A YES Vote Condemns England to Perpetual Conservative Rule?

In order to prove or disprove this statement we can take a look at the 18 UK General Election results since 1945. 

On only 4 occasions may the Scottish vote have made any difference.

1. The election of 1964 where Harold Wilson’s Labour Party came to power. Labour had only a majority of 4. The absence of Scotland would have meant that Labour would have become the major party in House of Commons but be short of an overall majority by 9 seats. Labour would still have been the party most likely to form a Government. 
2. The first election of 1974 the election result would have been different i.e. that the Conservatives would have been the largest party in the Westminster House of Commons as opposed to the Labour Party. However it is still possible that Labour would have formed a minority Government as Heath’s Conservatives had been so rejected by the electorate. 
3. The second election of 1974 would have been turned from a small Labour majority into a hung Parliament with Labour still being the largest party. It could be argued that this could have helped Scotland. It would have meant that the Conservatives may not have gotten rid of Edward Heath as leader at the time. They did as history tells with Margaret Thatcher becoming Conservative leader, leading to a lurch to the right, and who ultimately became Prime Minister in 1979. However we shall never know. 
4. The most recent election in 2010 would have been turned from a hung parliament into a Conservative majority.

So we can be assured that…

1. Scottish MPs since 1945 have never turned what would have been a Conservative Government into a Labour one. They have also not done the opposite.
2. On only 2 occasions since 1945 have Scottish Labour MPs given Labour a majority which they would not have had in England, Wales and Northern Ireland alone. Those are in 1964 and the second 1974 election. The 1964 Labour Government lasted under 2 years. The second 1974 Labour Government was propped up by the Liberals through the Lib Lab pact. Without Scottish Labour MPs but with Liberal support Harold Wilson would still have had a majority. 
3. On 1 occasion, in 2010 the presence of Scottish MPs has deprived the Conservatives of an overall majority. However the Government the UK ended up with was predominantly a Conservative one anyway, with a few Liberal Democrat policies thrown in for good measure. 
4. Therefore only in 6 years since 1945 have Scottish MPs had any real influence in the formation over the composition of the UK Government. 
5. The representation of Scotland in the UK House of Commons is also being reduced from 72 MPs in 1983 to 52 in 2015 meaning the likelihood of any future effect is also reduced.

So the answer to the question is a most definite no. Scotland becoming independent will not condemn England to perpetual Conservative rule unless England itself wants it.

References:-
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotland/election.htm
http://www.scottishelections.org.uk/scotland/

http://wingsoverscotland.com/why-labour-doesnt-need-scotland/

Change Power Supplier? What if you can't?

A favourite line of UK politicians in particular the Conservative and Liberal Democrat ones is that you can change supplier to save on your energy bills. Due to the UK energy market not being a real market there are many people in my situation who cannot do this without incurring charges of hundreds of pounds.

 

 

In reality I can have any power supplier I like as long as it is Scottish Power

I looked into changing energy supplier but discovered I could, but only if I spent a few hundreds of pounds to change my electricity meter, with no guarantee I would actually be able to get cheaper prices from another supplier anyway. 
 
This is due to the type of electric heating I have i.e. Scottish Power Comfort Plus White Meter where Scottish Power decide how much heating I get, although I can alter the settings additionally in each individual heater. Many people have Scottish Power White Meter (or Economy 7 in other areas) but this is different being operated using a time clock instead of the energy company, and therefore does not incur the same problem when changing supplier.

Thus in reality I can have any power supplier I like as long as it is Scottish Power. I wrote to my MP about this and he told me I was making up my situation and of-course I could change supplier with no resultant charges (although the paperwork I sent to him from the 2 energy suppliers in question said different). My MP at that stage is now Lord Martin of Springburn and sits in the UK House of Lords, so he was well rewarded by being utterly useless at his job as speaker and MP too. I thought naively that Labour was meant to be the political party that tried to help, and also protect the most ill and most vulnerable. How wrong was I?

 

Changing supplier would not make much difference anyway

In reality though changing supplier will not make much difference anyway. One of the big 6 suppliers puts their prices up and the others will follow shortly afterwards. We have after all got to ensure they get their profits since the electricity and gas industries were privatised by the Conservatives in the 1980s. As usual nothing was done by Labour to change the energy market or indeed re-nationalise these industries when they were in power from 1997. Now the Liberal Democrats are in the UK Government with the Conservatives and have done nothing either. Therefore there is no choice from the UK parties.

 

Living in a house where the warmest room is 12 degrees C is not pleasant in winter

Living in a house where the warmest room is 12 degrees Celsius is not pleasant in winter. I wear 6 layers on my top half, 3 layers including long johns on the bottom, woolly socks on my feet (sometimes several pairs), gloves with the fingers cut out on my hands, and a woolly hat on my head.

 

Mr Cameron living in Lah Lah Land as Usual

Mr Cameron suggests we put on a jumper to save money on energy bills. It gets a bit ridiculous when you have to put on 6 and you are still cold.

Charley the cat… was trying to get into the fridge for a heat

I used to have someone’s cat (a ginger tom called Charley) visit who always tried and once succeeded in serving himself from my fridge. Who this cat was owned by I don’t know, but I enjoyed his visits, although it became a standing joke amongst my friends that he was trying to get into the fridge for a heat! 

Now I heat the house to a lesser degree and offer my friends a jumper

I used to heat the house specially for my friends visits to a great extent. Now I do so to a lesser degree and offer them a jumper.

 

Obscene

In an energy rich country like Scotland this is obscene for me and others. The only realistic option for future change in this situation is to vote YES in 2014 for full Scottish Independence. Otherwise many of us including me will turn into an icicle soon!