Faslane Base Facility Closure

[bilbobaggins]

If the submarine deterrent fleet shrinks to 3 hulls, and the cost of maintaining base facilities for these - fiscal and political - is deemed to be substantially less at Devonport than Clyde, then it may well be that the 'Vanguard Class' replacement is based in Plymouth for reasons that have little to do with the ScotsGnats. However, there would still need to be constructed a facility similar to the Coulport/Glen Douglas storage complex somewhere close to Devonport, with enough water under the keel..... Where might that be, and who will now buy/sell property in that likely vicinity?

Might we see a resurgence of naval interest in Milford Haven? Where else could the replacement for the 'Vanguard Class' be assured of deep water, all-weather access for the loading of war stores? And what about the creation of a big new marina on the Clyde with easy, swift access from the large conurbations?

Suggestions, please, on a postcard to MOD( Navy ), Whitehall, London - by September.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Stay awake at the back - it would have been Prime Minister Michael Howard, though I'm not surprised you've forgotten about him already.

 

[Romeo]

Sorry, my mistake. You can't blame the Scots for electing a series of hapless leaders of the opposition.

 

[polantom]

[ QUOTE ]
I suspect we can - I seem to remember reading at the time of the last election that if it had been an England-only election the Tories would have won. It was the Taffs and Jox that saddled us with this lot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let me see... five million Scots, three million Welsh, add them together and compare them to fifty million English and .... its our fault!

Just a guess mate, but Maths wasn't really your best subject, now was it!
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Twister_Ken]

The maths of the electoral commission are a mystery that surapasseth all understanding. Something to do with Jockish constituencies being smaller, population wise, than the true blue ones. Jerrymandering, I think it is called.

 

[polantom]

The House of Commons currently has 646 Members of Parliament (MPs), each representing an individual constituency. Of the 646 seats, 529 are for England, 40 for Wales, 59 for Scotland and 18 for Northern Ireland.

Now, based on this it would seem that Scotland has just under 10% of the seats just as it has just under 10% of the population. That seems to indicate that a few of the "true blue" must have voted for the current Government too, eh? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

PS What does "true blue" refer to? I assume it means England or the English but I don't get the reference. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Twister_Ken]

I knew I'd seen it somewhere. This is from a parliamentary report on the 2005 election. See it at http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2005/rp05-033.pdf

"The Conservatives polled almost 65,000 more votes than Labour across England."

 

[halcyon]

Chart on page 8 is interesting, labour got 35% of the vote and 55% of the seats, so thats how you do it.

Brian

 

[polantom]

That's not an unusual situation in an election.
And it doesn't really explain why the Scots are supposedly responsible for a Labour victory as it would seem that almost as many English votes were cast for Labour as for Conservative. 65000 votes of a difference aren't a lot in a body of voters numbering in the region of 30000000. Its only about 0.2% of the English electorate. So it would seem that the real reason that we have a Labour Goverment is that a lot of British voters wanted to elect them.
As for the whole small constituencies thing, well if you look at the ten smallest on page 58, Labour has only three while the liberals have four. The Conservatives have none.
On the other hand, the Conservatives have most of the ten largest constituencies.
The reason for the disparity in constituency population is pretty obvious, just look at a map.A quick look at the different areas says a lot about the electorates view of the different parties.

It is a fact that Scottish voters don't favour the Conservatives. There may be good reasons for this but thats another debate. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Thats what democracy is all about.