We know where English Labour is going
But where is Scotland going?
Published in The National, September 17th, 2024 and the Edinburgh Evening News, September 19th.
Richard Murphy asked ‘Where is Labour going?’ That should be obvious. Since annointed by the donor class, Starmer has consistently signalled what he’d do if elected. For starters, he’s bringing back Brown and Blair's disastrous PFIs, selling off the NHS, impoverishing more kids and killing pensioners.
Reeves is proposing PFIs fund £300 billion for schools, hospitals and transport projects. She’s been advised by the ‘think tank’ The Future Governance Forum, whose funders include BT, Lloyds Banking Group, Zionist billionaire Gary Lubner (who gifted Labour £5m) and the Australian-owned Angus Knight Group, so you know who benefits.
PFIs are economic lunacy. Scottish local authorities have been paying unitary charges (akin to a mortagage) for PFI projects since 2000 and are liable for £29.86bn for just £5.8bn worth of infrastructure. That’s right - each £1 spent on PFIs results in public sector repayment of at least £5. That’s a lousy investment.
Streeting and Starmer have been open about their plans to privatise the NHS - they’ve been given lots of dosh by private health interests so they’re under pressure to deliver. It’s working.
In a recent speech, Starmer said the NHS wouldn’t get any more money without first reforming itself. The institution that has been underfunded for decades must heal itself without more money. Impossible. And it’s economic lunacy. Not only does the UK spend much less per capita on health than other west European nations, but every pound spent on health generates £4 of economic activity. That’s a brilliant investment.
Starmer feigns concern about the poor mental and physical health of UK kids, but won’t lift the two child benefit cap that would help 1 million children at a cost of £1.7bn.
Nor can he afford the £2bn winter fuel allowance, introduced by Labour in 1997. He’d rather let the old die of hypothermia to ‘decrease the surplus population.’
The more relevant question to ask is, where is Scotland going?
It's crucial to inform people that the PFI scheme (scam) in Scotland, was a UKLabour policy imposed onto Scotland when English HQ'd Labcons were in power at Holyrood for TEN years. they plunged Scotland into £billions of debt being paid to this day, and far as I know, buildings like the Edinburgh royal infirmary hospital in Edinburgh, will still not be owned by the people of Scotland! Unless that has changed which I doubt. Some of Labcons' PFI buildings were not fit for purpose, the ERI had a faulty heating system, some schools had walls falling down on kids, the scheme was a total scam on Scotland by the party called Labour HQ'd in London. Councils are still paying fot it, and let's not forget these PFI hospitals charged staff to park during work hours! The SNPN scrapped PFI, scrapped parking charges and Labcons bridge tolls to the Islands, which were a disgrace to say the least.
The SNP MUST inform the people of Scotland about Labcons' atrocious legacy in Scotland, and it WILL be much much 'worse' if EngLabcons ever get near power at Holyrood in Scotland's parliament again.
The thought of that is quite frankly terrifying in fact.
Share everything everywhere about Labcons' disgusting PFI in Scotland, and how they also sent £billions BACK to LondonEng treasury saying 'NOTHING to spend it on in Scotland'! Not health, education, not infrastucture that needed to be fit for purpose, not jobs for the young, not drugs addiction reduction programmes, not housing, not social care, not renewables energy, not reducing child poverty or any poverty, etc. 'NOTHING'. People need reminding they have very short memories! Also many new to Scotland have no clue so the message about Labcons' disgraceful destructive self serving legacy at Holyrood and indeed also while under English rule for centiries, has to be distributed somehow.
In 1995 Scotland, and the UK got its first experience of a PFI in the form of the Skye Bridge and its high tolls.
The people in Skye exposed this financial fraud for what it was within a few weeks. We were able to show that the Skye Bridge Scheme was going to cost 10 times what it should have done and this huge burdon was going to be placed on the Islanders, and those to visited the Island for many years, if not for ever.
I'm proud to say that the people on Skye did not accept this imposition without a bitter fight. The fight was costly for the people 10% of the islanders were charged with at least one criminal carge, some got over a 100 such charges, and the fight went on for more than 9 years, but the people won this fight
they stopped this PFI fraud.
So if English Labour want to reopen the fight against the Scottish people I'm sure they will find that Scottish people are just as strong as the people in Skye proved to be.
Andy Anderson