Thursday, June 12, 2008

Why Alex Salmond is Smiling Today

It is strongly rumoured that one of the DUP's conditions for voting with the government on 42 days was that the revenues from the sale of disused army bases and barracks in Northern Ireland would go to Stormont, rather than the Treasury, as would be normal in these circumstances.

If true, Brown may have made a very big rod for his own back. My SNP friends are already licking their lips in anticipation of a precedent now having been set. The precedent is that that revenues from UK assets in a devolved territory are the property of that devolved government, not Westminster. This means Alex Salmond is sitting on a potential goldmine at Faslane (one of the world's very few facilities dedicated to the servicing and upkeep of nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines - which could mean an independent Scotland using the facilities to service American, English or French subs...for a price, of course) and more importantly...oil.

Oops.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's all 'capital' y'see. And Brown has never been any good at knowing the difference between capital and income. He just spends capital.

Anonymous said...

Faslane is not a disused base, how does this equate to the Irish situation?

Gordon has just gone on record at his monthly press meeting that No deals were cut with the DUP.

Anonymous said...

Can they have the liabilities too?

Anonymous said...

A rod for Gordon's back, yes, but most of the Scottish left (not quite a tautology) is so brain-dead that the only sign of cerebral activity in response to the word 'nuclear' is the jerking of knees. Faslane will be closed two minutes after (not if) the disaster that is Scottish independence is inflicted on us who live in North Britain. And we'll also all be living in the flicker shadow from bloody great wind turbines because nuclear power and nuclear bombs both have an 'r' in them.

Wyrdtimes said...

And I suppose that any revenue generated by the sale of "English" UK assets would go to the "UK" including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland...

Who's negotiating for the English in all this?

Wake up folks - England needs you.

Anonymous said...

Well as it bloody should be. Why on earth should England get money for what is down in devolved nation. If we have to have the burden of a nuclear submarine base we should get the benefit too.

Anonymous said...

What about the precedent of giving compensation to people who are arrested and not charged? It is being described as an ex gratia payment - how can it be ex gratia if it forms part of the legislation? Every mugger and shoplifter in the country will want compensation if they are released without charge due to lack of evidence. It is absolutely idiotic and will come back to bite the government.

Anonymous said...

North Sea Oil is carved up per North Sea coastline. Although it lands in Scotland, it's not exclusively Scottish. The last time I checked there was plenty of English North Sea coastline from Berwick south...

They are welcome to Glasgow's DSS bill though - that is Scottish through and through.

Anonymous said...

as long as the scoungers pick up their share of the national debt, including the deficit they've been running we English will be laughing all the way the the bank.

Ginger, think, scrounging, lazy, parasites.

Bill Quango MP said...

Anonymous said... Gordon has just gone on record at his monthly press meeting that No deals were cut with the DUP.

Good Morning Tony McNulty.. Did he ask you to fix the deal for him ?

Anonymous said...

To anonymous, 11.46:

Faslane would quickly become vacant after scottish independence - Holyrood won't allow a permanent nuclear force to be based there (which of course means the Trident fleet would need to relocate to Plymouth or Portsmouth).

So the Scottish govt would have the facilities to service a nuclear fleet but wouldn't countenance a permanent base. Hence charging what they like for foreign powers to service their fleets there and patrol the north atlantic in what has been traditionally a 'British' area.

Of course, Holyrood could just decide not to allow nukes at all in Scotland - but that would leave them with an enormous eyesore base and nothing to do with it. So expect it to be used to generate revenue.

Chris Paul said...

I'd say that on a scale of 1 to 10 poppycock this scores 10 Iain. Where did you get it? Did you check the existing agreements around former security properties in the six counties?

Anonymous said...

***Well as it bloody should be. Why on earth should England get money for what is down in devolved nation. If we have to have the burden of a nuclear submarine base we should get the benefit too.***

Possibly because the English most likely bore the lion's share of the cost of building it.

Anonymous said...

Does this mean that Boris will get the income from the sale of the very valuable assets being sold off by the army in central London?

Hannibal said...

"Gordon has just gone on record at his monthly press meeting that No deals were cut with the DUP."

1 word.

Naive.

Newmania said...

WTF is GOING ON WITH DAVID DAVIES !!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Why aren't you covering DD? thought you were bezzies.

Anonymous said...

Hi Iain,

What's the real story about DD's resignation?

Anonymous said...

WHY HAS DAVIS GONE?? WHAT IS GOING ON??

He's the Tories most impressive character along with Hague. Explain Ian, please explain.

Anonymous said...

Keep up Dale Boy.
David Davis to resign claim BBC shocker.

Anonymous said...

Never mind about Alex Salmond - what's the inside on David Davis resigning... see Guido Fawkes and the Beeb????

Anonymous said...

Iain, Iain - where is your David Davis exclusive? I have come here seeking help in understanding what going on.. but nothing...is he resigning to fight a by election (a la Unionists and the Anglo Irish Agreement inthe 1980s) over the 42 day issue. Or has he finally flipped?

Anonymous said...

I heard over 2 months ago that Gordon Brown was planning to allow all UK asset sales in Scotland to go to the Scottish government and not back into UK Treasury.
Of course we all know that English assets will go to the UK Treasury, so that the Scots, Welsh and NI can all take their plunder - don't we?
Why are the Tories so quiet on this issue? Is it because Cameron has pledged to allow Scots to vote on English issues to keept the Scots and the SNP sweet and he won't do anything on behalf of the English due to his professed love of Scotland and dislike of "Little Englanders?"
Wars have started for less. Trouble is brewing.

Anonymous said...

I thought Devonport was where most maintenance on all UK nuclear submarines was carried out. Faslane is the base for the submarines due its deep water and access to the North Atlantic.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Iain but you are showing some very basic ignorance about the SNP and its policies. Faslane would not be used as a Kwik Fit service centre for nukes under an SNP administration. If the SNP has its way, and it will, Scotland will be nuclear weapons free and it will be the better for it. Your "SNP friends" are ill informed. The SNP is anti war and cannot be bought off like the rest of the EweKay, and it is anti nuclear weapons,ditto.

My greatest hope, probably a dream, is to see Gordon Brown brought to Edinburgh Castle and charged with Treason. I draw the line at beheading, but there is a nice facility on Bass Rock which is cold, damp and stinks of gannet shit where he can flick his disgusting bogies to the wind.

Roger Thornhill said...

Gordon is fiscally incontinent - he mistakes prudence for prune juice.

Anonymous said...

What will the Tories do about it? Nothing.

As a former Tory voter I have come to despise the party. I regard it as nothing better than a traitor to England.

This 42 days debate has been used to cover up other events. The Lisbon Treaty (totalitarian constitution) has been all but buried, for example.

Money pours out of the English economy to the rest of the UK and EU and the Tories do nothing but defend what Cameron describes as an "imperfect Union".

The Conservative Party is nothing more than a collection of Judases betraying England.

England has no drirect representation in Westminster, the EU not the British/Irish Council (which last year gave away £51 billion of English money to N. Ireland alone).

Anonymous said...

Privateer.

Nuclear refits are carried out at Rosyth (within spitting distance of Gordon's house)and Devonport.

Faslane is an operational base with maintenance facilities. Faslane was the result of a political decision bringing jobs to the Clyde. Being just about the last place to base a Nuclear fleet at, due to the Rhu Narrows and long transit distances to water deep enough to dive in.

Anonymous said...

98% of the oil is in scotland. England does not own the sea north of berwick. It does not work like that.

PeriscopeDepth said...

Annoymous

Where do you get this rubbish from?
Rosyth does not refit nuclear submarines and has not done so since SSBN refits were awarded to Devonport by the Conservative Government. The last refit was carried out in the 90's. Your reasoning for Faslane being chosen as the operating base for the UK deterrent is also b*ll*cks, jobs on the Clyde????!!!!! Your knowledge of the Clyde and its approaches is also suspect, read a book have we? Stop embarassing yourself.

PeriscopeDepth said...

Annoymous

For your information Rosyth does not carry out any nuclear refits. This particular operation ceased in the '90s when the Tories awarded SSBN refits to Devonport, you are seriously wrong.

And as for your guesswork on why Faslane was chosen as the base for the UK deterrent (Jobs on the Clyde???!!!) sorry pal but embarassing all round!!! And as for your point about the Rhu Narrows - Drakes Island in Plymouth? The tiny gap between the round tower and Fort Blockhouse in Portsmouth??? Get your facts right my friend you just look silly otherwise.

Anonymous said...

And as for your guesswork on why Faslane was chosen as the base for the UK deterrent (Jobs on the Clyde???!!!) sorry pal but embarassing all round!!!"

Damn right Periscope! Everyone here KNOWS that Faslane was chosen as it was FURTHEST AWAY from London. Also, the UK govt, knowing the Scots to be utterly spineless, KNEW that NO protests would ensue, DESPITE the fact that this arsenal of death, a PRIME target should hostilities ever have broken out in the cold war, was situated NO LESS than 30 miles-for heavens sake-from Scotlands largest urban population centres!

This story.unfortunately 100% true, is just another nail in the coffin of this accursed "union" and, make NO mistake, the Scots, having found their voice after 300 years, will now secede after the next elections.

The British "state" can blame NO-ONE but themselves for this despicable state of affairs!

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for English independence. Then we can get rid of 12% or so of the British national debt to Scortlan'

( thats about £66.2 billion, Alex old bean
plus there,ll be a consideration for all the money theyv'e sponged out of England via the Barnett Rules since 1976 )

At the moment England bears the entire cost of the British national debt -



YES WE F-CKING DO!

Anonymous said...

Trouble is Iain that a precident hasn't been set, or if one was set then it was set many years ago.

You see, someone you probably like more from Northern Ireland, David 'Lord' Trimble got the proceeds from land sales (the proceeds from sale of which would usually have gone to HM Treasury) to go to the NI Executive as part of the fairly rubbish financial package he claims he secured for Northern Ireland when he was negotiating the Belfast Agreement and in the period he was First Minister.

Apparently it didn't set a precident then so I doubt it will set one now.

Oops.... another scaremongering tactic rumbled...