Back to the 1970s

I don't have a high opinion of the domestic governing record of the SNP (think ferries and drugs), but their latest election gimmick has all the hallmarks of the daft ideas department.

They are proposing price caps on staple grocery items.   However, if retailers can't make a margin on these items, they may simply stop stocking them.   Getting supplies to remote highlands and islands locations is already a challenge (Lidl are popular on Orkney because they adhere to 'one Scotland price' despite the additional transport costs).

Of course, what they are really hoping for is a confrontation on this issue with Westminster to boost their campaign for a new independence referendum.

Most people have probably forgotten the 'red triangle' scheme devised by Shirley Williams as Labour prices secretary in the 1970s.  This attempted to control key grocery prices.   I have copied extensive records from the National Archives about it, but have never found the time to write it up.

It all bordered on farce with one 'Sir Humphrey' reporting on how the scheme was going down in Blackheath!   (A relatively prosperous London suburb much favoured by bureaucrats).

SNP local elections victory looks less secure

Leading elections expert takes a close look at the SNP's performance in the local elections and says that it looks less secure when you examine it closely: Starts to crack when you look closely

Why we should take debt seriously

There are those who argue that Britain's debt problem is not serious and simply a cover for David Cameron to slash the public sector. Two interesting posts by economist Mark Harrison argue the contrary case: Debt

Quite apart from anything else, having a large debt means that a great deal of money is spent servicing it. Britain has the lowest costs of any major country in terms of servicing its debt, but even so it cost a mouth watering £44 billion last year. Think of the opportunity cost of that.

Britain has been living beyond its means in terms of personal and public consumption for some time. How that burden is shared out between public expenduiture cuts and reduction in personal income is a matter for political judgement. However, 'rebalancing' the economy certainly involves a squeeze on personal incomes so that there is an export led recovery.

Of course, there is a political cost to that. But even if confidence in the Coalition's economic competence is declining, as polls suggest it is, voters evidently many reservations about Ed Miliband.

It may provide an opportunity for parties of the populist right like UKIP who have an alternative narrative about globalisation and Europeanisation. However, such parties are often not well led and it is difficult for them to succeed under a first past the post system.

The one leader and party that is riding high in Britain at the moment is Alex Salmond and the SNP. The Scottish question could potentially become the equivalent of the Quebec question in Canada: never resolved, but always a key factor in national politics.

Quebec has, of course, achieved considerable autonomy and even has a ministry of foreign affairs. The future for Scotland might not be separation, but it could come close to what was mooted in Quebec at one time: sovereignty-association.

A good night for Dave

Dave Cameron has reason to be pleased with the local election results so far. BBC projections put the Conservatives on 35 per cent as against 37 per cent for Labour and 15 per cent for the Lib Dems. This is not a bad outcome for a party implementing unpopular policies. The Conservatives are also likely to be able to celebrate a big majority in the AV referendum.

In Scotland the presidential style campaign run by the canny Alex Salmond has paid off with a clear majority for the SNP. Labour may be able to take sole charge of the Welsh Assembly, but even there the result is on a knife edge. The results hardly show that voters think that they have a convincing alternative narrative or that they see Ed Miliband as a future prime minister.

Once again it is the Lib Dems who are the whipping boys for the Coalition Government. As expected, they have lost heavily in the council elections, especially in the north. There will now be increased party pressure on Nick Clegg to differntiate himself from the Conservatives.

Some of the things said in the AV referendum have left a sour taste in the mouth. It may never be glad, confident morning again, but it is not the end of the coalition. The two parties are inextricably bound together.