In the fuggy, sleep deprived day that is the day after polling it was hard to find all the facts and figures of the poll. Listening to the media was of no use. Admittedly the S.N.P. made the top headline on the B.B.C. English news which startled me. Listening to Radio Scotland however was a different game. They were in deep mourning at the reduced size of the Scottish Labour parliamentary group and ecstatic about the surge in the Scottish Conservative representation. Clever wee Willie is now the proper M.S.P. for his daddies part of Fife.
No mention thought of the Greens overtaking the Liberal Democrats and nothing much about the S.N.P. except for Ruthie’s opinion. Reason given when challenged by a listener? Well, we knew you were going to win anyway. That’s not the story.
Yes, the S.N.P. are still the biggest elected group, more than twice the size of the next group, the Tories.We have lost some excellent talent from the previous parliamentary group but this is politics and it is the gamble our candidates take every time they stand. We can still feel personally sad for them, particularly when they ere good M.S.P.s. We also had a few reduced majorities. Given that this was a bid to be the government for a third time, and the first election post referendum, this was going to happen. I am not surprised that Moray and West Aberdeenshire were affected by this. There is still a very conservative personality in this part of Scotland. We have known for many, many years that conservatives (and natural voters of other parties) in Moray have voted for an S.N.P. M.S.P. and M.P. simply because of the personality and the quality of representation. The Conservative candidate has been highly involved in the community for some years and his huge jump in voter support should have been expected given the way the Tories were conducting their campaign.
BUT, the position is that the S.N.P.has the majority of M.S.P.s and with the support of the Independence supporting Greens can call for another referendum if they choose. Some haggling will have to be done but remember, the Greens are the only ones with seeking another referendum firmly in their manifesto that they were elected on. The procedure for election to this parliament was designed that no party can have an outright majority, as in Westminster, where the governing party can trod over the rights of the people. I for one like that the biggest party always has to try and persuade the others that the policy they are trying to put through will benefit the people of Scotland.
Question – will Ruth quit harping on about another referendum and provide effective opposition in the parliament? Work with Nicola to improve Scotland? We can only hope