Yes it was an excellent result for Scotland but - there’s always a but - only from a UK perspective. It would be a dreadful result in a Scottish election although fortunately that would never happen owing to our PR system.
How did the Tories get back into No 10? Aided and abetted by Labour and the SNP. All David Cameron had to do was tell England that a government with the weak Miliband being dictated to by the strong Nicola Sturgeon would bring England to its knees. The English agreed, held their noses and voted Tory.
Ed Miliband was between a rock and a hard place most of the election with his desperate efforts to persuade middle England that he would be fantastic prime minister material. I’m not sorry to see him stand down as party leader, although nobody impresses me as his successor. Let’s not forget, even if Labour had won all the seats in Scotland, the result would have been the same. Labour needed England but England didn’t want a left wing government.
Nicola Sturgeon played a blinder the whole campaign. Never a foot wrong and she deserves congratulations for making her successes.
What about Nick Clegg? Nothing much to say really. I suspect he’s already been on the telephone to his pals in Europe asking them to put his name forward as a commissioner. My one regret is that Charles Kennedy was part of the SNP rout. One of the few politicians who was unaffected by power and I believe looked after his electorate with a passion.
In some ways I’m disappointed Nigel Farage didn’t make it. Although I dislike some of his policies, his presence in the Commons would have been a thorn in David Cameron’s side. It appears he won a larger percentage of the vote than the SNP and LibDems put together but with the FPTP system he couldn’t quite make it.
Three leaders have resigned today and that’s a healthy result of an election. It shows that change is essential. Not ‘tinkering’ change but radical change starting with the FPTP system moving to a PR one.
How will Cameron treat Scotland? I’ve no idea, have you? He can either ignore us or quickly open talks with Nicola Sturgeon. Surely he realises the SNP rout here contains many angry No voters who feel he made promises, on the 19 September last year, that he had no intention of keeping.
How will the new SNP MPs fare? Alex Salmond will ensure the ship is steered steadily but only time will tell the strategy they use. Interesting times ahead.
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And thankfully, a good result for England, too.
Poor Farage, 3.881 million votes = 1x seat.
As you mention,
SNP + LostDeposits (Sorry - LibDems), 3.869 million votes = 64 seats.
Difficult to see who Cameron has to make Sec of State for Scotland as he has nobody with a Scottish seat bar one.
If I was him, I take the result seriously and give the job to Alex Salmond - but would he accept it, I wonder?
Yes, I agree Sturgeon is impressive, but so was Hitler before the war and she worries me. Too left wing and fanatical for my liking - and if Scotland had full fiscal autonomy, could it survive without English money? Time will tell...
Nicola Sturgeon is only impressive when she sticks to her script. There were a couple of interviews that were probably not heard in Scotland where she really lost it when the interviewer didn't ask the questions that she had answers for.
Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage have both got an avuncular style that just lets the flak roll off their backs. Nicola Sturgeon, by contrast, is humourless and beligerent to no good purpose.
Nicol Sturgeon needs to remember that a substantial number of Scots didn't vote for her party and set against those that did there are a similar number of people in the UK that only got 4% of the MPs that she leads.
If Cameron offers Scotland Full Fiscal Autonomy, including the right the issue debt, and the SNP take it, then they are screwed. Because the numbers show that even before the oil price crash there would be a big deficit, after the price fall, it balloons massively. Forget 'an end to austerity', if Scotland gets FFA its going to have to impose spending cuts that would make the Westminster ones look like childs play. No more Barnett Formula sending a nice cheque north every year, instead its raising your spending from Scottish taxpayers alone, and/or convincing investors to buy your bonds.
That would wipe the smirk off la Sturgeon's face pretty smartish. Any sensible political party would see it for the poisoned chalice it is. But I bet the SNP would grab it with both hands, because their ideology would blind them to reality.
“Yes it was an excellent result for Scotland…” - was it really?
Pleased as I am with the result, I would caution all of Scotland to stop and consider what happens now and what can actually be achieved for Scotland.
There is no amicable coalition of the left to oust the Tories or to challenge the enhanced austerity that now awaits us all. Mr Miliband foolishly put paid to that notion for which he endured electoral indignity for his party and as leader was obliged to fall upon his sword.
As for the LibDems they have been dead men walking since the last election their total demise should have come as no surprise.
Now Scotland is left with a vestigial stump of one MP from each of Conservative, Labour and LibDem, and a seemingly overwhelming result of fifty-six SNP MPs.
But the Tories have once again won an overall Westminster majority; they don’t have to listen to the SNP; they don’t have to consult with the SNP; they don’t have to give any consideration what-so-ever to the SNP; they don’t have to change their old ways one jot - and there is nothing the SNP can effectively do other than show some righteous indignation or threaten another independence referendum.
Alec Salmon may hail the roar of the Scottish lion amongst the Westminster politicians – but more than likely it is a lion with gae few teeth.
Yes, it was a victory for the SNP – but I fear it may be no more than a pyrrhic victory.
For despite a clear message from the people of Scotland demanding change, it is likely that Westminster will continue as if nothing had happened.
Yes a great result if you consider a Tory majority a great result for Scotland .
Enjoy huge tax rises within 6 years with FFA. Enjoy large cuts to public services. Enjoy business heading south and the job losses incurred. Enjoy disinvestment in Scotland. Enjoy your loss of Barnett. Enjoy increased borrowing and mounting debt. Get used to EU law being more integrated and aligned in Scotland- we're really going to enjoy that. Enjoy the state guardians and ID databases. Enjoy all the extra immigrants the SNP want to encourage to Scotland. Enjoy increased NHS workloads while being starved on funds. Enjoy job losses associated to pre Trident removal planning. Enjoy listening to cringeworthy new MP's trying to make it in Westminster and making complete fools of themselves on behalf of Scotland. Enjoy those MP's doing nothing for Scotland in the UK. Enjoy all the problems the SNP will cause as they put independence before everything else. But really, really, the biggest enjoyment we're going to get out of everything is the explosion of food banks and poverty. Please do enjoy that because it's going to become so prominent in your lives in the next 5 plus years.This is what comes with a Tory majority. You have only yourselves to blame for voting for the SNP.
Enjoy it all !!
Sitting here in England I would suggest you now have the worst possible outcome for Scotland. When Nicola Sturgeon, in the TV debate, made clear her visceral hatred of the tories and anyone to the right of the spectrum, and then tried desperately to cosy up to Milliband in an anti-tory alliance she scared all of middle England. People who are essentially not left wing and many became very angry that the SNP should use their power to try and take over and define the UK parliament. Despite Millibands increasing statements that he would not work with the SNP lots of people didn't believe him.
I suggest the late surge to the tories was created by fear of Labour and nece the entire UK being held to ransom by the SNP. A situation created by the SNP given the (then) projected even voting. The result is that the Tories got a full majority and the SNP now have no real power whatsoever in Westminster - and furthermore are disliked by many people in England.
The SNP grossly overplayed their hand.
I couldn’t possibly comment about how England feels Joe. :D
That would be an interesting scenario Dioclese. Don’t think Alex Salmond would be keen though but you never know.
Indeed. She’s too left wing for my liking too. Never any talk about wealth creation just spending.
I’m quite sure the Scots who didn’t vote for her party will ensure she’s reminded of that very regularly JimS. :D
I’m not so sure about that Sobers. I think the SNP are happy with the result. They can be seen as looking after Scotland by the Scots yet still have the security of the rest of the UK.
Yes I do think it was JRB but as I said in the post such a result would never happen in a Scottish election even if we had the FPTP system. Many Scots voted tactically this time in order to keep Labour out of No 10.
If Cameron ignores our vote then he’s only hastening independence.
Wayne, we’ll have to wait to see if your forecast is correct.
You know full well that I disagree with some of the SNP’s main policies - you mention some of them, but credit where credit’s due, they ran a good campaign.
As I said, even if the whole of Scotland had voted Labour, the result would have been the same. The fault lies with Labour as they couldn’t convince middle England.
Woodsy, that’s the feedback I had from English friends.
I’d agree she did overplay her hand but it rid Scotland of Labour who have done nothing for us for generations.
Interesting times ahead.
"I’d agree she did overplay her hand but it rid Scotland of Labour who have done nothing for us for generations."
I suppose we should maybe thank her because she also rid England of Labour - and they have done precious little for us in the past 20 years.
The saddest thing however is that I believe she and the SNP have built levels of fear and increased resentment of Scotland in England beyond anything I have known before.
We are already annoyed that in many areas like elderly care (and especially student fees where the english are singled out for payment to Scottish universities), the funding per head formula seems unfair to the english and welsh. We have seen the bullying and outright nastyness and racism of some Scottish separatists (who make UKIP supporters look like kittens). Some english friends in Scotland have found it very uncomfortable and unpleasant.
We also note that a quite large number of senior UK government figures over the past decade have actually been Scottish - so you have had a pretty good representation in government any case. Thus wanting de -facto control of the UK parliament via Labour was the last straw.
I fear sadly that many English people are totally sick of the SNP and scottish demands, and rather take the attitude that if they (you) want independence then bugger off and good riddance. It's a very unhealthy situation for all of us in the UK.
This is good news for the English , if , no , when , Scotland gets it's independence all will be well .
England also will be free , free to lead our own destiny , free to leave the EU , free to form a new " Empire " with the Commonwealth and the Anglo-sphere .
David Cameron owes Nicola a big thank you, her rabid anti Tory rhetoric roused many English voters in a way I haven't seen before. The polling stations were really busy. I do hear more and more that maybe England should be votng for independence and that they wish Scotland would just go. Maybe though Nicola is smarter than we think, a Tory government will suit her far better to run against and her rhetoric certainly helped achieve that.
I suspect that Cameron cannot tell the difference between a Cameronian and a Cameron Highlander. He still has a lot to learn. the trouble is who he goes to learn from.
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