@Joe Nicola Sturgeon the Scottish Farage? 🤣🤣🤣 and I guess you delight in calling her wee nippy. Pathetic.
tiny amounts and a very blunt instrument. there is no way of borrowing nor significant tax powers
Given they don't really use the income tax powers they have despite the SNP claiming to be progressive what other tax powers could be better used by the Scottish government?
@Joe Nicola Sturgeon the Scottish Farage? 🤣🤣🤣 and I guess you delight in calling her wee nippy. Pathetic.
She plays to a similar base (discounting nationality) though does it with far less cynicism. I still don't believe she actually believes in Scottish independence but can keep enough of the true believers on board (though there are plenty of doubters now in the nut jobs) along with those who hate the Tories to remain in power. Labour is effectively dead after years of taking the electorate for granted.
Actually they have used the tax powers they have - redu ced income tax below UK average invcome and raised it for those higher earners.
What they do not have is proper control over rates, thresholds and many forms of taxation. The scottish government has very limited powers to alter taxes and those powerwes were given in such a way as to make the task almost impossible - certainly they do not have the power to tax as they like
Sturgeon is nothing like Farage. Outward looking, pro european, pro EU and leftish.
Sturgeon is nothing like Farage. Outward looking, pro european, pro EU and leftish.
Indeed..
I'm not a fan of either of their parties particularly, however i respect sturgeon and see her as an asset to our nation.
Contrast that to farage...a man who makes the already unbearable brexit party even more unappealing.
The pair of them are poles apart in pretty much every way I can possibly imagine .
Sturgeon is just a Scottish Farage. She’s a populist.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha..... no. Doing something that's "popular" doesn't make you a populist.
Unlike some (it seems) I don't begrudge NHS workers a bonus - however, I will say that bonuses are quite divisive, as demonstrated on this thread. "But what about....?", "how come he gets it but she doesn't....?" etc etc. It doesn't take long for something designed to boost morale to have exactly the opposite effect.
It seems a brazenly political move - particularly with so much emphasis on the personal message to Bojo not to take any of this thank you payment. However, it's just the latest in a line of "NS making Bojo and chums look bad by being a half decent politician/human", and a welcome intersection of "doing the right thing" and a shrewd political move.
Its my guess that Boris will actually commission (or whatever the word is) a medal for the NHS - that will play well in his head I think, but I think will be met with "I would rather have had the money!" from everyone else
@Gribs never had Farage down as a Euro-centric social democrat. You live and you learn eh! 😂
What I really don't like about todays announcement is that it comes as part of the SNP Conference. These things should be announced in Parliament as part of the Government.
Given they don’t really use the income tax powers they have despite the SNP claiming to be progressive what other tax powers could be better used by the Scottish government?
really I could have sworn I had an S at the end of my tax code (and fairly happily) pay appreciably more in tax as a result...
No control of corporation tax, VAT, Vehicle Excise Duty, Fuel Duty etc. Personally, I don't think they should have played with stamp duty at this time.
I still don’t believe she actually believes in Scottish independence but can keep enough of the true believers on board (though there are plenty of doubters now in the nut jobs) along with those who hate the Tories to remain in power.
I met her a long time ago (when she was a shadow minister), she definitely believes in independence, however she's not as naive as many of her party and quite clearly sees that it isn't necessarily the solution to all Scotland's problem or going to be a pain-free path from a Yes to instant benefit. Back then she was talking in terms of generations (ironically!) not parliamentary cycles to get change/benefits.
Eh…No-one is complaining that I can see.
Except Joe
What I really don’t like about todays announcement is that it comes as part of the SNP Conference. These things should be announced in Parliament as part of the Government.
I agree - although in fairness every party in government Holyrood and Westminster always does this.
As a front line social care worker I'll be getting the £500, doesn't look like there's going to be any pay rise for the likes of me for the rest of my working life (I'm 58). Interest rates are so low its hardly worth saving . Therefore I'll support the local economy by buying expensive whisky and bike parts from local independent shops. Result happiness all round
For anyone who's "conflicted" by receiving the payment, just pay it directly to a local charity - for those in my area, Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue would be happy to get it.
Nothing more than political point scoring. If the Scottish Government really cared about all the work done by all of our excellent public sector professionals then all services would recieve a fair pay rise more often. I would liked to have seen something along the lines of the £500 worked out as a percentage of their pay and given it as a pay rise going forward. Excellent work has been done for years and will continue to be done. I just feel that the financial renumeration does not do justice to the work carried out by these people. It should not take a pandemic for recognition and I don't feel lauding one service over another is fair. Lots of people have contributed to the fight against Covid in meaningful and direct ways. Police Officers I feel are needlessly in harms way of Covid by being asked to break up needless house parties etc. Wouldn't be a lot per year but it would be something that would benefit in the long term.
Surely that’s an additional £500 they’re talking about. The Tories are lovely these days!
Bonuses are subject to tax - requires a change in legislation to alter that, which was the challenge she set Boris.
Have we understood this correctly- she's grabbed a load of positive headlines, taken money from other front line services to give a (deserved) bonus, money ultimately provided by the UK wide taxpayer, and then making the UK government look bad for taxing it, to show how great an independent Scotland could be?
She's a bloody genius.
With a nice little dig asking Johnson to make sure its not taxed as she does not have the power
She can't remove the tax but she can pay more of a bonus and tax it so the net bonus is £500. This is what was suggested to the Welsh Gov when they asked about this in May. Nicola knows this but has chosen to not mention it.
The Guardian ran some stats, lowest earners on Universal Credit will get a net of about £123 out of the £500
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/01/nhs-staff-could-lose-75-of-sturgeon-covid-bonus-say-experts
The Guardian ran some stats, lowest earners on Universal Credit will get a net of about £123 out of the £500
And that's the flaw with Universal Credit. On the one had it seems fair enough that if your earnings go up that state should help less, but on the other, there's little incentive to earn marginally more because you end up with so little extra. Of course there might be a question why there are so many people working in the NHS who are only financially viable because of the benefits system.
I was working in the financial inclusion/poverty/charity sector when UC came in.
In many ways it was a really good idea, but the crutch was the taper % was increased to the point where it didn't pay to work. Weirdly, it was George Osbourne who had set it at a good balance point but the rest of the government at the time who got it cranked up. While not a fan of Georgie boy, I do think he had this right (at least at first). The change to monthly payments and housing benefit straight to folk (instead of the landlords) was pretty controversial but probably needed.
I'm on UC at the moment. I was looking at doing Just Eat deliveries on my bike. I would end up at working at about £3/hour. While you could look at it as a sacrifice to get some experience in the world of work, I've got an undergrad degree, two post grads and my last job was IT manager for a global company, so I don't think I'd be learning too much about "work".
Instead I've entered a weird underground economy where I do demolition and other "on the tools" jobs for my builder and he pays me in TVs, radiators and over-ordered building materials which I'm using to do up my girlfriend and I's flats or punt cash-in-hand on FB Marketplace. In the next 9 months my GF and I will be renting out or respective flats and cruising around Europe in my shonky old van going bodyboarding and drinking du vin
Apologies for the digression.
