Tag: Brittain

Disunited Kingdom as Scottish nationalists on course for landslide

Scottish nationalists were on course for a landslide win north of the border in Britain’s national election, obliterating their opponents and setting the stage for a new battle over independence.

Early wins for the Scottish National Party (SNP) included the ousting of the leader of the Labour party in Scotland, the defeat of a senior Labour figure in Paisley and taking former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s onetime stronghold in Kirkcaldy.

“There’s a lion is roaring in Scotland tonight; a Scottish Lion. I don’t think any government of any political complexion is going to be able to ignore it,” former SNP leader Alex Salmond said as he awaited results in the Gordon constituency he is tipped to win.

But the SNP could still be shut out of any role in the British government, a scenario likely to bring a new confrontation over Scottish aspirations for independence.

An exit poll showed Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives were on course to win the most seats in parliament with 316, just shy of an outright majority, with Ed Miliband’s Labour Party trailing on 239.

If confirmed, such an outcome would deny the SNP the kingmaker role it had sought in the House of Commons and kill off the prospect of a leftist alliance with Labour to force Cameron out of office.

But it would dramatically highlight the political divide between England and Scotland.

In a stunning victory for the SNP, Labour’s Douglas Alexander — the shadow foreign secretary and campaign co-ordinator — lost to a 20-year-old politics student, Mhairi Black by nearly 6,000 votes.

Black becomes the youngest British Member of Parliament since the 19th Century.

The leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, Jim Murphy, also lost his seat to the SNP.

Other early results from Scotland gave victory to the SNP in 26 seats, heralding a huge sweep of Scottish seats for the SNP, which won just 6 seats in 2010.

“This is history written as we watch and speak. We have never seen swings of this magnitude in any British election,” said Murray Stewart Leith, senior lecturer in politics at the University of West Scotland.

“It has serious implications for the United Kingdom as a political union. Whatever government is formed after this election will need to seriously consider its constitutional structure.”

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said in Glasgow the results showed a historic shift in opinion in Scotland.

“We said during the campaign that the SNP MPs would be elected to make Scotland’s voice heard, and that’s exactly what we intend to do,” she said.

The results could bolster Scots to push for a new referendum on independence after separatists lost one last September.

Source: Reuters

Russell Brand calls for Israel boycott

Russel Brand has gone one step further in his condemnation of the Israel-Gaza conflict than simply critiquing the way various media outlets have approached coverage.

Now, the comedian is urging banks, pension funds and other big businesses to sever investment ties with Israel, or any deals that he feels “facilitate the oppression of people in Gaza”.

Using Barclays as an example, he said the bank manages “the portfolios of an Israeli defence company called Elbit, which makes the drones that bomb Gaza.”

“The message they give us is the exact opposite of the reality, they’re acting like they’re part of our community,” he said during his new episode of The Trews, which you can watch below.

“But if we’re aware of the reality of what they do, then we have the power to influence them.”

He went on to encourage his viewers to sign a petition on the Avaaz campaign website, to put pressure on companies such as Barclays, computer company HP, security giants G4S, pension fund ABP and heavy machinery Caterpillar brand to rethink their investments.

So far, it has amassed almost 1.7million signatures of support.

“In the wake of the terrible violence unfolding in Israel-Palestine, we, citizens from around the world, are deeply concerned about your companies’ continued investment in companies and projects that finance illegal settlements and the oppressive occupation of the Palestinian people,” the mission statement on the petition reads.

“17 EU countries recently issued warnings to their citizens against doing business or investing in illegal Israeli settlements. Given those legal considerations, you now have the opportunity to withdraw investments and respect international law. This is a chance to be on the right side of history.”

Some of the firms listed in the petition had previously spoken of their decision to maintain financial ties in Israel.

HP claimed that “respecting human rights is a core value” of their business and said that they used Israeli checkpoints to allow people to “get to their place of work or to carry out their business in a faster and safer way”.

Meanwhile, Caterpillar said that while it “shares the world’s concern over unrest in the Middle East”, it doesn’t believe it has “neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use of its equipment”.

Brand’s comments come after the business secretary Vince Cable threatened to halt 12 export licences to Israel if the violence in Gaza resumes, including components for combat aircraft, tanks and radar systems.

The British government have, however, exported £42million of military equipment to Israel since 2010.

Source: The Independent