Are We All Scots Now?
Tuesday 28th February 2023
Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as SNP leader & Scotland’s First Minister, apparently concluding she has run out of steam.The less kind among us might suggest she has run out of road.With police enquiries into SNP funding, plus her husband’s £100,000+ loan to the party - about which she ‘knew nothing’, scandal may be just around the corner.Sturgeon was not a good First Minister anyway. Think - Scottish Health Service, Education, Roads & Ferries. The only thing she was good at was banging the drum for Independence, and undermining Westminster during Corona Chaos.One Nation supporters seem gleeful that she is going but they should take note that she has been clear she will now focus her energies on pushing for Scottish Independence. Without the distractions of governing, she may be an even more potent campaigning force.I was born in Edinburgh and I am enjoying the recent Scottish rugby successes, although I support England these days - so I can say this…I still don’t believe the Scottish people will actually vote for Independence – they know only too well which side their bread is buttered.It is my long-held view that the Scots seem oddly happy to accept handouts from Westminster whilst constantly carping at the English. It is not healthy for them or their own economy that they are so dependent on London.But it has dawned on me recently - we are all like the Scots now - and it is a Scotsman who is the cause.Gordon Brown didn’t invent ‘in-work’ benefits but he expanded them hugely. His motives were to help people transition into work but the net effect has been that many are utterly dependent on them and businesses have become used to the state picking up the tab for their employees' low pay.Post Corona, as a whole nation we have become even more addicted to relying on the State for support and handouts.It isn’t sustainable.We need a vibrant economy with higher productivity, not relying on the fewer and fewer net tax contributors to fund everything.There may be a natural solution and property is key.Whilst not a good thing, the constant shortage of homes may inadvertently be part of the solution.With higher monthly mortgage payments and rents, plus energy price rises, domestic costs have shot up. Affordability is a huge issue.In order to make ends meet people are having to work harder and for longer hours and those who have retired early post-covid are realising they cannot simply retire.Latest statistics show people are coming back into the workforce in order to make ends meet.We are still short of labour in some key areas and will be for some time whilst the Tories tie themselves in knots about whether we should allow unskilled workers into the country post-Brexit.The lack of supply of labour will force some businesses to find more efficient ways to do things and a consequence may be higher productivity - at last.This Government, and others before it, have singularly failed to deal with the housing shortages vs the growing population and whilst that situation exists, we all need to keep hard at work– even if only to support the Scots.
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