The Scottish government should not be spending money campaigning for the SNP.
Westminster should stop this waste of money.
This is frankly just hilarious. Slipped out last thing on a Friday hoping no-one’ll still be at their desks to read it. What an embarrassment
To save anyone else the bother of reading it, the document leans heavily on the potential benefits of EU membership, and completely ignores the potential costs. Its a lightweight marketing prospectus, not a serious analysis
Any sensible whitepaper would have clearly set out the accession criteria to the EU, and spelt out what Scotland would have to do, and what it would cost to achieve each
But no, we get a unicorns and rainbows white paper that pretends Scotland just needs to tick the box “re-join” on some form in Brussels
> Scotland’s large sea area and high average wind speeds provide significant offshore wind and tidal energy potential. Subject to planning and consenting decisions and finding a route to market, we have a potential pipeline of over 40 GW of offshore wind generation projects. At the same time as enabling Scotland to meet its ambitious renewable energy targets, that potential could help the EU deliver its sustainable growth strategy.
Shame to see that the statistics on Scotland providing ~~25%~~ up to 7% of ~~Europe’s~~ the EU’s wind power didn’t make the cut for the white paper
Funny that given how freely the stat was thrown around previously
That makes no sense how can you be independent and a vassal state at the same time?
Wonder how much this cost
I only skim read the headlines but am I right in saying there’s nothing whatsoever about the process and work needing done to meet the criteria and indicative timescales for that?
I thought the economic paper was bad but this is beyond laughable. How is anyone supposed to take this seriously and trust what they’re saying if they aren’t candid about how how difficult the process could be and the sacrifices we’d have to make? This is one of the biggest concerns about voting Yes is that the Yes campaign, like Brexiteers, are promising the world without being transparent about the problems we could face. I just want honesty – not marketing material.
Does anybody still believe these publications when they come out?
>”Building a New Scotland: an independent Scotland in the EU”
>
>*Doesn’t mention the Euro or currency once*
out of the united kingdom frying pan
into the european fire …
This is absolutely wild. It’s absolutely joyless and has no enthusiasm for the EU, and goes on and on about how amazing Scotland is; never really lining up the two.
The currency is dodged with the same quote as always “no one will be forced” and nothing more.
But:
* the UK _is_ a unitary state
* the Internal Markets Act was a good thing, and it makes no sense to try to ban produce from another part of your own country. The EU Single Market is… this. One market, high standards, high barriers to putting up barriers. It’s an economic marvel, but it has a lot of mechanisms.
* the use of the word “sovereign” like that should be banned. I can’t tell if the usual suspects on here sound like this paper, or this paper sounds like them.
* “if this government forms the first independent government” is when I realised it was a joke.
That’s Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Independence, earning his significant ministerial uplift by writing a book of utter shite.
11 comments
The Scottish government should not be spending money campaigning for the SNP.
Westminster should stop this waste of money.
This is frankly just hilarious. Slipped out last thing on a Friday hoping no-one’ll still be at their desks to read it. What an embarrassment
To save anyone else the bother of reading it, the document leans heavily on the potential benefits of EU membership, and completely ignores the potential costs. Its a lightweight marketing prospectus, not a serious analysis
Any sensible whitepaper would have clearly set out the accession criteria to the EU, and spelt out what Scotland would have to do, and what it would cost to achieve each
But no, we get a unicorns and rainbows white paper that pretends Scotland just needs to tick the box “re-join” on some form in Brussels
> Scotland’s large sea area and high average wind speeds provide significant offshore wind and tidal energy potential. Subject to planning and consenting decisions and finding a route to market, we have a potential pipeline of over 40 GW of offshore wind generation projects. At the same time as enabling Scotland to meet its ambitious renewable energy targets, that potential could help the EU deliver its sustainable growth strategy.
Shame to see that the statistics on Scotland providing ~~25%~~ up to 7% of ~~Europe’s~~ the EU’s wind power didn’t make the cut for the white paper
Funny that given how freely the stat was thrown around previously
That makes no sense how can you be independent and a vassal state at the same time?
Wonder how much this cost
I only skim read the headlines but am I right in saying there’s nothing whatsoever about the process and work needing done to meet the criteria and indicative timescales for that?
I thought the economic paper was bad but this is beyond laughable. How is anyone supposed to take this seriously and trust what they’re saying if they aren’t candid about how how difficult the process could be and the sacrifices we’d have to make? This is one of the biggest concerns about voting Yes is that the Yes campaign, like Brexiteers, are promising the world without being transparent about the problems we could face. I just want honesty – not marketing material.
Does anybody still believe these publications when they come out?
>”Building a New Scotland: an independent Scotland in the EU”
>
>*Doesn’t mention the Euro or currency once*
out of the united kingdom frying pan
into the european fire …
This is absolutely wild. It’s absolutely joyless and has no enthusiasm for the EU, and goes on and on about how amazing Scotland is; never really lining up the two.
The currency is dodged with the same quote as always “no one will be forced” and nothing more.
But:
* the UK _is_ a unitary state
* the Internal Markets Act was a good thing, and it makes no sense to try to ban produce from another part of your own country. The EU Single Market is… this. One market, high standards, high barriers to putting up barriers. It’s an economic marvel, but it has a lot of mechanisms.
* the use of the word “sovereign” like that should be banned. I can’t tell if the usual suspects on here sound like this paper, or this paper sounds like them.
* “if this government forms the first independent government” is when I realised it was a joke.
That’s Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Independence, earning his significant ministerial uplift by writing a book of utter shite.
Thanks Jamie, absolutely useless, as always.