What happens if there is no indyref2 before the next Holyrood election? I am of the view that the SNP (and other secessionist parties) have several mandates going back to 2016 which allows them to demand indyref2 because of Scotland being dragged out of the EU against her will. But what I think as Englishman is irrelevant, what matters is the views of the SNP and independence voters and supporters. Will they really enjoy not having the indyref2 they were…
Governing by opinion polls is a disaster in the making especially on nation changing matters. On Friday it was reported A second Scottish independence referendum could take place if polling consistently shows 60 percent of Scots desire a fresh vote, according to a senior U.K. Cabinet minister. The Scottish National Party has pushed for a second independence referendum since they lost a 2014 vote. They were emboldened earlier this year after pro-independence parties won a majority of seats in May’s Scottish parliamentary…
One of my earliest memories of Scottish independence was back in 1992 when, the then Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party, Jim Sillars lost his seat in the general election and ranted about ’90 minute patriots’ aka part time SNP voters aka how long a football match lasts. Ever since then in my mind the Scottish football team and Scottish independence have been inextricably linked. Now this really hasn’t been much of an issue since the ‘killing Scottish nationalism…
Should this go down as a LAB miss? Overnight we have had the result of the Airdrie and Shotts by-election which was held following the resignation of the former SNP MP to run for the same seat at last week’s election for the Scottish parliament. The general assumption was that this was always going to be an SNP hold and it has attracted little attention. The big interest comes in the actual result in the Wikipedia table above. As can be…
Unionists should learn the lessons of Brexit: vote on a deal, not a concept Goodbye separation trauma; hello separation trauma. After this week’s elections, Holyrood will again have a pro-Independence majority meaning the constitutional arguments of the last decade will not only continue but intensify. While the SNP look unlikely to win an overall majority, the Greens should see them over the line. Cue demands for a second referendum such as we have never heard for months. In truth, the…
At the risk of sounding like Sion Simon soon there will be an election, in which Scottish nationalists will increase their majority. The Scottish Conservative Party are campaigning on the principle that the last referendum should be a ‘once in a generation’ vote and to vote for the SCON Party to “stop indyref2”. If a majority in Scotland do vote for the Tories (or other unionist parties) then that is the end of the matter – feel free to ignore…
It isn’t looking so good for the Tories in Wales now with Labour increasing its lead from 2 to 11 in a month The Welsh are such teases as noted before that they look like voting to make the Tories first in Wales but never do and like Opinium earlier on this week the talk of Tories winning Wales in next month’s Senedd is far away as ever although as Roger Awan-Scully points out this is Labour’s worst ever result…
In 2014, when the last once-in-a-generation Scottish independence referendum was held, the Scottish government under the then First Minister Alex Salmond published what it claimed was a comprehensive plan for how Scotland’s future as an independent nation would play out. It was, in truth, a rather curious document, a mixture of high constitutional aspiration, a technical document glossing-over most of the difficulties, and a party manifesto, including a fair smattering of comically trivial measures which independence would unlock (“use Scotland’s…