From the beginning of April all prescriptions will be free of charge in Scotland (nice one SNP). Does this mean however that someone from Carlisle can pop over to a Chemist in Gretna and get their medication free of charge ?

Not sure why but this really pisses me off! We are supposed to be the UK but if Scotland, Wales and NI want to make up their own rules then they should be completely independent and fund everything themselves - but they have to share their oil and gas with us.

while free prescriptions are great, I'd give them up to get rid of salmond asap.....

I do wonder if they've really thought this through, can't see it's feasible.

Oh! Hang on!

There's an election up here in May!

you cynical bustard!

It was in their last Manifesto my friend and they are one of the few parties who still actually practice what they preach.

It's not financially viable and it's a shambolic vote grabber.

Why not rebuild Hadrians Wall to keep us out Suits me

Stupid

I am in a position where I can afford to pay something towards my subscriptions as I suspect 50% of the population are. Ridiculous decision to waste the opportunity to have free money in these economic circumstances. I'll probably spend the money I don't have to hand over* on whisky and become a burden on the NHS in later years - have they really thought this through?

* circa £7 in the last decade.

Just heard the price of prescriptions in England are going up. I wonder how that'll go down

Their budget has just been approved, and how can you say it's a vote grabber as if they'd just pulled this out of a hat. As I mentioned previously it was in their Manifesto the same as freezing Council Tax and abolishing tolls on road bridges, you may call them "vote grabbers" I say it's honouring their Manifesto pledges, unlike some other parties I may add.

Wales has had free prescriptions for the last 4 years and reduced priced prescriptions before that.

The SNP's policy appears to be based around cutting off sources of revenue that some people don't like paying and then making up how they are going to fund it. Whilst it is very noble to live up to your manifesto pledges, it counts for sweet F.A. if there's no financial sense behind it.

If the SNP really had balls, they'd have called the other parties' bluff on the iniquitous Edinburgh tram project aka the biggest money sewer since Holyrood. But they didn't.

The out of town Supermarket tax sounded good.


I thought the budget was bounced on the trams, though.