richardm said:
Probably not 100%, but I should think the SNP are likely to improve on last time. Unless the redrawing of the constituencies has put the kibosh on them. How is the party feeling?
I'm not picking up on rejoicing in the streets quite yet. I think we still haven't quite figured out what to do with the Scottish Parliament, and the lack of apparent effect in dealing with the Labour knuckle-dragging brigade there has people sort of reeling in frustration. Plus of course there is the problem of some people now seeing the SNP as the party you vote for in Scottish elections but not in Westminster elections.
It's a strange situation, because policy-wise the SNP looks on the face of it to be the party desired by all those who don't like the direction Labour has taken in recent years, and many of my English friends say they'd vote for the SNP on its general policy stand if they got the chance.
However, we still haven't got to grips with the belittling of Scotland and the Scottish people carried out for years by the Westminster parties in Scotland. We're too small, too stupid and too poor to be self-governing, you see. Just like Denmark, you know.... And now of course they point to McConnell and the rest of those neuronally-challenged Holyrood toon cooncillors and say, we told you so. While at the same time I hear bitter complaints in England that "we're ruled by Scots"! I'm no great fan of Gordon Brown, Robin Cook and the rest of them, but they are big hitters, and if we could put people of that calibre into an independent Scottish parliament it would be a different story.
I don't expect a landslide this time. Actually, much as I hate the idea of a Conservative government, it would be very interesting to see what happened to Scottish politics with them in Westminster and Labour in Holyrood. It's arguable that if we'd got the Scottish parliament in 1979 as we ought to have, the Thatcher years would have delivered independence.
Right at the moment though, the hereditary "vote for a gerbil if it's got a red rosette on it" brigade are probably not going to stage a mass revolution. The ingrained class loyalties (plus the effects of decades of their preferred comic, the
Daily Record, sneering at the SNP and telling a pack of lies) are likely to rally round if it looks as if the Tories might be making any sort of showing.
Still, I'm hoping for a decent result to keep credibility good, and look for a bigger push at the 2007 Holyrood event. Also, I believe Sheridan's lot aren't making much of a showing these days, which helps somewhat. (That's one I didn't put on the ballot, maybe I should, I'll probably get a posse of SSP supporters starting a rival poll!)
Rolfe.
