May 2011 Election

[H_B]

only four I think. It was always nip & tuck for Martin Ford up there, although it is disappointing so far. Would expect at least one seat in Lothians (list isn't expected until mid after-noon :blink: ), possibly Mid Scotland & Fife. But given some of the projections of 8 seats it's clear that greens won;t have the kind of role they might have hoped for before the poll. Simply, it's not only Labour that the SNP have taken by surprise.

I am very pleased that the SNP have trounced Labour, but disappointed at the collateral damage it looks like causing for the Greens.

Rather bizarrely the Greens came behind the mental pensioners party in the Central Regional list.

[Ivo den Bieman]

Yep Central and the West of Scotland were always the two toughest for the Greens.

Patrick Harvie on twitter:

Gutted for my colleague Dr Martin Ford in North East Scotland. Hopes still alive for other regions.

[Ivo den Bieman]

LDs shot down in flames in Skye, losing by nearly 5000 votes having held a majority of 4000.

[Hedgecutter]

Just gets worse for Lib Dems - taking Lochaber / Skye from former heartland of Charles Kennedy fame.

[Ivo den Bieman]

It will take Liberals decades to recover from this in Scottish Parliament terms. Looking very ominous for them at next Westminster poll, too.

[Dunning1874]

The SNP won all 10 first-past-the-post seats in the north east and it should have been impossible for them to pick up any additional list seats. The SNP got a 40.5% share on the North East list. The next closest was Labour on 19.6%. The Greens polled more than 10,000 regional votes in north east but were squeezed out by the SNP's massive 140,749. The SNP got almost 14 times the number of votes of the party in fifth place, the Scottish Greens.

Incredible stuff.

[RH33]

It will take Liberals decades to recover from this in Scottish Parliament terms. Looking very ominous for them at next Westminster poll, too.

Will they splinter? Going to be interesting.

Mum said Dad is at home worrying that things might not be going correctly at the Football Academy where the count is in Dingwall. He was manager until he retired at the end of last week

[ICTChris]

There's a danger that we could end up in a de facto one-party state

Labour's 2nd XI, a decimated Lib Dems and a beleagured Tories? I expect them all to be outlawed soon and a statue of Eck erected on Arthur's Seat, Christ the Redeemer style.

[Ivo den Bieman]

SNP win Inverness & Nairn by 9000 votes. LD vote collapses to 3000 leaving Labour second. Astonishing numbers.

[Hedgecutter]

The idea that they could end up with no seats on the mainland would be astonishing really.

And so it's come to be (assuming NE Fife gets stolen). Stunning.

[Ad Lib]

The best thing about the SNP absolutely thumping this election in a strange way is it's curtailed the Greens. The Lib Dems could yet end up staying the 4th largest party!

[Ivo den Bieman]

Will they splinter? Going to be interesting.

Mum said Dad is at home worrying that things might not be going correctly at the Football Academy where the count is in Dingwall. He was manager until he retired at the end of last week

No, but their battered half dozen will sit in Holyrood shell shocked for at least a couple of years. Party membership is likely to fall away and they've an awful lot of lost deposits to find. Maybe Tavish can work the debt off washing dishes in the Parliament canteen. Half-rumour that he'll resign.

[RH33]

No, but their battered half dozen will sit in Holyrood shell shocked for at least a couple of years. Party membership is likely to fall away and they've an awful lot of lost deposits to find. Maybe Tavish can work the debt off washing dishes in the Parliament canteen. Half-rumour that he'll resign.

Without doubt.

[H Wragg]

And so it's come to be (assuming NE Fife gets stolen). Stunning.

I assume you're only talking about the constituencies? They did get a regional seat in the north east.

[Stu]

I want to see the clip of the bloke in his jeans.

Any chance this could be investigated under election rigging because Labour didn't want to be the ones making all the cuts

If Gray goes, wonder if they'll go down the SNP route when Salmond came back and get an MP in. Hope it's not Douglas Alexander

[Hedgecutter]

I assume you're only talking about the constituencies? They did get a regional seat in the north east.

Aye.

If Gray goes...

If???

[xbl]

There's a danger that we could end up in a de facto one-party state

Labour's 2nd XI, a decimated Lib Dems and a beleagured Tories? I expect them all to be outlawed soon and a statue of Eck erected on Arthur's Seat, Christ the Redeemer style.

If the SNP get a majority, we should call for an UDI!

[Ivo den Bieman]

Labour have a tough call. Gray has been abysmal, but who would take over and do a better job in current circumstances?

There's not exactly a long list of credible successors. The instinct will be to relegate Gray to the back benches and leave him there quietly until he steps down, but if you're in the Labour Party, I'm not sure that's the right move. After all, all the potentially experienced successors- Whitton, Kerr, Boyack- are all gone. What you're left with is girning nitwits like Lamont and Baillie who refuse to acknowledge or understand the epic scale of the defeat that has just been visited on them, and half a dozen time served numpties who really turned around the paperclip situation at their local council over a decade.

Labour are totally at their lowest ebb, but unless they understand the potential for them to decline further unless they change, then they will continue to lose ground. A leadership challenge in the short term would be a distraction, but they need to find someone half decent before the next election. At the moment it really isn;t clear who that would be. They also need to clear out the staff at HQ who delivered such an atrocious campaign.

[Stu]

Aye.

If???

The "if" is only because there might not be anyone to replace him, as Ivo den Bieman has just pointed out.

[Hedgecutter]

If the SNP get a majority, we should call for an UDI!

Just get Salmond to write a letter to the Pope. That's the way it's always been done after all.