Labour sitting on their hands again

[Fide]

Well it seems Labour are unable to listen or are just applying the Bain principle like the spineless red Tory dicks they are. Starting off this Parliament in the same rip-roaring vein that saw them ignored in England and annihilated in Scotland doesn't seem the best way to win back new voters.

Other than being spiteful, what possible reason could they give to abstain on the SNP's anti-austerity motion? Oppostition my arsehole.

Natalie McGarry MP‏@NatalieMcGarry15 hrs15 hours ago

We have voted with Labour twice against the Tories, but they refuse to back us against austerity. Shameful behaviour.

Pete Wishart‏@PeteWishart15 hrs15 hours ago

Labour abstain in our anti austerity motion. Continue where they left this Parliament. Sitting on their hands again.

Jonathan Edwards‏@JonathanPlaid11 hrs11 hours ago

First big votes of new Parliament this week. Huge pleasure to vote for @theSNP amendment against Queen Speech. Labour tribal as ever abstain

Brendan O'Hara‏@BrendanOHaraSNP12 hrs12 hours ago

Amazed that all Labour MPs abstained on SNP amendment to oppose Austerity & Trident and to secure more powers to Scotland. #learnnothing

Richard Arkless MP‏@ArklessRichard14 hrs14 hours ago

Labour abstain in anti austerity motion. Abstaining is the same as agreeing with Tory policy, no change there then....

Alison Thewliss‏@alisonthewliss15 hrs15 hours ago

Labour refuse to back our amendment on the economy. Shame.

Eilidh Whiteford‏@EilidhWhiteford15 hrs15 hours ago

Sad the Bain principle is still alive and well in HoC. Despite losing Bain's safe seat, labour still don't seem to get it. #BainPrinciple

Mhairi Black MP‏@MhairiBlack15 hrs15 hours ago

Twice we have voted with Labour against the Tories. And yet still they fail to join the SNP in voting against austerity. Shameful.

Martyn Day MP‏@MartynDaySNP15 hrs15 hours ago

More voting tonight on the queens speech. Labour abstaining on the SNP anti austerity amendment. Support from Plaid, Green and SDLP though

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Labour

Labour voters

[Sooky]

Always amusing when there has clearly been some form of template tweet been sent from the whips office and MPs all tweet slight variations of it at roughly the same time.

Happens on all sides of course. I remember Tory MPs tweeting nearly the exact same thing during the Leaders Debate.

[Fide]

It's the SNP MP's engaging in the sort of shit Labour, Tory and Lib Dem politicians did which caused us to vote them all out of Scotland.

Give the people a wee bit of information - just enough to be believable but misleading and then play the PR card.

It's bollox. Labour didn't vote against Austerity, they abstained on an SNP amendment which had bits in it they couldn't support.

The SNP came up with an anti-austerity amendment, chucked in a couple of things they knew Labour couldn't agree with and played the PR card with the inevitable abstention. It's a classic political technique.

I didn't vote SNP to watch them engage in this sort of infantile pish.

TBH I thought we were voting for something different. Even the 20 year old is engaging in it.

Where's the "new"? Where's the "different"?

It's just the same shite in a different cloak.

You've turned into a proper grumpy auld fucker of late. What couldn't Labour support? Non renewal of Trident? Every single Labour MP?

If you think that because of this one amendment that the #56 are going to be just like the previous Labour MP's then I'd say you'd ne wrong. Of course it's early days, but the SNP MP's have engaged more, been more visible, put in more hours and spoke for Scotland more than any bloc of Scottish Labour MPs.

ETA: But then I remember, aren't you the chap who isn't happy with anything short of immediate independence?

[Thumper]

Other than being spiteful, what possible reason could they give to abstain on the SNP's anti-austerity motion?

Because they don't support it? They're not called red tories for nothing.

Definitely the wrong way to go about winning anything back of course, but they're demonstrably completely clueless and liable to stay that way.

[strichener]

Can you be pro-trident and anti-austerity? I don't see how the two are compatible given the cost of trident.

[BerwickMad]

£4billion or so out of £750billion is it not. I'd say you could easily be anti-austerity and pro-trident.

[strichener]

£4billion or so out of £750billion is it not. I'd say you could easily be anti-austerity and pro-trident.

1/2 percent. How much is the cut to the Scottish budget just announced?

[BerwickMad]

I don't see how that's relevant. Apparently there is 10s of millions to which could be raised by clamping down on tax avoidance. Some parties want to increase spending year on year, so I'm sure both could be possible.

I'm not pro-trident btw, but I think it's silly to exaggerate the effect it apparently has on everything else.

[Granny Danger]

Co-ordinated tweeting is not the best way to make a point IMO. I recognise that social media is very important these days but the importance of the issue is being lost in an easy attack on the presentation.

[strichener]

I don't see how that's relevant. Apparently there is 10s of millions to which could be raised by clamping down on tax avoidance. Some parties want to increase spending year on year, so I'm sure both could be possible.

I'm not pro-trident btw, but I think it's silly to exaggerate the effect it apparently has on everything else.

Nobody was speaking about tax avoidance. You stated that trident was the equivalent of one half a percent of total spending which just happens to be the same percentage as the Scottish Government has had cut from their budget. It is completely relevant.

[BerwickMad]

Nobody was speaking about tax avoidance. You stated that trident was the equivalent of one half a percent of total spending which just happens to be the same percentage as the Scottish Government has had cut from their budget. It is completely relevant.

Nonsense. You asked if you could be anti-austerity and pro-trident. As the cost of trident is only half a percent, of course there are some people who think that public spending could be increased by £4billion, and that again plus more.

And as for the tax avoidance thing. The parties who were claiming to be anti-austerity, when questioned on how they were going to afford this and that, we're using cutting tax avoidance as a means of bringing in more revenue to increase spending.

So yeah, you could be happy to spend £4billion on trident, want tax avoidance cut down bringing in more revenue, AND want an end to austerity. The Scottish budget being cut is irrelevant to the question you asked.

[strichener]

Nonsense. You asked if you could be anti-austerity and pro-trident. As the cost of trident is only half a percent, of course there are some people who think that public spending could be increased by £4billion, and that again plus more.

And as for the tax avoidance thing. The parties who were claiming to be anti-austerity, when questioned on how they were going to afford this and that, we're using cutting tax avoidance as a means of bringing in more revenue to increase spending.

So yeah, you could be happy to spend £4billion on trident, want tax avoidance cut down bringing in more revenue, AND want an end to austerity. The Scottish budget being cut is irrelevant to the question you asked.

You are an idiot. That is all.

[BerwickMad]

I've answered your question. It's not my fault that it doesn't suit your agenda.

[AUFC90]

Nonsense. You asked if you could be anti-austerity and pro-trident. As the cost of trident is only half a percent, of course there are some people who think that public spending could be increased by £4billion, and that again plus more.

And as for the tax avoidance thing. The parties who were claiming to be anti-austerity, when questioned on how they were going to afford this and that, we're using cutting tax avoidance as a means of bringing in more revenue to increase spending.

So yeah, you could be happy to spend £4billion on trident, want tax avoidance cut down bringing in more revenue, AND want an end to austerity. The Scottish budget being cut is irrelevant to the question you asked.

The "parties" ? There was only one party against austerity and they weren't planning on clamping down on tax avoidance. Try again.

[BerwickMad]

The "parties" ? There was only one party against austerity and they weren't planning on clamping down on tax avoidance. Try again.

The Greens. Try again.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I think there's a lot of hypocrisy when it comes to anti-austerity.

Labour were, for example, hypocrites over the bedroom tax. Equally, the SNP trumpets an anti-austerity message whilst cutting spending on education and health.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

What exactly did they abstain on?

What specific anti-austerity package were they asked to vote on?

Was it a package which included Trident?

If so it's hardly surprising they abstained.

I've been a supporter of independence my whole life and have voted SNP for more years than I recall but it's not healthy to automatically take the SNP's side on everything without any critical analysis.

I'm getting more than a bit concerned about the slavish, unquestioning worshipping that's going on TBH.

It reminds me of brain washing. WTF is going on folks?

Have you hijacked Oaksoft's account?

Actually in all seriousness you are correct. With a complete lack of an effective opposition it is vital that there is a self-critical approach to policy by nationalist supporters - no-one else is going to do the job.

[strichener]

I've answered your question. It's not my fault that it doesn't suit your agenda.

My agenda was not to out you as an idiot. You managed that on your own.

See if you can get your head around this concept - Austerity has nothing to do with how much tax you raise. The government could double the tax take from the country and still implement austerity.

[BerwickMad]

Of course it could. But you were seriously suggesting that spending £4billion on something would rule out being able to increase public spending. You could commit to spending money on trident and still increase public spending and be against austerity.