Tag: MP’s

Posted on

Great Britain to Mini Britain! The Rise and Fall of Liz Truss

Truss

What a couple of weeks it has been in Great Britain. Newly elected Prime Minister Liz Truss singlehandedly managed to accomplish what no other British Prime Minister ever achieved! Collapse the whole economy with one master stroke and now is gone!!!!

So! What’s been happening so far in Old Blighty! Since Liz Truss was selected by her Tory party members in an internal election for prime minister; the queen is dead, the pound crashed along-with the economy and subsequently mortgage rates increased considerably with many looking to lose their homes, while the cost-of-living crisis just got worse for citizens. The Conservative & Unionist Party is now on its knees and going to lose the next general elections by a massive margin. The poll conducted by Electoral Calculus predicts a huge Labour landslide in the next General Election based on current opinion polling – far greater than even the majorities achieved by Tony Blair in 1997 and 2001.The Scottish National Party is poised to be the main opposition with the Tories pushed in third place. The excuse that Russia is to be blamed for the markets collapsing and not the mini budget announced in parliament by the now sacked Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng after a mere 38 days, is proof that voters are not falling for this lie. Liz Truss has now resigned after immense pressure. The Bank of England had to take an unprecedented step to intervene in order to stop the mortgage market from collapsing completely.

Jeremy Hunt was appointed as the new Chancellor and already he has managed to completely bin Liz Truss’s economic policies and promises including her mini budget made during her election campaign within her party. While I am writing this Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned as home secretary and criticised PM Liz Truss in a blistering resignation letter. Personally, I am glad to see her go just like Priti Patel her predecessor as they both were a stain on Indian heritage and culture while competing to be the most evil and non-compassionate Home Secretary’s ever elected. Under their inhumane immigration rules, their own parents would not be allowed into this country. These individuals like many of their counterparts want to stop people fleeing persecution and torture including those legitimate ones looking to have a better life in this country. Both these individuals tried their very best to demonise and dehumanise refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants and fairly succeeded in raising the ante when it came to introducing brutal and inhumane policies. Grant Shapps has been appointed as the new home secretary and the Tory party musical chairs continues…

What happens next is anyone’s guess. A general election is on the cards and this country has another opportunity to change direction and tact while working with the European Union and all nations of the United Kingdom in bringing back justice, equality and dignity to all its citizens. Will the people now realise the folly of Brexit?

*Originally written & published online on WION.

Posted on

Scottish Democracy Prevails in 2021

SNP win 4th term at Holyrood

What a milestone for the SNP to be elected for a fourth consecutive term despite the negative and scare mongering tactics used by the Unionist parties and media. Scotland is truly ready to go it alone with its own written constitution, that is not ambiguous and vague and will stand up for the most vulnerable and weak in society. Boris Johnson has no reason or excuse anymore to deny the rights of the Scottish electorate. Democratic voting is not once in a lifetime exercise and England has this opportunity to switch back to being part of Europe if it wishes too and nobody can stop or stand in its way if it changes its mind tomorrow. The Scots will stand and support the English in exercising their democratic right to change their mind. For those you are spinning the results to suit their agenda and undermine democracy, here are some basic facts;

1-  If Scotland had a first past the post system like Westminster, then the SNP would have won between 108 and 110 seats in a 129-seat parliament. But instead, they won 62 out of 73 constituencies and only picked up 2 seats on the regional lists even though they had the highest number of votes.

2 – David Cameron fought the 2015 general elections on holding a referendum on Brexit and won by a 37% vote share, while the SNP has won 48% of the votes share. No argument here for a second Independence Referendum as the above stats don’t lie. The democratic will of the people has to be respected.

3 – The third most important point to make is that the voting system imposed by Westminster on the Scottish electorate is proportional representation i.e. The D’Hondt system. This is designed specifically not to give any single party an outright majority, which is why its technically wrong to say that the SNP have not won a majority!

This system is definitely much fairer than the one used at Westminster elections and should be replaced too as that will make English voters not lose their votes in the current first past the post system.

And finally, to sum up the negative campaign run by the Unionists parties who only focused on stopping IndyRef 2! You had plenty of time to make the case for an equal Union but instead you tried to ram your elitist ideology down people’s throats and introduced degrading policies and economic decisions that hurt the common people the most. The canny Scots once again saw through this hollow Unionism and here is hoping that in an independent Scotland, Unionists will focus on real needs of real people and not just the financial needs of their family and friends.

Please remember you can stop voting for the SNP in an Independent Scotland as other parties will be formed to keep the SNP on track in delivering a better Scotland for all.

Letter to the Editor published in the Peeblesshire News on 14th May 2021

Posted on

Conservatives Vote to Starve English Children

Having moved to Peebles in 2002, ‘Stooriefit’ Bosco Santimano gives us his own take on what he feels is the hot topic of the day. This week it’s the UK governments voting down of providing free school meals for pupils across England.

The Tories have gone and done it again! These bunch of self-serving crooks voted against a Labour motion to extend the provision of free school meals for children in England until Easter 2021. The most nauseating and disgusting thing about this vote last week was that five out of six Scottish Conservative and Unionist party MP’s voted against allowing fresh hot meals for pupils in England, while the Leader of the Scottish Tories, Douglas Ross conveniently abstained from voting due to his so called commitments in Scotland! Just imagine for a moment the Scottish Conservatives and Unionist party winning a majority in the Scottish parliament in next year’s Scottish election! Yes! It did send shivers down my spine, as these bunch of hypocrites including our very own MP David Mundell, who the public voted for as their MP again last year will have to fully shoulder the blame of poverty and inequality in the UK as a whole. It really beggars belief and I am lost for words and angry at how the Conservatives are getting away with murder, time and time again. David Mundell missed voting for the Internal Market Bill a couple of weeks ago too as he was visiting his constituents, a very calculated decision as he is now beginning to feel the heat generated by his party’s decision to lower food import standards in his beloved Union after Brexit.

Earlier this year, Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford led a successful campaign that allowed hungry children to have access to free meals during the summer holidays, drawing upon the own troubles that his mother went through when he was a child. A motion had been brought back to the Commons to have the same initiative extended for the upcoming October half-term break and the Christmas holidays in order to help families that have been hit hardest by the pandemic and were already struggling in the battle against poverty. However, the motion was defeated by the government’s majority with prime minister Boris Johnson, chancellor Rishi Sunak, health secretary Matt Hancock and former PM Theresa May amongst the 320 Tories who voted it down. Even Nigel Farage, who I have no respect for due to his role in breaking up the Union! Twitted that “If the government can subsidise Eat Out to Help Out, not being seen to give poor kids lunch in the school holidays looks mean and is wrong”. For once I agree with him no matter what his politics or ideology is, we cannot as a G7 nation, starve our children to death. It’s morally irreprehensible and cruel in this day and age.

Only five Conservatives rebelled against the Government to vote for feeding more than 1.4 million children during school breaks until Easter next year in England. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been barred for life from a pub in his constituency over his decision to vote against providing free meals to eligible school children during the half-term holidays.

Can I appeal to compassionate Peebleans to ban MP David Mundell for life from all café’s, restaurants and pubs in the area? Or are we still okay to be part of this shameful act to starve English children because it does not affect our children up here in Scotland? Fingers crossed and really hoping that the Tories have a change of heart!

Published in The Peeblesshire News on Friday 30th October 2020.