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alicia_fan_uk wrote:

> - non-renewal of Trident (over ?100 billion saving right
> there);

No, ?100 billion that will stay in the defence budget and can be spent on other things in that area. I personally think that Trident isn't the best option, even if we are to retain a nuclear deterrent, but let's not kid ourselves that money "saved" on it will be spent on the NHS, policing, or whatever.

I'm still finding it hard to believe that Labour will lose so many seats that they won with such a large majority at the last election in Scotland????

I think that many UKIP voters will revert to voting Tory if they believe the SNP will be influencing a future Labour government.

Not sure why Ed has ruled out a coalition with the SNP. They are close in policy areas and Ed will need them to get over the line in terms of seats, If he does a deal with the lib dems he will alienate most Labour voters for good,myself included. Surely he should favour a coalition with the SNP rather than a desperate attempt t o patch something up with lib dems,greens etc

Well it is fairly easy for Miliband to rule out a coalition with the SNP given that the SNP have at various times stated that it is highly unlikely that they would enter a coalition with Labour.

Secondly, Miliband has not ruled out a confidence and supply agreement, which Nicola Sturgeon has already suggested as a distinct possibility, whereby the SNP would support Miliband on a motion by motion basis.

Milband has done this for the following reasons:

1. To crush the Tory campaign arguing that a vote for Miliband is a vote to end the UK as we know it.
2. To try and persuade Scottish voters that voting SNP is not a free hit i.e. vote SNP and still get rid of the Tories because there will be a SNP/Labour coalition. The Miliband line is "Vote SNP and bring the Tories back in government"

Well, the percentage of Scots who wanted to vote Yes to Scottish independence went from 20 odd percent to 45% in the actual vote during the lifetime of this government and Labour have been tainted in Scotland due to their joint campaign with the Tories.

In addition, you just have to look at the SNP's unprecedented victory in the Scottish assembly elections to realise that Labour are very much in decline in Scotland.

The polls have consistently been showing enormous gains for the SNP This is not a flash in the pan.

We are now in the time when huge swings in voter preferences are occurring e.g. SNP, UKIP winning EU elections etc.

The SNP originally argued for a yes/no/devo max question on the paper but the UK government insisted on a yes/no!

As I said earlier in this thread I believe that formal coalitions are slightly less favourable than a minority government which has to govern by consensus.
There are policy overlaps between ALL of the main parties and it's about time they voted for what we want and not what the "Party" dictates.
I am sick of the opposition abstaining on votes that they actually agree with just because they can't bring themselves to agree with the government! It is ridiculous!

Maybe your right. John Swinney said that the promises made towards the end of the campaign were not delivered. He said Scotland still had a lack of job-creating powers or the powers needed to tackle poverty.

I agree.

What would be indefensible is a coalition like the Tories with the Lib Dems, where the Lib Dems threw out most of their key policies in order to get power and a handful of cabinet posts.