Tory Party Conference Protest 8th June

[geminisnake]

Don't know how widely known about off of facebook this is so thought I'd post it here.
It clashes with the farmers market but I think I'll need to postpone my shopping for that week!

 

[Quartz]

Are there enough Tories up here for them to actually have a conference?

 

[geminisnake]

Are there enough Tories up here for them to actually have a conference?

I believe they can muster enough for a small hall with all the journos too
And is my image showing up for others? Was there earlier and now just a square

 

[geminisnake]

Fuckers have changed their conference times to try to avoid the protest.
Demo now 10am!

 

[danny la rouge]

Are there enough Tories up here for them to actually have a conference?

Yes. At the last Holrood elections they won 17 seats, on 16.6% of the vote overall.

The Lib Dems, for comparison, got 16 seats on 11.3% of the vote. And the Greens, 2 seats and 4% of the vote.

 

[DexterTCN]

Yes. At the last Holrood elections they won 17 seats, on 16.6% of the vote overall....

Rangers fans.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

On a more personal note, fuck the Tories for being in town when a bunch of us are having a night out in Stirling to welcome back an old mate who's been in the US for the past ten years.

That's it, they are never getting my vote again

 

[ChocolateTeapot]

I see oor Ruthie was being interviewed by Brillo and was saying that after a No vote in the referendum, they would need to "look" at the Scottish Parliament to make sure this "instability" never happens again - not only an independence vote but a plebiscite on "some powers or other". Given that the voting system was deliberately set up to avoid an SNP majority i.e. a referendum ever happening in the first place, I think we know what she means here....

 

[geminisnake]

This ^^ scares the feck out of me. Tbh if there is a no vote I think I am going to have to leave the UK, which I have never wanted to do

 

[Quartz]

I see oor Ruthie was being interviewed by Brillo and was saying that after a No vote in the referendum, they would need to "look" at the Scottish Parliament to make sure this "instability" never happens again - not only an independence vote but a plebiscite on "some powers or other". Given that the voting system was deliberately set up to avoid an SNP majority i.e. a referendum ever happening in the first place, I think we know what she means here....

It could be a good thing. Consider the following: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all elect MPs. When Scottish MPs gather in Holyrood they form the Scottish Parliament. When NI MPs gather in Stormont they form the NI Parliament. When Welsh MPs gather they form the Welsh Parliament. When English MPs gather in Westminster they form the English Parliament. When they all gather together, they form the U.K. Parliament.

Of course, I rate the chances of this happening as pretty much zero.

 

[geminisnake]

What is the point of your post when the number of english MPs means they can and DO overrule everything they want??
Why do you think the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly SNP for Holyrood?? Maybe because they are sick of getting tories/tory policy they didn't vote for?

 

[ChocolateTeapot]

It could be a good thing. Consider the following: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all elect MPs. When Scottish MPs gather in Holyrood they form the Scottish Parliament. When NI MPs gather in Stormont they form the NI Parliament. When Welsh MPs gather they form the Welsh Parliament. When English MPs gather in Westminster they form the English Parliament. When they all gather together, they form the U.K. Parliament.

Of course, I rate the chances of this happening as pretty much zero.

I think you are missing the point here somewhat - she is saying that the way Scotland elects its Parliament should be further changed to prevent any possibility of an SNP majority ever happening again - you know, like preventing democracy?

 

[Quartz]

What is the point of your post when the number of english MPs means they can and DO overrule everything they want??

Do they? Let's have some numbers.

I think you are missing the point here somewhat - she is saying that the way Scotland elects its Parliament should be further changed to prevent any possibility of an SNP majority ever happening again - you know, like preventing democracy?

I very much doubt that there'll be another referendum for a very long time so that's moot. This isn't the EU where they force you to have repeated referenda until you give the right answer.

 

[geminisnake]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_Westminster_MPs

Scroll down to numbers by country. No point arguing with me on this I did an essay on it some years ago At the time we had 72 MPs, the finishing line was something along the lines of even if the entire population of Scotland voted SNP it wouldn't matter a jot. How is that democratic??

533 MPs out of 650 gives England an overall majority no matter what. Which is understandable as that country has the largest population but it doesn't help when Scotland has different political beliefs and stances.

 

[Quartz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_Westminster_MPs

Scroll down to numbers by country. No point arguing with me on this I did an essay on it some years ago

Then you will be able to detail exactly which decisions of the Scottish Parliament have been over-ruled by Westminster. I've no doubt that they can, but how many times have they actually done so and what were the occasions?

 

[Frankie Jack]

^^^ There's a candidate for LMGTFY.. but I can't be fucked..

 

[geminisnake]

I really can't be arsed with this. It's tedious.

 

[Quartz]

^^^ There's a candidate for LMGTFY.. but I can't be fucked..

Actually, I've emailed Parliament but have yet to receive a reply. It is something that genuinely interests me.

I really can't be arsed with this. It's tedious.

IOW you've been called and found wanting. I guess you scored an F on your paper. I mean, you haven't even mentioned the Sewel Convention.

 

[danny la rouge]

Quartz, I suspect you're both talking about different Parliaments. Gem is talking about Westminster legislating on reserved matters. You seem to be talking about Westminster legislating on devolved matters (which Sewel covers). However, since electoral administration etc is at the moment a reserved matter, changing the voting system in Holryrood would be reserved, and not covered by Sewel. That's why when we had the 2007 voting machine cock up, the Scotland Office (the Westminster ministry) was who had to answer questions about the way the vote was handled.

Changes to the electoral system in Scotland do not alter the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. Electoral matters are still reserved.

The Scotland Act 2012, (a Westminster Act), which is waiting in the wings to amend Devolution should Independence not happen*, has made provision to give Holyrood more (but not full) say in the administration of elections.

(*Why? Because the previous SNP administration was a minority government, and the other parties combined to make a majority, setting up the Calman commission, whose recommendations were largely what informed Westminster's Scotland Act 2012, and is the Unionist response to the SNP's independence referendum).