What a day it's been in the village that is the Scottish Parliament! Everywhere you went there were folk huddled in corners, speaking out of the corners of their mouths, whispering, talking in code and even some folk who amused themselves by surreptitiously taking photographs of the day's proceedings!
Not that I wasn't taking it seriously. Of course I was although I struggled to take some of the characters seriously. Par example, the Lib Dems. Word is that they didn't think the Greens would vote against the budget so they were safe in doing so, knowing that it would get through anyway. Let that be a lesson to them that games should be kept for the playground not the parliament!
Anyway then we hear that they're willing to vote for the budget if they can force a concession or two out of the SNP government. And what was their biggest demand? That the government write to the Calman Commission and suggest the Parliament gets borrowing powers. Hmmmm, bet our side had to think long and hard about that one.
And Labour are tonight claiming they've squeezed an extra year of the apprenticeship scheme out of this. It would probably have happened anyway and surely, surely to goodness, they weren't voting down the budget on that one issue.
And that is, for me, the most important point in all of this. The Labour Party were prepared to vote down a budget with all of the inevitable chaos that would bring to the country (councils not being able to set their budgets, health boards not knowing what they're doing etc) in a time of severe economic recession for what? For the want of an extra year of apprenticeships that probably would've happened anyway?
You DO NOT vote down budgets unless you've a very good reason for doing so. It should be a LAST resort. There can only be ONE good reason and that is because you believe that the budget being proposed will be DAMAGING to your country's economy. You don't do it just because you don't like it and you'd have done it differently. How deeply irresponsible of the people who once ran this country?
What a relief that they no longer do (run the country) and from what I'm hearing, this has simply woken up the few remaining Labour voters who can now see that this is a morally bankrupt party still smarting from losing the election, determined to get their revenge on the SNP and prepared to stop at nothing to that end.
So it was an exciting week in parliament with lots of high drama and a photo diary to go with it! And although we cannot count our chickens, it looks like all of the parties are now moving in the same direction and looking to do the right thing for Scotland and get this budget through the parliament. I'm sure people will be very relieved when it's over and we can get on with the job of running the country!
Not that I wasn't taking it seriously. Of course I was although I struggled to take some of the characters seriously. Par example, the Lib Dems. Word is that they didn't think the Greens would vote against the budget so they were safe in doing so, knowing that it would get through anyway. Let that be a lesson to them that games should be kept for the playground not the parliament!
Anyway then we hear that they're willing to vote for the budget if they can force a concession or two out of the SNP government. And what was their biggest demand? That the government write to the Calman Commission and suggest the Parliament gets borrowing powers. Hmmmm, bet our side had to think long and hard about that one.
And Labour are tonight claiming they've squeezed an extra year of the apprenticeship scheme out of this. It would probably have happened anyway and surely, surely to goodness, they weren't voting down the budget on that one issue.
And that is, for me, the most important point in all of this. The Labour Party were prepared to vote down a budget with all of the inevitable chaos that would bring to the country (councils not being able to set their budgets, health boards not knowing what they're doing etc) in a time of severe economic recession for what? For the want of an extra year of apprenticeships that probably would've happened anyway?
You DO NOT vote down budgets unless you've a very good reason for doing so. It should be a LAST resort. There can only be ONE good reason and that is because you believe that the budget being proposed will be DAMAGING to your country's economy. You don't do it just because you don't like it and you'd have done it differently. How deeply irresponsible of the people who once ran this country?
What a relief that they no longer do (run the country) and from what I'm hearing, this has simply woken up the few remaining Labour voters who can now see that this is a morally bankrupt party still smarting from losing the election, determined to get their revenge on the SNP and prepared to stop at nothing to that end.
So it was an exciting week in parliament with lots of high drama and a photo diary to go with it! And although we cannot count our chickens, it looks like all of the parties are now moving in the same direction and looking to do the right thing for Scotland and get this budget through the parliament. I'm sure people will be very relieved when it's over and we can get on with the job of running the country!
