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To vote in Perthshire
This Thursday I vote in the general election so I took my usual look at my local candidates. I live in a marginal seat. The incumbent is Pete Wishart, Scottish National Party, from whose campaign we have received a fair few leaflets. He seems to expect Brexit but would then hope to reenter the EU; I think Scottish independence matters more to him. His Scottish Conservative and Unionist challenger this time is Angus Mackenzie Forbes who is currently on Perth and Kinross Council. Angus is actually a Remainer; he has a house in Spain but toes the party line that Brexit must be delivered. We received plenty of leaflets from his campaign.
A look at the current Tory manifesto suggests that they continue to be Thatcherite, reminding me of the GOP in the US; I would have more sympathy if they were not also as needlessly cruel as the GOP to those in need. Perhaps that reflects convenient cluelessness. Even from a merciless economic perspective I wonder if the Tories realize how much productivity an effective social safety net buys in the long term beyond its headline costs.
We also got another leaflet promoting Angela Bretherton of the Scottish Labour Party. The current Labour manifesto places them firmly back into a known place, restoring much of the socialism lost under Tony Blair. They plan a revote on Brexit and are open to another vote on Scottish independence.
A minor candidate is Peter Anthony Barrett of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, also on Perth and Kinross Council along with Angus above; they also share a party platform against Scottish independence. They differ in that the Liberal Democrats are againstbreakfast*Brexit and want to stop it. Their manifesto seems to quite emphasize spending on education and, to my surprise, they much want to devolve the UK government's power to a federation of local regions. In my seat the Liberal Democrats typically do even worse than Labour.
The other on our ballot is Stuart Charles Powell of the Brexit Party who are keen not only to deliver on the Brexit referendum result but also to enable other referenda. Their
*He misspoke at the hustings, it was quite funny.
A look at the current Tory manifesto suggests that they continue to be Thatcherite, reminding me of the GOP in the US; I would have more sympathy if they were not also as needlessly cruel as the GOP to those in need. Perhaps that reflects convenient cluelessness. Even from a merciless economic perspective I wonder if the Tories realize how much productivity an effective social safety net buys in the long term beyond its headline costs.
We also got another leaflet promoting Angela Bretherton of the Scottish Labour Party. The current Labour manifesto places them firmly back into a known place, restoring much of the socialism lost under Tony Blair. They plan a revote on Brexit and are open to another vote on Scottish independence.
A minor candidate is Peter Anthony Barrett of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, also on Perth and Kinross Council along with Angus above; they also share a party platform against Scottish independence. They differ in that the Liberal Democrats are against
The other on our ballot is Stuart Charles Powell of the Brexit Party who are keen not only to deliver on the Brexit referendum result but also to enable other referenda. Their
anti-democraticcriticism of the EU they extend also to the House of Lords which they would abolish.
*He misspoke at the hustings, it was quite funny.