In Scotland to be considered for a government contract a company must be able to show that it is paying what the UK government laughingly calls a living wage and that there is no exploitative use of zero-hours contracts in the organisation.
I’m not sure that anyone could much disagree with that.
I’d expect the same thing to happen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, although I don’t know if it’s so.
But there is a new condition for contracts being awarded to companies by the UK/English government and it worries me.
They must be positive about Brexit.
They are calling it ‘Cultural Fit’. A company must fit with the cultural of the British government if they wish to work on a state contract. Does that mean they have to agree with other government policies too? If so, how many of them and which ones? Does it mean all the company’s staff have to agree with the government or just the management?
What next?
Will they be asking if you are Protestant or Catholic?
What about if you are a monarchist or republican?
Do you vote Tory?
Do you back the privatisation of all state assets?
Have you donated to the Conservative Party?
Frightening.
And if the government can legally do that on its contracts, will they allow companies to hire staff on that basis? What next? Will unemployment and sickness benefits be paid only to Brexiteers?
And, given the balance of opinion in Scotland, 62 to 38, does that mean that Scottish firms will be even more disadvantaged on UK government contract bidding?
I know it sounds ridiculous, but back in the 1980s Tory ex-prime minister Harold MacMillan couldn’t believe that Mrs Thatcher was selling off the family silver, and that was only the electricity, gas and telecoms companies. Now virtually everything in England is privatised. Petit à petit; pas à pas, as they might say in France, these things grow.
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Seriously, would you put any of these things past them? I wouldn’t.
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Seriously, NO.
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Well, it does open up an interesting not-a-strike action for government contractor employees:
Threaten to loudly protest about Brexit if their conditions aren’t met.
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LOL. Always look on the bright side of life…
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Probably,those people who vote for Scottish independence in the next referendum will be excommunicated from British citizenship and transported to Trumpland
or perhaps to some other Commonwealth country like say Australia.
I have heard sinister mutterings from the Brexiteers about those people who do not support “British” values being persona non grata.
People have to realise that once these Tory extremists are freed from the constraints of EU law and the European courts,they can probably do anything they like and they will.
Who is going to stop them?
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That’s my worry.
They started with little things like selling some of the family silver; they, and by they I mean Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron, have sold off more and more to subsidise the ever-increasing expense of playing in the big boys’ pool… and now there is only the health service, the BBC and the Saxe-Coberg-Gothas left.
Our freedoms are eroded by the day in the interests of stopping terrorism. We are the most surveilled nation in Europe. They sell off peerages and knighthoods. The cover up the crimes of those and such as those. (Remind me, where are we at now with the inquiry into the sex crimes of the top establishment that May made such a mess of by appointing close friends or relatives of those involved as judges in charge?)
You bet that once we don’t have the protection of the EU we will be stuffed.
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Tris
They are playing the race card so well that the media have to call us the racists, I have just blogged about it https://grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com/2017/03/01/circling-the-wagons/ , they are circling the wagons while attacking from behind. They are the best at it after hundreds of years of practice, it’s what they do. Slight of hand, implications, accusing to cover up their own actions, accusing to keep you quiet by association while they work away in the background. British Unionism in all it’s glory, a real nasty nationalism that the media portray as patriotism while Scottish Civic Nationalism is narrow minded racism. You couldn’t make it up really. The next referendum is going to be very very dirty and we better get ready, I won’t even put it past them to insight violence of the kind we saw in George Square after the last one from the nutters on the Better Together side when Nazi Saluting mobs are allowed to run riot and two girls holding a Scottish Flag get arrested, it’s going to sadly get dirty and we will need that other cheek and more.
Bruce
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I know. It just chokes me that they can accuse us of narrow nationalism when the union flag is on everything these days from your driving licence to a bag of bloody carrots or a pack of doughnuts.
The next campaign is going to be dirty. Neither side can afford to lose. I hope we keep it decent and let them do the Nazi salutes and the firesetting like last time.
If we lose we are scuppered. If they lose we are free in the EU and protected by its protections and its trade deals.
Bring it on.
off to look at your blog.
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I am proud to be persona non grata.
And, btw, they can stuff themselves up their Etonian…well you know the rest.
I am proud to be persona non grata.
I will vote for independence as soon as possible.
I hope to persuade a few others over to our side.
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I’ve probably been persona non grata all my life.
I don’t notice it now.
We must all try to persuade one person (or more) this time.
Theresa May holding Trump’s hand should be enough to worry folk.
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Holding his hand is the least she could do. He might have fallen and broken his neck and THEN where would we be? In the hospital or…okay, you know the rest!
Sorry, being lighthearted ‘coz we are getting to the non-indy side and the last couple of days has been sooo depressing with so much anti-everything that is good about Scotland and Indy.
“Are you with us or against us”? Yes, that’s exactly how childish this whole episode is. Everyone fighting for an Independent country in my area is not going to be put off with these stupid stunts.
No, this is to stop people from engaging with the campaign, but face to face with unsure folk? That’s where things get interesting! Game on 🙂
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I think the fear of stairs thing was some sort of a lie that Downing Street came out with to make may look a little less stupid. On the other hand they should have got rid of all the photographs of him descending aircraft steps unaided, before they put it out. I think he likes holding women’s hands and she felt obliged to comply because she needs his trade deal as much as she needs oxygen.
Looks like the idiot Fox has broken the rules on this one. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/01/trade-department-may-have-broken-eu-rules-with-pro-brexit-contract-criteria
If that man had another brain cell he could be an amoeba.
Game on, indeed.
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Is that Fox and Werrity at their wedding? Lovely.
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LOL It does rather look like that but it can’t be because mr Fox has a record of blind hatred towards anything gay.
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Oh well, in that case…
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Quite so… 🙂
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