Friday 25 April 2014

An Evening With Mr Carmichael



If you had asked me a year ago if i would like to spend an evening with Allister Carmichael, i would have probably compared the proposal to watching paint dry. He has the same charisma as a cardboard box. Rather appropriate then that he has become known as the "Cardboard cut out Scottish Secretary". He earned this nickname by never once standing up for Scotland whilst he has held the position. He allows his Tory overlords to dictate policy and nods along like some pet with the rest of the Lib Dems.

Despite all i stated above i chose to go along to a Scottish Office (and taxpayer) funded event with the man himself. I wanted to ask a series of questions and was joined by friends from @YesDivit (our yes group covering Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay and Aberdour) who also thought it was worth giving up a Wednesday evening at home. This was in all but name designed to be a tax payer funded BitterTogether event, it was to turn out to be a much different affair...

As we entered the King Malcolm Hotel function suite in Dunfermline we were greeted by several very official looking people with suits and ties who checked our names off the list and then told us to help ourselves to tea and coffee. We found seats and quickly identified the people sitting in front of us were fellow separatists and struck up conversation, sharing tales of canvass and such. The seats had a booklet full of figures i don't believe that provided no source and we proceeded to discuss this. One of the officials was wandering round and ear wigging so we all quickly quietened up when he came within earshot. As one of the folks in front went for more tea as the hall filled up he overheard two of the suits talking and one saying to the other "we're fucked tonight, its full of nationalists!". As this was reported back to me i knew we were in for for some fun!




Red Tory and local MP Thomas Docherty did the introduction (and said "erm" about 1000 times in 2 minutes, a possible new world record) then Carmichael waffled on for about 15 minutes about a "successful union" that many of us struggled to identify with. He stated that we were better placed as part of a bigger nation to recover more quickly from a financial crisis such as the one in 2008, hang on a minute, aren't Ireland, Iceland and a host of other small nations recovering much quicker than the UK?! The fact is being part of the union gives us a much slower recovery timetable. The UK still has a big annual deficit in the budget and at time of writing is 1.5 TRILLION pounds in debt! Some successful union that eh? Another fun fact is that the only people who are better of after the recession is the wealthiest 1% of society. He stated the UK was a more stable economy, i take issue with this because the UK economy is based largely on the fickle London financial sector. In an independent Scotland our economy would be based more largely on actual products and far more diverse, fishing, agriculture, whiskey, oil, gas, manufacture etc etc etc. That seems far more stable than the city traders who plunged us into recession in 2008...

We were waiting for the opportunity to ask questions. Finally Captain Cardboard finished his speech and got a round of applause from perhaps 20 of the 80 or more present.





THE QUESTIONS:

The first question asked was about what the "guaranteed powers" are advertised on the BitterTogether billboards. We have no cross party agreement on a package of new powers for Scottish Parliament and powers may even be removed from Hollyrood. Carmichael was forced to admit that we wont have any idea what a No vote will actually mean for Scotland as no package will be specifically laid out and agreed on before the referendum. In his opinion its something we should wait and see what happens after a No vote... i smell a rat on that one folks! The Labour parties enhanced devolution package was also discussed, this lead to a revelation for me. Under this proposal the Scottish parliament would have the power to raise our taxes but not lower them again and if they did raise them this money would not be kept by the Scottish Parliament on top of what it receives from Westminster. So essentially if any Scottish Government ever raised the tax under this scheme then we wouldn't benefit from it at all and we would be unable to ever lower the tax again. Who's interest does that suit? Scotland's? No. Westminster's? Yep. We also know that after a No vote the barnet formula will be scrapped and we will lose up to £4bn a year. They aren't even offering jam tomorrow. A slap tomorrow maybe. Want all the meaningful powers in the Scottish Parliament? Vote YES.

With regards to a question on Defence, Carmichael stated that the Brittish Army was a force for good. Tell that to the people of Iraq who are tortured, degraded and sexually assaulted. Or maybe the people of Afghanistan who have Prince Harry flying about in a helicopter flying around killing shepard's and claiming they are Taliban warlords... The Union Jack is known as "the butchers apron" for good reason. Being part of the UK actually makes Scotland a target for other nations as if a war with another superpower was ever to take place then Faslane and Rosyth would be the primary targets and Scotland would be bombed back to the stone age. Tommy Docherty had a wee spell of scaremongering on Defence jobs in Rosyth, saying we would lose the maintenance contracts on the two new aircraft carriers being built to shipyards down south. I found this strange as no shipyard anywhere else in the UK has a dry dock capable of housing these colossal vessels and it would cost billions and take years upon years for them to be constructed. Someone also pointed out that much of the dockyard (dock one and dock two) is due, under plans that will commence in 2018, to be demolished and replaced with industrial units. At this point Docherty turned as red as a Labour rosette and started stammering... The fact is the Scottish Government has stated that Rosyth and Faslane would both be retained as naval bases, would build and maintain vessels to suit the needs of our own naval force. Also these engineering skills could be harnessed in the renewable energy sector in which the Scottish Government has pledged to create 28,000 jobs. Worried about your job at the dockyard? You better vote YES then!

He was asked a question on Europe and I was astounded that he told the truth, Scotland would certainly be able to negotiate EU membership. He stated that it may take a little longer than some have suggested but didn't see their being a problem. Much respect to Mr Carmichael on this point as many unionist politicians would have took the opportunity to scaremonger as we have seen in the past. I find it interesting too that UKIP are gaining a great deal of traction down south under the policy of pulling us out of EU and indeed the Tory's have relented to giving them a referendum on the matter in 2017 if they are in government, so we find ourselves in the position that if you want to remain in the EU then you have to vote YES.

Stevie Mac asked about why the Elitist Tory Government had sold off and privatised the Royal Mail and parts of the NHS south of the border. Two points stuck out in Carmichaels answer, he stated that we didn't have to "tear up the Constitution" to protect our NHS which i found strange as the UK is one of the backward nations of the world which doesnt have a written constitution. The comedy highlight of the evening however was when he stated that the current Tory government wasn't elitist! So a cabinet riddled with Etonians isn't elitist? 23 out of 29 cabinet members are personal millionaires! When he said this the hall erupted in laughter. I shouted out "tell us another one", others shouted "who the are you trying to kid?" and "is this a comedy show?" amongst others. It took a few minutes to settle the hall back down. They are tellin us lies! If he's willing to lie so blatantly about this then please question in your mind what else the unionists are trying yo get away with.... Vote YES.

A lady asked about Scotland's income tax raising powers under the Scotland act, this lead to a revelation for me. It would be a useless tool because it would only be inclusive of any income tax rise at Westminster. This was pointed out to cardboard man and he stammered a lot and then Docherty rushed on to the next question. Under Labours proposal for devolution the Scottish parliament would have the power to raise our taxes but not lower them again and if they did raise them this money would not be kept by the Scottish Parliament on top of what it receives from Westminster. So essentially if any Scottish Government ever raised the tax under this scheme then we wouldn't benefit from it at all and we would be unable to ever lower the tax again. Who's interest does that suit? Scotland's? No. Westminster's? Yep. We also know that after a No vote the barnet formula will be scrapped and we will lose up to £4bn a year. They aren't even offering jam tomorrow. A slap tomorrow maybe. Vote YES.

Then it was my turn to ask a question and i asked-
"As Scottish Secretary and an official representative of the UK government can Mr Carmichael give the official reason why both the McCrone report and the devolution papers of the 1990s were placed under the 30 year secrecy act?"
I got a round of applause from the audience and Mr Carmichael looked very troubled, he stammered a bit again and then blamed civil servants at the time. Also stating that he was just a young boy when McCrone report was compiled. Once again he hurriedly moved on to the next question and denied me the opportunity to further my line of questioning. Basically he refused to give any reason and then hurriedly moved on to the next question. The truth is they wanted to hide the truth from us as the knew it would fuel pro independence feelings if we knew what a wealthy independent nation we would be. Same reason the west coast oil was hidden from us. Vote YES.

He stated a complete lie responding to a question about business. He stated Standard Life would move all of their business down south, however this was contrary to what they themselves had said as pointed out by the chap sitting in front of me. He had took the time to ask them and had an email printed out with him stating their true position. Tommy Docherty tried to shut him up but he got his point across and offered to show it to anyone. With that the meeting was hastily wrapped up and he left with his tail between his legs.

I don't think anyone could have left this event as a No. Carmichael got picked apart by everyday members of the general public who had bothered to learn the facts about the independence referendum.





11 comments:

  1. Brilliant reporting – good to read what's happening out there involving the masters of the Westminster universe

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  2. THIS is why Better Together events are usually held in secret in front of vetted audiences.

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  3. I consider voting no to be like smoking. It Doesn't take a lot of effort to find out the facts that it's bad for you but for some reason they chose to ignore it for the tiniest amount satisfaction they get from it. Unfortunately like passive smoking their decision could finish the rest of us of as well.

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    1. I'm stealing that,
      that is a great analogy

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  4. Very nicely put James!
    And an excellent review of what must have been a meeting to exercise Carmichael's sphincter.

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    1. Carmichael's just going by the numbers Hazel, he's resigning from politics after the next election, probably because he knows the job he always wanted to be removed SoS for Scotland will disappear when we have independence and we wont need a regional governor to tell us kind our masters are to us

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  5. Listened to Steve Mac's recording earlier although parts were inaudible so I missed some of what was said. I found the talk about Rosyth and stating about the SNP MSP had came in stating about mass redundancies and then they went on about the guarentee of jobs before you put that to bed.
    The other immoral thing that struck me was Carmichael's bullish manner on UK defence spending being the 4th largest globally as if it was a badge of honour, sorry but they are homeless people or others reliant on food banks and people who can't heat their homes but they can rest easy in a doorway knowing the Uk has more smart bombs.

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  6. This has just made my day, it really has and that's saying something giving some of the belters the NO voters have come away with today, and I quote..... "I wasn't around the last time Scotland was independent but some of my family was and told me Scotland went bankrupt so it's a NO from me"

    I'll be sharing this little beauty with friends and making sure Bitter Together have a copy.

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  7. Is there any paper trail you can link to that confirms the planned closure of Rosyth & conversion to industrial units post referendum? If true & can be confirmed, it's a huge story which needs to get wider publicity.

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  9. Well written Ross. There was one point in that debate about the Tax Raising and the Barnet formula where Carmichael introduced his signature retort to the lady behind me - he said quietly "Please contain yourself madam" to which many of the crowd shouted in Michael Winner style "Calm down dear" ha ha. I actually verge on feeling sorry for a bloke who has a reputation as a hard working and fair constituency MP until I remind myself that in his Secetary of State for Scotland garb he is a lie-ing, cheatin Tory cohort no different from the devil that is Cameron himself!
    Full report and audio files can be found at http://thur18thsept2014.com/alistair-carmichael-23april2014
    Cheers,
    Stevie Mac, Edinburgh

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