Well, that\u2019s the end of summer (what summer?)\u00a0 Be fair, the kids went back to school and we had a few days of glorious sunshine \u2013 it was ever thus!<\/p>\n
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Summer is usually the dull time for us political junkies, but boy, has this year been an exception.\u00a0 We have been deafened by the sound of dragging feet from the Tories following their Brexit debacle (what a jolly wheeze that was!)\u00a0 To add to the seasonal delight, the \u201conce great\u201d Labour Party have kept us all amused as they publicly beat themselves to death.\u00a0 As if this was not enough for us sad anoraks, we could look across the Pond where Donald Trump is doing his best to destroy the \u201conce great\u201d Republican Party.<\/p>\n
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Not to be outdone, here in deepest Ayrshire we have had a Council by-election.\u00a0 Yes, the SNP came first with 37% of the vote, Labour being in second place with 31%.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the rub \u2013 that was on the first ballot!\u00a0 By the time the 5th<\/sup> round was completed, and many Tories had given their second votes to Labour, we found that the Labour candidate was the winner, although the Labour vote had dropped by over 8% –\u00a0 an anomaly of the STV system when only one candidate is being selected.\u00a0 So not too much to fear for the Council Elections in May next year where STV comes into its own in the multi-member ward system.\u00a0 There will not be the same loaning of votes to other parties when your favoured party will get your first and second preferences.\u00a0 However, here is what has struck me about this result.\u00a0 No, this is not a sign of a Labour revival in these parts.\u00a0 If anything, it showed their continued decline, but what came through clearly was the willingness on the part of many Tory voters to give their second vote to Labour!\u00a0 A pattern is emerging, seen in the previous Holyrood elections and was a big factor in Edinburgh South at the Westminster Election last year.\u00a0 That is, the tactical voting by those of a Unionist persuasion.\u00a0 It seems that it matters not which party they vote for, as long as it is a Unionist Party \u2013 The \u201csave the Union\u201d syndrome!\u00a0 I would contend that a Unionist Coalition is forming led by the Tories with Labour, albeit the junior, but most willing partner.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A wee history lesson folks!\u00a0 Way back when the writer was but a slip of a girl, the Tories could put up the proverbial \u201ccollie dug\u201d and win a seat, Yes, I said the TORIES!\u00a0 The working class vote in the west of Scotland was divided by religion, not class.\u00a0 The Tories had the Orange vote and Labour had the Catholic vote.\u00a0 Even in the 1980\u2019s it was quite usual to find a staunch Tory vote in the most deprived estates \u2013 a remnant of the historical \u201cProtestants vote Tory.\u201d\u00a0 Slowly this Orange Tory vote declined and working class voters turned to the Labour Party.\u00a0 Labour were cleverly playing Orange Card\/Green Card depending on the doorstep!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0One by one Tory seats in the West of Scotland went to Labour until the last Tory seat, in Glasgow – Cathcart, fell to Labour\u2019s John Maxton in 1979.\u00a0 Teddy Taylor went off to the new pastures of Southend – not many orange voters there, methinks!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It may seem strange to readers outwith the Central Belt but Orangeism never went away in these parts.\u00a0 Our wee village of Dreghorn was once again festooned with Union flags and bunting during the July \u201cmarching season – It\u2019s no easy living in Dreghorn! \u00a0At Irvine\u2019s annual Marymass festival last Saturday \u2013 the Union flag reigned supreme yet again.\u00a0 It is these cultural bonds that make the transference of votes between Unionist parties an obvious option.\u00a0 A realignment is taking place \u2013 the bonds of party loyalty are being replaced by loyalty to the Union.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I speak from the perspective of the Central Belt, but other areas of Scotland will be affected by this emerging Unionist Coalition.\u00a0 Seats where there are traditional Tory voters could now be augmented by Labour voters wishing to defeat the SNP.\u00a0 Make no mistake, it is becoming a two-way split in voting patterns in Scotland.\u00a0 Us versus them, or Nationalist versus Unionist.\u00a0 We have to plan our strategy with this in mind.\u00a0 The Labour Party is but a shadow of its former self, but the Tory vote is rising (up 8% in the aforementioned by-election). We have to acknowledge that about half of Scots have still to be convinced of the benefits of Independence.\u00a0 It is these people we must target if we are to get over the line to reach our goal.\u00a0 The non-nationalists who voted to remain in the EU are the most obvious people to persuade.\u00a0 As the Brexit saga gains pace we must raise the momentum and constantly expose the position in which Scotland finds itself due to the votes of our neighbours in England.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The lines are drawn \u2013 let battle commence!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, that\u2019s the end of summer (what summer?)\u00a0 Be fair, the kids went back to school and we had a few days of glorious sunshine \u2013 it was ever thus! Summer is usually the dull time for us political junkies, but boy, has this year been an exception.\u00a0 We have been deafened by the sound of dragging feet from the Tories following their Brexit debacle (what a jolly wheeze that was!)\u00a0 To add to the seasonal delight, the \u201conce great\u201d Labour Party have kept us all amused as they publicly beat themselves to death.\u00a0 As if this was not enough for us sad anoraks,Read More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}