The British government is closing Portsmouth’s shipyard to protect jobs at the Clyde shipyards in Glasgow in a transparently political move to placate the Scots ahead of their independence referendum.
Just look at these comments from some of the English workers the Brits are sacrificing to protect Scottish jobs:
It’s definitely a political decision. All to do with Scotland and Scottish independence; it’s disgusting. They don’t care about us.
This is simply pandering to the Scottish government before the independence referendum next year.
Even the MP for Portsmouth is unhappy:
It’s a massive and grave error on the part of the government to put more shipbuilding in Scotland. It’s political. It always has been.
And then there’s the comments section in the Express …
Disgusted that our weak government is letting this happen – to shut Portsmouth and give new contracts to a Scottish port is despicable.
What a disgrace, blatant politically inspired bribery for the jocks…well what if they say YES to independence anyway…I do hope they do vote to leave and let the politicos explain why we are buying ships off a foreign country?
i hear that its portsmouth yard that will close rather than the scottish ones..i wonder why that is. is there a referendum coming up
Even some Guardian readers are having a pop …
Scottish jobs saved at the expense of English workers.
Portsmouth is being sacrificed for saving Scotland ahead of a referendum
A thousand workers in Portsmouth thrown on the scrapheap just so project fear can keep making a spurious point about the “benefits of the union”. Playing politics with peoples lives yet again.
Helps the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK I suppose…
Then there’s the Telegraph …
Why give it to the Scots? Are their unemployed more deserving. Sadly, they are never going to vote for independence so shafting the ENglish YET AGAIN is horrific.
This is little short of treason by Cameron to the English in a futile political sop to the Scottish. If he had any balls at all he would preserve the English yards, scrap the Scottish yards and state that the decision would be reviewed after the Scottish referendum on independence.
Why are they trying to buy Scottish votes, the Glasgow yards are hotbeds of socialism and militants, they should take the hits and not the English yard, kill two birds with one stone.
Short term daftness to rely on warship building in a country that is not committed to the UK. This has Cameron McFudge written all over it. The lads in Portsmouth should have been supported, not the would-be defectors in Govan. Salmond will be laughing yet again.
A disgusting sop to the Scots nationalists. What ought to have been brought home to them is that even the threat of independence costs Scots jobs. As if a separate UK government would ever build ships in a foreign Scotland . . . Should it ever happen Portsmouth will need rebuilding from scratch. I’m a Conservative Party member but if there was an election tomorrow I wouldn’t vote for them. They’ve just sold England down the river for short-term and disguided political reasons!
If this isn’t a political decision, I don’t know what is. But in the unlikely event of Scotland voting for independence next year, I trust that this decision will be reversed in double quick time.
The sacked workers in Portsmouth know they’re being sacrificed by the Brits to keep the Scots happy, politicians know the workers in Portsmouth are being sacrificed by the Brits to keep the Scots happy and the general public know the workers in Portsmouth are being sacrificed by the Brits to keep the Scots happy. There is no price the British won’t pay to keep the Scots in the union as long as it’s the English that are paying.
I used to think there was a place for England in a reformed British union but it’s pretty clear that England will never be important to the Brits. It’s time for English independence.
