Nicola Sturgeons Programme for Government
BillyJamesT
Posts: 2,934 Forum Member
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http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Programme-for-Government-12b0.aspx
Scotland's brilliant new First Minister gives an indication of the direction her government will be heading.
•£30 million boost to Help to Buy aimed specifically at small to medium sized house builders;
•An independent commission to report on fairer alternatives to the council tax by Autumn 2015;
•New target to increase the number of people from disadvantaged backgrounds accessing higher education. Improved good governance through the Higher Education Governance Bill;
•Funding to more than double the number of organisations signed up to the Living Wage Accreditation Scheme and ensure more people are paid a fair wage;
•Increased job opportunities by raising the number of Modern Apprenticeships to 30,000 a year by 2020;
Scotland's brilliant new First Minister gives an indication of the direction her government will be heading.
•£30 million boost to Help to Buy aimed specifically at small to medium sized house builders;
•An independent commission to report on fairer alternatives to the council tax by Autumn 2015;
•New target to increase the number of people from disadvantaged backgrounds accessing higher education. Improved good governance through the Higher Education Governance Bill;
•Funding to more than double the number of organisations signed up to the Living Wage Accreditation Scheme and ensure more people are paid a fair wage;
•Increased job opportunities by raising the number of Modern Apprenticeships to 30,000 a year by 2020;
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Comments
I'd be interested to see what the alternative to the Council Tax turns out to be in due course. Seems she thinks she will be onto a winner as the Commission is due to report before the next Holyrood elections - get it wrong and that will be bad for her electorally
I am not sure about her proposals re the Living Wage, it sounds very much like she is going to fund organisations to pay it. Not very independent and in the longer term not sustainable I would have thought
I would love the fairer system to turn out to be poll tax. It is fairer but I can't see the snp selling it to the scots.
Yes that would be a huge irony.
Going by their proposals recently revealed to replace stamp duty on property purchases it will be something that involves taxing the "rich" only quite a few people will be surprised to learn they are the "rich".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/11152837/Middle-classes-face-hike-under-new-Scottish-property-tax.html
Or of course they could go for that oft touted scheme, a local income tax. Would they be brave enough to do that ?
The Tories actually increased the number of MPs they had after the poll tax was introduced in Scotland. The alternative will be local income tax, which is basically a fairer version of the poll tax. Presumably the power to change it will come from the devolved powers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-30193791
..removing landowners barriers to development "where the scale of land ownership or the conduct of a landlord is acting as a barrier to sustainable development."
This sounds awfully like a new policy of building over the Scottish Countryside to me. Is that what the people of Scotland really want?
It seems that throwing in the word "sustainable" makes it sound ok, but building a house on a rural site destroys the site no matter how green the house may be energy wise, and houses rarely come in ones!
- the ending of rates exemptions for shooting and deerstalking estates,
Last time I looked, Shooting and Fishing tourism were major contributors to the Scottish rural economy, not just to the estates, but also to local hotels, guest lodges, shops etc.
Sounds a bit like an extreme inner city left wing agenda to me in which striking a blow to the rich landowners is more important than preserving the unspoilt countryside or maintaining income streams for rural communities from country sports and activities that don't strike accord with inner city labour voters.
Just my opinion.
For the record, I'm neither a landowner, Scottish or rich!
Because you just knew from then on it was going to be a pile of crap.
With LVT the value of your house is unimportant, it's the value of the land in terms of it's size and proximity to public amenities.
So why did Michael Heseltine scrap the Poll Tax in 1992 ?
OOH a boost to help to buy!
Thats very good news for potential home owners. Is this tackling inequality?
The poll tax riots.
People objecting to paying their fair share.
Fortunately for you, none of it of your concern in sleepy old Hampshire, and none of who it does concern care one iota what you think. ;-)
You not read the part about funding for the Living Wage?
Maybe one day you will post what government you want in Westminster and Holyod instead of constantly sniping at the SNP. But I suppose then you would get asked questions and that would require you giving answers and opinions which is not on your agenda at all.
I wondered if that description was meant to be ironic or not !
Actually its not funding for the Living Wage is it?
So, please tell me exactly what funding is being given and where it will be used. Will companies who sign up to it be forced to implement it and if they do sign up, what timescale are they held to for implementation?
As oppossed to an extra £30 million on top of the £100-120 million already allocated to Help to Buy for the next financial year?
Perhaps one day I might just do that, or perhaps, by now, you might have realised that I treat all career/lawyer politicians with equal trust and disdain?
Well the people who rioted didn't appear to think their share was fair.
And judging by cabinet minister Michael Heseltine's 1992 response, he didn't their share was fair either.
Good point as I've lost count of the amount of times you've been whining about tory, ukip and labour.......... Oh wait.
I dont recall supporting any of those parties or any of their policies. None of which I recall is running the scottish government, which of course Labour didnt do a sterling job either as I recall.
In fact I cant recall what they did to benefit my life either.
So out of curiosity who do you support?
I support democracy and the ability to choose whichever political party I feel advcates the best policies at the time.
Believe it or not, I have voted SNP in a Scottish election before now:)
Sounds like Sturgeon is going to make life difficult for business to stay in Scotland. If she is going to bring in a tax 'n' waste regime then working taxpayers are just going to move South and she will be left with a benefits free for all and nobody to pay for it, especially with a declining oil industry.
Not quite. The yobs objected to paying their fair share.