The Referendum Thread

[Vambo57]

Nice quote from Nicola Sturgeon's speech today at the SNP Conference, it should wake/make up a few minds:

"To every Labour voter in the country I say this - the Yes campaign is not asking you to change your party, instead it offers you the chance to get your party back.

"Independence will not mean the end of Labour but it might mean a rejuvenated Labour Party, a Labour Party free to make its own decisions, a Labour Party no longer dancing to Westminster's tune.

"For every voter with Labour in their heart, the message is clear: don't vote No to stop the SNP, vote Yes to reclaim the Labour Party."

That should be put up on Billboards all over Scotland...

Edited April 11, 2014 by Vambo57

[Stuart Dickson]

Eric Pickles is single handedly destroying onshore wind energy in England, there will be no major wind developments whilst he is communities minister.

Have you not seen the recent announcements by SSE and Vattenfall that they wont be investing in offshore wind in the UK, bar a few Scottish based projects for SSE? All due to tory energy policy. Indeed, Scottish Power may only complete their current offshore wind joint venture project and then focus attention on German offshore wind, alongside major expansion of their Scottish onshore wind portfolio. Wave energy won't work and whilst tidal is much more feasible, the technology is not quite their yet and much depends on government funding, which looked very positive a few years ago but is now much less certain.

England's only option is to sanction thermal or nuclear generation, which wil take years if not decades to come on-stream, or to have a baseload/top-up sharing scheme with Scottish renewables generators.

Or to bring back online mothballed stations , or to import from Ireland or France - France being closest to the are a of greatest need. There is no guarantee at all that Scotland would be able to sell any surplus to England Edited April 11, 2014 by Stuart Dickson

[Guest TPAFKATS]

Why not, is it because you just made up a date and posted it on here.

Why do you do that, are you just stupid or a compulsive liar?

Cockles, I find it much simpler to take everything posted by stuart dickson as being made up

[Guest TPAFKATS]

I has a wee listen to John Beattie on bbc scotlandshire the other lunchtime. He had an academic guest on talking about Ed Davey's latest installment of Project fear. His was a Professor of Energy Policy at Robert Gordon Uni, here's a wee quote or two;-

The aims of UK energy policy should be to ensure security supply for households as well as businesses and ensure the affordability of the electricity we use. Unfortunately, what we have at the moment is a coalition government that is failing on both fronts.

They are actually doing a very bad job at the moment in managing UK energy policy. If you take for example their flagship initiative, electricity market reform, it has been going on for a number of years now - and what you find is that fundamentally it has seen a reduction in energy investment. That is very, very bad news for England.

What you might well find, with the reduction in electricity reserves, which are now estimated to be between 2% and 5%, is that lights may well go out in London. Scotland, of course, does not have that particular problem, which is because Scotland exports around 25% of the electricity it generates. In Scotland, we produce much more than we actually use by about 25% and export that to England.

As an independent expert, I produced a report with a number of colleagues from universities across the United Kingdom in December. As a result of the coalition government’s decision to fund new nuclear build, what we found in the various scenarios was that a Scottish government committed to no nuclear build would actually see a reduction in consumer electricity bills, as a result of having no new nuclear build.

It should be quite clear that the subsidies paid across the United Kingdom to the renewables industry was £2 billion or so in 2013. That’s almost the same amount of money as maintaining and running Sellafield, and the costs of decommissioning Sellafield will be in the range of £80 billion.

Beattie then asked him to clarify that Scotland had enough power of its own and that Davey's claims were rubbish

Yes that is absolutely correct - under no scenario can I see in an independent Scotland electricity bills increasing. In an independent Scotland, even with an integrated electricity market, Scotland would be able to sell its electricity at commercial rates.

What would also be very helpful for Scotland’s renewable energy industry as well is that an independent Scotland would also be able to offer discretionary spend, so that you could see a great expansion, for example, of offshore wind.

At the moment, what we are seeing with the coalition government is the offshore renewable industry effectively being strangled at birth.

Edited April 11, 2014 by TPAFKATS

[FTOF]

I has a wee listen to John Beattie on bbc scotlandshire the other lunchtime. He had an academic guest on talking about Ed Davey's latest installment of Project fear. His was a Professor of Energy Policy at Robert Gordon Uni, here's a wee quote or two;-

The aims of UK energy policy should be to ensure security supply for households as well as businesses and ensure the affordability of the electricity we use. Unfortunately, what we have at the moment is a coalition government that is failing on both fronts.

They are actually doing a very bad job at the moment in managing UK energy policy. If you take for example their flagship initiative, electricity market reform, it has been going on for a number of years now - and what you find is that fundamentally it has seen a reduction in energy investment. That is very, very bad news for England.

What you might well find, with the reduction in electricity reserves, which are now estimated to be between 2% and 5%, is that lights may well go out in London. Scotland, of course, does not have that particular problem, which is because Scotland exports around 25% of the electricity it generates. In Scotland, we produce much more than we actually use by about 25% and export that to England.

As an independent expert, I produced a report with a number of colleagues from universities across the United Kingdom in December. As a result of the coalition government’s decision to fund new nuclear build, what we found in the various scenarios was that a Scottish government committed to no nuclear build would actually see a reduction in consumer electricity bills, as a result of having no new nuclear build.

It should be quite clear that the subsidies paid across the United Kingdom to the renewables industry was £2 billion or so in 2013. That’s almost the same amount of money as maintaining and running Sellafield, and the costs of decommissioning Sellafield will be in the range of £80 billion.

Beattie then asked him to clarify that Scotland had enough power of its own and that Davey's claims were rubbish

Yes that is absolutely correct - under no scenario can I see in an independent Scotland electricity bills increasing. In an independent Scotland, even with an integrated electricity market, Scotland would be able to sell its electricity at commercial rates.

What would also be very helpful for Scotland’s renewable energy industry as well is that an independent Scotland would also be able to offer discretionary spend, so that you could see a great expansion, for example, of offshore wind.

At the moment, what we are seeing with the coalition government is the offshore renewable industry effectively being strangled at birth.

Not to worry.

If they don't get enough nuclear power stations built, they can always berth one of their nuclear submarines at Sellafield and wire it up to the national grid.

[saintnextlifetime]

If were such a drain on the UK's resources, why are the politicians trying so hard to keep us?

Er , because they love us and our haggis ?

[saintnextlifetime]

I has a wee listen to John Beattie on bbc scotlandshire the other lunchtime. He had an academic guest on talking about Ed Davey's latest installment of Project fear. His was a Professor of Energy Policy at Robert Gordon Uni, here's a wee quote or two;-

The aims of UK energy policy should be to ensure security supply for households as well as businesses and ensure the affordability of the electricity we use. Unfortunately, what we have at the moment is a coalition government that is failing on both fronts.

They are actually doing a very bad job at the moment in managing UK energy policy. If you take for example their flagship initiative, electricity market reform, it has been going on for a number of years now - and what you find is that fundamentally it has seen a reduction in energy investment. That is very, very bad news for England.

What you might well find, with the reduction in electricity reserves, which are now estimated to be between 2% and 5%, is that lights may well go out in London. Scotland, of course, does not have that particular problem, which is because Scotland exports around 25% of the electricity it generates. In Scotland, we produce much more than we actually use by about 25% and export that to England.

As an independent expert, I produced a report with a number of colleagues from universities across the United Kingdom in December. As a result of the coalition government’s decision to fund new nuclear build, what we found in the various scenarios was that a Scottish government committed to no nuclear build would actually see a reduction in consumer electricity bills, as a result of having no new nuclear build.

It should be quite clear that the subsidies paid across the United Kingdom to the renewables industry was £2 billion or so in 2013. That’s almost the same amount of money as maintaining and running Sellafield, and the costs of decommissioning Sellafield will be in the range of £80 billion.

Beattie then asked him to clarify that Scotland had enough power of its own and that Davey's claims were rubbish

Yes that is absolutely correct - under no scenario can I see in an independent Scotland electricity bills increasing. In an independent Scotland, even with an integrated electricity market, Scotland would be able to sell its electricity at commercial rates.

What would also be very helpful for Scotland’s renewable energy industry as well is that an independent Scotland would also be able to offer discretionary spend, so that you could see a great expansion, for example, of offshore wind.

At the moment, what we are seeing with the coalition government is the offshore renewable industry effectively being strangled at birth.

What did Ed Davey actually say?

[Isabella Duke]

Nice quote from Nicola Sturgeon's speech today at the SNP Conference, it should wake/make up a few minds:

"To every Labour voter in the country I say this - the Yes campaign is not asking you to change your party, instead it offers you the chance to get your party back.

"Independence will not mean the end of Labour but it might mean a rejuvenated Labour Party, a Labour Party free to make its own decisions, a Labour Party no longer dancing to Westminster's tune.

"For every voter with Labour in their heart, the message is clear: don't vote No to stop the SNP, vote Yes to reclaim the Labour Party."

That should be put up on Billboards all over Scotland...

Considering how power in the Labour Party at Westminster was dominated by Scots during their years in power and how they brought the UK economy to its knees, I would agree with you.

Anyone with at least half a brain will be voting no.

I guess you'll be voting yes!

Clown!

[Guest TPAFKATS]

He claimed that fUK wouldn't be buying our leccy (mibees) and that our bills in scotchland would rise by up to 189 quid.

[salmonbuddie]

Considering how power in the Labour Party at Westminster was dominated by Scots during their years in power and how they brought the UK economy to its knees, I would agree with you.

Anyone with at least half a brain will be voting no.

I guess you'll be voting yes!

Clown!

There you go Rick, the nasty, bullying cybernats strike again.....

To this day I regret the early passing of John Smith. If the Scots in the "Labour" party had been true Scots and had represented the wishes and aspirations of their countrymen instead of pandering to the lowest common denominator then this referendum wouldn't be happening. I have been a nationalist from the day that Thatcher took power - I could see the writing on the wall - but he was a man who I would happily have voted for. Instead we got the bunch of Tories led by Blair.

Isabella, you think StuD has "at least" half a brain and you're calling Vambo a clown......couldn't make it up.

[saintnextlifetime]

There you go Rick, the nasty, bullying cybernats strike again.....

To this day I regret the early passing of John Smith. If the Scots in the "Labour" party had been true Scots and had represented the wishes and aspirations of their countrymen instead of pandering to the lowest common denominator then this referendum wouldn't be happening. I have been a nationalist from the day that Thatcher took power - I could see the writing on the wall - but he was a man who I would happily have voted for. Instead we got the bunch of Tories led by Blair.

Isabella, you think StuD has "at least" half a brain and you're calling Vambo a clown......couldn't make it up.

I think his sudden death may have been a bit too convenient for certain individuals. .

[FTOF]

Isabella, you think StuD has "at least" half a brain and you're calling Vambo a clown......couldn't make it up.

It's no surprise that four of B&WA's most persistent, attention seeking trolls are staunch supporters of the "No" campaign.

I mean it wouldn't be like them to post fact free, inflammatory statements.

[beyond our ken]

Or to bring back online mothballed stations , or to import from Ireland or France - France being closest to the are a of greatest need. There is no guarantee at all that Scotland would be able to sell any surplus to England

Or to bring back online mothballed stations , or to import from Ireland or France - France being closest to the are a of greatest need. There is no guarantee at all that Scotland would be able to sell any surplus to England

laughed out loud when i read this, the government will have to pay the billions it costs to bring back mothballed stations, and the cost of interconnectors to france, pah! there is already a scotland-england and a scotland-ireland marine connection underway-fully funded, planned and agreed and there is a deal on power between scotland and ireland. the beauly-denny line is nearing completion, this links the northern renewables potential to the central belt and beyond. striking a deal with scotland and ireland is the best value option in the medium term and probably beyond

You and blut can like all you want, i doubt your knowledge on tis subject extends beyond a good googling

[FTOF]

Eric Pickles is single handedly destroying onshore wind energy in England, there will be no major wind developments whilst he is communities minister.

Not quite, but he certainly seems against them. I wonder if he's got interests in the companies that will be building the new nuclear power stations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26978055

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

Considering how power in the Labour Party at Westminster was dominated by Scots during their years in power and how they brought the UK economy to its knees, I would agree with you.

Anyone with at least half a brain will be voting no.

I guess you'll be voting yes!

Clown!

looks like you are on a melt down lol

[beyond our ken]

Not quite, but he certainly seems against them. I wonder if he's got interests in the companies that will be building the new nuclear power stations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26978055

trust me, i work for one of the biggest developers and can assure you that only community projects in tory-dominated areas are getting past him. Mr no-biscuits pickles has even retrospectively extended the period over which he can call-in projects that have already been approved by planning authorities. so we have duly elected officials and coalition policy being defied by an overblown anti-democrat

what was all that about natsis?

[Stuart Dickson]

laughed out loud when i read this, the government will have to pay the billions it costs to bring back mothballed stations, and the cost of interconnectors to france, pah! there is already a scotland-england and a scotland-ireland marine connection underway-fully funded, planned and agreed and there is a deal on power between scotland and ireland. the beauly-denny line is nearing completion, this links the northern renewables potential to the central belt and beyond. striking a deal with scotland and ireland is the best value option in the medium term and probably beyond

You and blut can like all you want, i doubt your knowledge on tis subject extends beyond a good googling

The point is - as Ed Davy stated - that rUK has a choice. If they need to import electricity, and the worst predictions suggest they will still have reserve capacity in their grid, they don't NEED to get it from Scotland. rUK has plans in place for new nuclear power stations, and they've got the option of bringing their own stations out of mothballing if they would rather have energy security from within their own borders. Salmond and Swinney have been more than a big naughty counting on export figures being enough to cover the existing subsidy. Their assumptions lack credibility.

[Vambo57]

Considering how power in the Labour Party at Westminster was dominated by Scots during their years in power and how they brought the UK economy to its knees, I would agree with you.

Anyone with at least half a brain will be voting no.

I guess you'll be voting yes!

Clown!

Edited April 13, 2014 by Vambo57

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

The point is - as Ed Davy stated - that rUK has a choice. If they need to import electricity, and the worst predictions suggest they will still have reserve capacity in their grid, they don't NEED to get it from Scotland. rUK has plans in place for new nuclear power stations, and they've got the option of bringing their own stations out of mothballing if they would rather have energy security from within their own borders. Salmond and Swinney have been more than a big naughty counting on export figures being enough to cover the existing subsidy. Their assumptions lack credibility.

its hilarious that you think a yes vote will have Westminster spitting out the dummy and stop all connections with Scotland.

[smcc]

its hilarious that you think a yes vote will have Westminster spitting out the dummy and stop all connections with Scotland.

Stu D thinks that everyone south of the border would react as he would.

Edited April 13, 2014 by smcc

[Stuart Dickson]

its hilarious that you think a yes vote will have Westminster spitting out the dummy and stop all connections with Scotland.

Where did I say that? I simply pointed out, as did the UK Energy Minister , that it is an open market. RUK would not HAVE to import electricity from Scotland. France and ROI are closer to England's areas of greatest need. For the Yes Campaign to be budgeting on the basis of having already secured those exports shows yet another huge hole in the funding of an Independent Scotland

[saintargyll]

Where did I say that? I simply pointed out, as did the UK Energy Minister , that it is an open market. RUK would not HAVE to import electricity from Scotland. France and ROI are closer to England's areas of greatest need. For the Yes Campaign to be budgeting on the basis of having already secured those exports shows yet another huge hole in the funding of an Independent Scotland

Why are these places closer when the 20% of electricity made in Scotland supplies the North East?

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

Correct Stuart it will come down to price so the energy minister already knows the price ? These Westminster MP's need to know all the facts before they come out with crap.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Lochwinnoch Saint

[cuntface]

The ones voting yes are obviously socialist wanks

[saintnextlifetime]

You , cuntface , are indeed , a cunt . .