No ref 2. Says who?

 

"Scottish independence: Pro-Union parties rule out taking part in SNP’s ‘de facto’ second referendum"

Yesterday the supreme court ruled that the Scottish government cannot hold a legal referendum without the consent of the Westminster Parliament. As expected this has just caused a whole lot of trouble as some see it as undemocratic and others see it as a clear cut decision to avoid the Catalonia situation. 

Ms Sturgeon has seen it as the 'democratic voice of the people of Scotland being silenced' whereas I tend to believe that being allowed to vote for something is a tenant of democracy. We had a vote. We said no. That was supposed to a once in a generation decision.

"Scottish independence activists urge Sturgeon to ‘trust yes movement’ "

Here are two examples  of 'not quite thinking it through' – we have a gender bill going through the Scottish parliament which I hope will be tweaked before it is ratified, but the United Nations has warned the Scottish Government that this act of law could allow male sexual predators to enter female ‘safe areas’ such as prisons, spousal abuse accommodation etc. It's one of those situations  that seems like a wonderful and liberated concept... until.....

"Westminster leaders ‘scared’ of indyref2, claims Sturgeon

Another situation not quite thought through is the fact that the Scottish government has banned any increase of the rent on residential properties, and also you cannot evict people for non payment of rent. Yes you read that right. 

There’s already legislation in place to stop the ‘evil landlord’ situation – there’s a sort of nationwide rent control system in place already. In reality this new law means that as interest rates have rocketed, often the mortgage payment on rental property is more than the rent, and the landlord cannot increase  the rent to cover the additional cost. Also, the tenant can refuse to pay any rent at all and there’s nothing the landlord can do about it until next summer – the logic behind this is that the tenant will need the rental money to pay their heating bill. Westminster are giving £66 per month to every household to help with the heating, the over 65s and the vulnerable are getting £600 as a single payment to help out. 

Newly independent Scotland would see living standards decline, academic warns

So here are two scenarios that are arising.

Tenants just refuse to pay rent, they can’t be evicted so the landlord quietly sits in the corner and sulks as they have no income. And can't pay their heating bill.  Many landlords saw it coming and sold their properties. So now the ability to rent a property is very restricted; there are 500 hundred people going after every rental property in Glasgow. 

There seems to be a failure to understand that rental property serves a market of students, mobile workers, doctors doing placements etc. And also nice tenants who know their rent is less than the monthly mortgage are now worried that the property is going to be sold and they need to leave. But they will be one in the 500 looking to rent elsewhere. Down the chain, this is alreadyt pushing up the figures of homeless people. Like I’ve said before it’s a simple solution to a very complex problem. 

Nicola Sturgeon accused of 'copying Trump' after rebranding independence bid as 'democracy movement'

The Scottish government does not like private landlords they see us as exploitative capitalists but those of us of a certain age were advised to but property as a pension, this was many years ago after the endowment mortgage scandal. Property was safe, it's a good place to put your money.  So, if I retire, I either bump my lovely tenants out - they have been there for decades, or I pay them to live there.

Anybody up for a MIE Go Fund Caro facebook page.  I need wine and chocolate!

C