Indyref2 by end of 2024 proposed under SNP-Green deal – STV news

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Another vote on independence could happen before the end of 2024, the deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens says.

The agreement, negotiated since May between senior members of each party, will put two Green MSPs into Government and formalise the pro-independence majority in Holyrood.

In a 51-page document detailing the deal between the two sides, they pledge to “secure a referendum on Scottish independence after the Covid crisis”.

It adds: “This would be within the current parliamentary session on a specific date to be determined by the Scottish Parliament.

Scottish independence: The cost of leaving the UK would fall heaviest on the poorest communities – The Scotsman

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We would be doing so without the safety net of the reserves and international borrowing power that we have in the UK.

Nationalists try to dismiss this, but it is hugely important. Without this, borrowing money is much more expensive and this would have to be paid for down the line.

In addition, if Nicola Sturgeon had her way, she would be starting off on a recovery mission with a deficit of 22.4 per cent of GDP, compared to just 14.2 per cent across the entire UK.

Shocking footage of rotting waste at illegal Glasgow dump site as fly-tipping branded ‘horrendous’ – The Scotsman

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Piles of trash, including countless household items such as fridges, washing machines, baths and toilets, as well as doors, windows, furniture, building rubble and bin bags, can be seen strewn across the ground beneath the M8 in the Blochairn area of the city.

Organised crime gangs are thought to be behind systematic illegal dumping at the site, near Alexandra Park.

The SNP should stop pretending that Scotland is in any fit state for independence – New Statesman

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It says much about his grinding predictability and reliably tin ear that when Ian Blackford rose to speak in the Afghanistan debate this week I wondered how he was going to shoehorn in a mention of Scottish independence. I wouldn’t have been alone.

Instead, the SNP’s leader in the Commons for once stuck to the matter at hand, although he still devoted a fair amount of time to preening about Scotland’s record on refugees. One can only presume, given the soporific length and baggy imprecision of his contribution, that he simply forgot to utter the I-word. It won’t happen again.

Blackford is the worst parliamentary offender in a competitive field for this one-eyed focus on his party’s prime purpose. He sprawls on the front bench like a set of dropped bagpipes until his turn arrives, at which point the familiar drone strikes up. The other 649 MPs – his own colleagues not excluded – tired of him long ago, and there are audible groans when he is called. “He wound me up,” Blackford complained of the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday (18 August 2021) – Peter Bottomley, the father of the House, said he wished someone had wound Blackford down instead.

Scotland outside the UK would succeed: ‘Just like that!’ – ThinkScotland

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ONE OF THE much-loved comedians of the second half of the twentieth century was Tommy Cooper, the wizard whose magic tricks almost always ended in failure and much hilarity. He would explain what he was going to achieve, exclaiming it would happen “just like that!”. It rarely did. I was reminded of this recently when I saw Scottish separatists proclaiming Scotland’s strengths and assets – usually to an exaggerated extent. With our talent and resources, goes SNP propaganda, how can we fail? Freed from the oppressive (and exploitative) occupation of our country by the UK (we are told), we would be bound to succeed outside the UK because of what we already are, ‘just like that’!

This is somewhat reminiscent of the stance of the SNP in 2014, under their then leader, Alex Salmond. It’s well known Salmond enjoys a flutter, and his gambling instincts extend to the political arena. Such was his capacity for brushing aside difficult questions that his motto in 2014 seemed to be ‘it’ll be all right on the night’. One example of this was when Philip Hammond, as Defence Secretary, was visiting Clyde shipbuilders in 2014 and was asked by a member of the workforce whether the Royal Navy would continue to build warships in Clyde yards if Scotland left the UK. His unequivocal answer was ‘No, they would not’. Salmond immediately rushed to the TV studios to give an undertaking that was not in his gift: ‘I guarantee that the Royal Navy will build warships in an independent Scotland’. It was a characteristic piece of Salmond chutzpah – not to say dishonesty.

The Union is more than a dividend – stephendaisley.com

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The annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report, laying out the state of Scottish public finances, is regarded as a national balance sheet of sorts. It is heavy on economic analysis and statistical methodology. The latest edition, published yesterday, was different from its predecessors in that it provided a glimpse into the financial mechanics of 2020, the year when Covid-19 arrived and upended many aspects of our lives.

Amidst thickets of tables and percentages, there can be spied the outline of a dramatic campaign, on a scale unseen anywhere since the Great Depression, to prop up the economy and save jobs and businesses from the rough torrents of a ruthless pandemic. We have heard already about the UK Government support schemes for companies and the furlough system that kept almost one million Scots off the dole queue last year. But GERS gives us the first comprehensive survey of the extent of state intervention and prompts us to consider what might have been had Scotland no longer been eligible for cash transfers from the UK Treasury.

Scotland’s public finances are in abysmal shape, a fact established by previous GERS publications, yet 16 months on from the beginning of the pandemic there are encouraging signs on the economic horizon as businesses begin to ring their tills again. In spite of a towering deficit, elevated public expenditure and a global oil price that hasn’t closed north of $100 in almost seven years, Scotland weathered the most unforgiving of storms. It did so all because of a much-maligned but enduring Union that, 314 years on from its formation, has proved itself to be more formidable and more necessary than ever. It is an extraordinary tale told in numbers.

As the economic facts change, the SNP simply recalibrates the truth – CapX

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To summarise, the GERS figures concluded that last year, Scots enjoyed public spending levels that outstripped tax revenue by more than £36 billion. That figure has more than doubled since the previous year’s deficit of £15 billion, largely because of measures to support the economy during the Covid pandemic.

From a purely economic perspective (and we should remind ourselves that the fight to keep Scotland inside the UK involves many areas other than the economy), this is, of course, terrible news for the SNP and its never-ending campaign to destroy the Union. It presents a very real and immediate challenge to those who would govern Scotland after it became a self-governing nation, free from the influence – and the financial support – of the rest of the UK.

Essentially, this means that a newly independent Scotland would have to take two immediate actions: the first would be to implement colossal, eye-watering cuts to public services, something few independence-supporting Scots would have endorsed in any referendum campaign.

 

First monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 approved for use in the UK – gov.uk

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Following on from a thorough review of the evidence carried out by the MHRA, and recommendation by the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), the government’s independent expert scientific advisory body, the MHRA has approved Ronapreve as the first monoclonal antibody combination product indicated for use in the prevention and treatment of acute COVID-19 infection for the UK.

Developed by Regeneron/Roche, the drug is administered either by injection or infusion and acts at the lining of the respiratory system where it binds tightly to the coronavirus and prevents it from gaining access to the cells of the respiratory system. Clinical trial data assessed by a dedicated team of MHRA scientists and clinicians has shown that Ronapreve may be used to prevent infection, promote resolution of symptoms of acute COVID-19 infection and can reduce the likelihood of being admitted to hospital due to COVID-19.