FROM NOON WEDNESDAY.
The TASP Roadshow continues with our latest stop last night being the fair City of Perth. We had a fantastic panel consisting of Phil Boswell, Eva Comrie and Sally Hughes. An invitation to the local MP Mr Peter Wishart a former keyboard player went unanswered. His failure to even have the good manners to decline our invitation was noted by his many constituents in the audience.
This did not stop the good folk of Perth from having a vibrant and interesting evening of discussion and political discourse. Indeed, the first question of the night reflected the audience’s thoughts on not just their MP but the general quality of our representation in both Parliaments.
“What can we do to find people of the right quality to take an independent Scotland forward?”
This opener resulted in lively debate and responses from the panel. The answers from our two prospective Independents for Independence Parliamentary hopefuls seem to capture the mood of the hall the most.
Other questions posed asked if popular MP Angus Brendan McNeil, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar would benefit from the newly formed Indy1st Group and their AyeApp. This triggered further questions regarding the new independence campaigning group and their strategy. “What % of increased voter registration could be achieved by their AyeApp and how would this benefit the independence cause was just one of the several questions.
Although Grangemouth is not in the constituency, the audience showed that it was fully aware of the consequences posed to Perth should the closure of Scotland’s only refinery go ahead. Indeed, the problems that this will cause for the entire Scottish economy were discussed. The burning question that was asked was, Why is it that only the Independent candidates and the Alba Party are campaigning on this vital issue?
This led us into a similar discussion on Freeports another area our audience feel is a threat to Scotland, its economy, workers rights and any aspirations to rejoin the EU. All are threatened by these so-called Freeports. Once again questions were asked as to why none of the political parties were addressing this issue and that only Salvo and once again the Independent candidates wanted to question this policy of the Tory Government and the collusion of the Scottish Government.
As the April 1st deadline approaches we had several questions on the loathed Hate Crime Bill. The disquiet over this piece of ill thought out and badly written legislation received in depth replies from the panel. It was fortunate that our speakers were two ex-police members and a criminal lawyer. The answers given were fulsome and thorough.
With the clock as always beating us, the final questions were deliberated. ” Why won’t Humza Yousaf resign as First Minister and trigger Holyrood Elections that could be an Independence Plebiscite Election? Why indeed?
The last two questions of the evening were after independence matters. Should voting be compulsory in an independent Scotland? The other was, what would be the first priorities of our panel on the days following our liberation.
All this and more on your favourite Scottish Political Review Show.
We move on to Aberdeen on Saturday afternoon. The Rusty Nail is the venue and it is a 3 pm kick off. We hope to see more of you there.
Absolutely great show Roddy, from my neck of the woods.
I would presume this hate crime bill will affect AUOB marches, unionist will say its offensive when people say ” what do you want Independence” when they unionist don’t.
Your comments on Scotland’s Green Freeports are factually incorrect. They’re different to the Tory ones in England and may actually be a useful addition to growing Scotland’s economy. More background info here, minus the hysterical myth making we’re getting from England… https://yesvisual.wordpress.com/2024/03/18/green-freeports-good-or-bad/
Major Scottish ports have been starved of investment since privatisation in the early 1990s. Scotland has few international shipping connections mainly because Scottish ports are not competitive and lack modern facilities. Scotland has no continental ferry links whereas Ireland has several daily connections, and even the Faroes has a ferry link to the continent.
Freeports are a Tory policy which raises the question as to why the SNP Scottish Government and local councils are helping implement the schemes. The Scottish public were never asked if they supported it, only vested interests do.
Globally, freeports are mainly tied to international transhipment terminals where goods arrive into the port, are stored there, processed, repackaged etc and then re-exported without duty being applied, i.e. the goods are not for the domestic market. UK ports are not involved in transhipment so they don’t need the freeport status. Sunak’s idea for this is flawed, based on the hope UK trade can be boosted post the Brexit slump. Its also been tried before in 1970s recession hit Britain, with very limited gains if any, and that was eventually scrapped.
In Scotland the word ‘Green’ has been added to the two freeports but the same tax benefits apply. This is supposedly because Forth and Cromarty ports are involved in the installation of green offshore wind energy. These wind energy developments were going ahead anyway which means the ports did not need to be freeports in any case. Many ports in Europe and globally serve similar wind energy supply chains but are not designated freeports, hence its definitely not essential. The main advantage of the freeport is to offshore energy firms and their suppliers where imports of turbines etc are exempt from duty, making the profits of these firms even higher than they already would be.
Employment impacts of green freeports are unknown. As we know the offshore energy installations were going ahead anyway. Once the installation is complete the main function thereafter is maintenance of turbines etc which is not a large generator of jobs. Energy equipment is mostly imported, so again few jobs here in Scotland. And now these imports are duty free this means its even more attractive to manufacture such equipment overseas.
The main problem with Scottish ports is the lack of modern infrastructure and lack of investment mainly in the central belt major port areas and hence the lack of direct frequent international shipping connections, especially in the ferry sector. This is not being addressed by a freeport policy. Hence most of what is left of Scottish international trade still has to be routed via ports in England, leading to higher costs and lack of competitiveness, and declining trade. The freeport policy does not change this, its a desperate attempt by the Tories to attempt to make Britain more competitive post Brexit and after loss of trade, but as we are not involved in the transhipment business its overall economic effect will be limited.
https://reidfoundation.org/2016/01/sort-out-our-ports/