Edinburgh Council area was designated Scotland's first short-term let control area in September 2022.A law requiring operators to have a licence came into force across Scotland in October the following Council's first control zone was approved in December 2023 and covers Badenoch and who supported its introduction said it was needed because workers and local young people had difficulties finding affordable the Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers (ASSC) said at the time that targeting legitimate small businesses to address longstanding housing issues showed "a muddled sense of priorities".
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
'UK should not ignore Severn Estuary tidal lagoon recommendations'
The UK should not ignore the potential to generate 2% of its electricity from a tidal lagoon, the author of a commissioned report has Severn Estuary Commission recommended in March that a lagoon scheme would be the best way to harness tidal power from the River Severn and help the UK reach its net zero commission chair, Dr Andrew Garrard, has now said: "If we are going to double our energy generation in 25 years, and it has to be indigenous and it has to be low carbon, how can you possibly ignore a source of energy which is 2% of our needs in one go? It's a slam dunk."The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it is "open to considering well-developed proposals". The recommendations mark a change from previous reviews that have suggested larger barrage infrastructure should be built across the Severn, but that without formal government support, failed to attract funding. Lagoon v Barrage Tidal lagoons are typically loop shaped enclosures which collect water during high tide and release it through turbines to generate are seen as having a lower environmental impact compared with dam-like barrages, which work on the same principal, but span the full width of a river, estuary or to seven previous studies have recommended a barrage structure for the Severn Estuary, all of which have failed to advance due to environmental, political and financial Garrard hopes the commission's re-think on how to harness energy created by the Severn might have more success."A barrage would be very disruptive to both the Welsh and the English ports, so that's a major commercial consideration," he added."It also adds a huge environmental impact, the environment on the Severn is of global significance, so it desperately needs to be protected."We really need to build something now and stop having further studies and discussion." The Severn Estuary is one of the largest in Europe and is one of its most important wildlife habitats, according to the saltmarshes and mudflats are used by an average 74,000 birds each winter while its waters support more than 100 fish species and vast numbers of invertebrates. Following the publication of the report the RSPB welcomed the commission's rejection of a barrage, which it called "environmentally unacceptable".However it warned "tidal lagoons also present significant risks to nature that have not been overcome so far and must not be ignored".RSPB Cymru head of nature policy and casework Annie Smith added that while they supported a "rapid transition to renewable energy... this must be achieved in ways that do not further jeopardise our declining wildlife".Former Labour Welsh secretary Lord Peter Hain was also concerned about the proposals, calling them a very expensive "cop out" in March."Lagoons do harness tidal power but... they are very expensive and are a cop out which won't harness the ginormous but untapped natural power of the Severn Estuary," he told BBC Wales at the time. The River Severn has the second highest tidal range in the world, which reaches 15 metres during spring tides.A tidal lagoon would cost about £10bn, most of which would have to come from private investment, and could generate at least 2% of the UK's electricity needs each is estimated it would take up to a decade to become operational, but would last up to 120 years."Two per cent might sound like a small number, but it's actually a huge amount of energy," Dr Garrard added."So two of those lagoons would be the same as Hinkley Point C [a nuclear power station] just down the coast."A lagoon would have at least a 120-year life, [in comparison] a typical power station has 30, and offshore wind farm has 30, Hinkley probably has 60."The Severn Estuary Commission's report did not look in to specific scheme options or locations, but it is understood the banks of the estuary in Somerset would be a viable place. Ambition and funding The UK has so far failed to bring forward any large-scale tidal lagoons, but it is hoped a privately backed Swansea Bay project will be developed in the coming the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is pushing ahead with a tidal barrage across the River of the Mersey Tidal Project began in earnest in 2015 and it could be operational by the end of the next Shaun Benzon, head of project development, said the barrage has been able to progress due to strong local political will."We've had an ambition as a combined authority which has been strongly supported by our Mayor, Steve Rotheram," he added."By having a key champion behind the project, and also having the ability to fund the development of the project to this phase through our devolved funding we've been able to act ahead of the others." The UK Marine Energy Council estimate the wave and tidal industries will be worth £50bn to the UK economy by a statement, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it is on a "clean power mission" to "get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets" while "protecting business and household finances with clean, homegrown energy that we control"."We are open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the power of our bays, estuaries and coastlines, which demonstrate value for money", the spokesperson added.
