May 2011 Election

[Swampy]

[T_S_A_R]

having a gander at the results on the beeb website.

how did the 'socialist equality party' manage to get zero votes in western scotland?

even their list candidate didn't bother voting for them!

[joejag]

Thankyou I'm glad you agree with me!

m

Statements that can easily be backed up with hard facts unlike your desperate quiverings.

Yeah! your right. SNP deserved their victory and good luck to them.Labour were terrible and rightly got tanned.Two tanking election defeats in a year is hard to take, so I will away and lick my wounds and hope Labour elect a new bright leader (But who the f**k is left???). Enjoyed my desperate quiverings. lol

I suspect that the SNP will find a new pressure on them, which I dont think they expected. By gaining an overall majority the expectations will be higher and the independence referendum question will dominate the next parliament.

My suspicion is the they will hold it and wether they win or lose, Alex Salmond will use it as his swansong and bow out.

[MotownClic]

Worth emigrating to then if the socialist shit hits the fan up here.

Don't let the door hit you on the arse on the way out.

[Savage Henry]

Yeah! your right. SNP deserved their victory and good luck to them.Labour were terrible and rightly got tanned.Two tanking election defeats in a year is hard to take, so I will away and lick my wounds and hope Labour elect a new bright leader (But who the f**k is left???). Enjoyed my desperate quiverings. lol

I suspect that the SNP will find a new pressure on them, which I dont think they expected. By gaining an overall majority the expectations will be higher and the independence referendum question will dominate the next parliament.

My suspicion is the they will hold it and wether they win or lose, Alex Salmond will use it as his swansong and bow out.

Well, they can't blame anybody else for their own fuckups. That's the point. They've been able to use their half-baked "ah but the big boys wouldn't let us do it" type of defence for their own failings with a certain element of justification. Now it 'comes to the crunch', and that's a good thing. Admittedly it's only the Scottish Parliament, but still, it'll be interesting to see what goes down. There's no way they'll be able to win a referendum on independence in any of our lifetimes, but there's the makings of a genuinely progressive programme mixed between the empty rhetoric. I wish them well, because usually when faced with progressive politics, the voter tactically withdraws into conservatism.

Labour getting tanked is entirely in keeping with political history and the tide of popularity. In five or ten years the Nationalists will fall out of favour and end up getting a kicking at the polls. You can't really remain in power for that long without the party suffering internally from careerists and egoism (see the Major government and the Brown government). It's the natural tide of politics. Another problem is the complete dearth of talent in the SNP, outwith Salmond, and even then he's a bit of a grease bag, who I'm not sure any real neutral would want to see as the figurehead for an independent country.

Even in defeat though, the Liberal Democrats have swung the balance of power. For so many reasons, Clegg has put them in a really influential position. Which raises issues of the extent to which this was an endorsement of the Nationalists (I have my doubts - see above) or whether it was a revolt against the Lib Dems/Labour incompetency.

I agree, the referendum, should it come, will be Salmond's swansong and its inevitable failure his lasting legacy.

[Granny Danger]

The next five years will be really interesting, and so will the period beyond. The Labour result was a disaster and I'm surprised that posters on this site are buying the line that "the Labour vote held up".

The result held up from 2007 when a lot of voters deserted Labour for pasteurs new. It's like a team avoiding relegation one season and thinking that by doing the same the next year it is a good result for them!

There must be a sizeable part of the electorate that voted for Labour prior to 2007, voted for someone else in 2007, and have now voted SNP. It could be argued that these voters then may revert to a prior option in the future but surely that will be dependant not only upon the SNP government's performance but the ability of the other parties, especially Labour, to bounce back from this defeat.

Early indications of the Labour party learning from their mistakes and reforming themselves are not good if the responses of the likes of Joanne Lamont and Cathy Peaty are anything to go by. The unwillingness to accept they have done anything wrong typifies the mentality of Scottish Labour. (I say this as someone who was a Labour activist for 20 years, though not involved for the last 15.)

So basically I think Labour will not regain the Scottish electorate's confidence in the next five years, neither do I think the Lib Dem's betrayals (real or perceived, dependant upon your viewpoint) will allow them to regain a significant foothold in Scotland. Scotland won't go Tory,; so it's the SNP's to lose. To finish on a football analogy - they can become the Barcelona of Scottish politics.

[capybara]

having a gander at the results on the beeb website.

how did the 'socialist equality party' manage to get zero votes in western scotland?

even their list candidate didn't bother voting for them!

2nd election in a row where the minority parties were nowhere to be seen. Withe the exception of course of Margo and the Greens. Solidarity were going nowhere especially without Tommy and the SSP are not even at the races. Even Galloway could not make it. Changed days from the 1st 2 Parliaments that had an assortment of MSP,s.

[chico]

2nd election in a row where the minority parties were nowhere to be seen. Withe the exception of course of Margo and the Greens. Solidarity were going nowhere especially without Tommy and the SSP are not even at the races. Even Galloway could not make it. Changed days from the 1st 2 Parliaments that had an assortment of MSP,s.

The SNP used the #bothvotesSNP message online and on election paperwork. The candidates message said 'one vote for me in constituency and your second vote to get Alec Salmond as first minister'

I think many people went and did that, the %'s for greens were too low for them to pick up AMS seats apart from the Edinburgh and Glasgow city regions.

[Law Stud]

So now the dust has settled and the SNP settle into their new jobs in office I wonder how long it will take before alcohol prices rise significantly as Salmond thanks his drunken voters for their majority.

[Reynard]

So now the dust has settled and the SNP settle into their new jobs in office I wonder how long it will take before alcohol prices rise significantly as Salmond thanks his drunken voters for their majority.

[Shawfield Stallion]

Not that I'm against the SNP, but is it not a sad day when any party gains a majority in the Scottish Parliament? It wasn't designed for a majority and cannot withstand it. There are no checks or balances and now the SNP can basically raliroad everything they wish to from their devolved powers without negotiation - which is what the Scottish Parliament was designed for

[Reynard]

Not that I'm against the SNP, but is it not a sad day when a party gains a majority in the ScottishParliament? It wasn't designed for a majority and cannot withstandit. There are no checks arbalances and not the SNP can basically raliroad everything theywish to from their devolved powers without negotiation - which the Scottish Parliament was designed for

I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. They don't fit at all with what I want politically but I suppose we need to wait and see what happens next. If they actually do have this vision they talk about or whether they will be a gigantic letdown. They seem to have the goodwill of the people up here just now. I certainly would prefer the SNP to be in this position rather than Labour as Labour would definitely turn everything to shite like thay always do. The SNP have proved to be bland and innocuous so far but a lot of that will have been down to the fact they were a minority government. That isn't the case now.

Bland, innocuous and not Labour or Tory seems to do the trick.

[Dean Court]

I wonder how long it will take before alcohol prices rise significantly as Salmond thanks his drunken voters for their majority.

Maybe they were the 900,000 who voted for cheap booze from the Liebour and Tory Parties.

[Reynard]

The next five years will be really interesting, and so will the period beyond. The Labour result was a disaster and I'm surprised that posters on this site are buying the line that "the Labour vote held up".

The result held up from 2007 when a lot of voters deserted Labour for pasteurs new. It's like a team avoiding relegation one season and thinking that by doing the same the next year it is a good result for them!

There must be a sizeable part of the electorate that voted for Labour prior to 2007, voted for someone else in 2007, and have now voted SNP. It could be argued that these voters then may revert to a prior option in the future but surely that will be dependant not only upon the SNP government's performance but the ability of the other parties, especially Labour, to bounce back from this defeat.

Early indications of the Labour party learning from their mistakes and reforming themselves are not good if the responses of the likes of Joanne Lamont and Cathy Peaty are anything to go by. The unwillingness to accept they have done anything wrong typifies the mentality of Scottish Labour. (I say this as someone who was a Labour activist for 20 years, though not involved for the last 15.)

So basically I think Labour will not regain the Scottish electorate's confidence in the next five years, neither do I think the Lib Dem's betrayals (real or perceived, dependant upon your viewpoint) will allow them to regain a significant foothold in Scotland. Scotland won't go Tory,; so it's the SNP's to lose. To finish on a football analogy - they can become the Barcelona of Scottish politics.

The problem for Labour is the Scottish Parliament itself. People are quite happy to give the SNP a vote as they are a bit left wing as far as some Labour voters are concerned and a bit meh as far as voters like me are concerned. I don't find anything particularly offensive about the SNP so far. Their hands are pretty clean politically as they have only really had one go at being government up til now. All that will change with time of course but they seem new, they seem Scottish and they haven't made a rip roaring arse of things yet. They will in due course obviously as they are politicians. But so far they are clean and shiny white as far as the Scottish electorate are concerned.

Labour, in terms of the Holyrood thing have been rumbled. Things will never be the same for them in Scotland again. They need to come to terms with this.

[Savage Henry]

I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. They don't fit at all with what I want politically but I suppose we need to wait and see what happens next. If they actually do have this vision they talk about or whether they will be a gigantic letdown. They seem to have the goodwill of the people up here just now. I certainly would prefer the SNP to be in this position rather than Labour as Labour would definitely turn everything to shite like thay always do. The SNP have proved to be bland and innocuous so far but a lot of that will have been down to the fact they were a minority government. That isn't the case now.

Bland, innocuous and not Labour or Tory seems to do the trick.

They've done a remarkable job at not offending anybody. That could be because they haven't done anything at all (as opposed to cutting things left, right and centre), but mainly because their outlook has been distinctly limited. What happens now is when they actually have control of the parliament, they can't hide as much. So any shit from now on is entirely on their doorstep, and all these disaffected Lib Dems won't hang around to see how Greasy Joe will wriggle his (our) way out of things.

[sophia]

Well, they can't blame anybody else for their own fuckups. That's the point. They've been able to use their half-baked "ah but the big boys wouldn't let us do it" type of defence for their own failings with a certain element of justification. Now it 'comes to the crunch', and that's a good thing. Admittedly it's only the Scottish Parliament, but still, it'll be interesting to see what goes down. There's no way they'll be able to win a referendum on independence in any of our lifetimes, but there's the makings of a genuinely progressive programme mixed between the empty rhetoric. I wish them well, because usually when faced with progressive politics, the voter tactically withdraws into conservatism.

Labour getting tanked is entirely in keeping with political history and the tide of popularity. In five or ten years the Nationalists will fall out of favour and end up getting a kicking at the polls. You can't really remain in power for that long without the party suffering internally from careerists and egoism (see the Major government and the Brown government). It's the natural tide of politics. Another problem is the complete dearth of talent in the SNP, outwith Salmond, and even then he's a bit of a grease bag, who I'm not sure any real neutral would want to see as the figurehead for an independent country.

Even in defeat though, the Liberal Democrats have swung the balance of power. For so many reasons, Clegg has put them in a really influential position. Which raises issues of the extent to which this was an endorsement of the Nationalists (I have my doubts - see above) or whether it was a revolt against the Lib Dems/Labour incompetency.

I agree, the referendum, should it come, will be Salmond's swansong and its inevitable failure his lasting legacy.

Really?

[vikingTON]

Well, yes, in that's it's been every party except the SNP's worst night ever, in terms of Holyrood seats won.

It's Labour's worst performances since something like 1931, Tories ever, and very probably the Lib Dems too, including Westminster elections.

John McTernan's rage and self-delusion last night was amusing.

[Reynard]

They've done a remarkable job at not offending anybody. That could be because they haven't done anything at all (as opposed to cutting things left, right and centre), but mainly because their outlook has been distinctly limited. What happens now is when they actually have control of the parliament, they can't hide as much. So any shit from now on is entirely on their doorstep, and all these disaffected Lib Dems won't hang around to see how Greasy Joe will wriggle his (our) way out of things.

It will be good to see what sort of policies they do actually go for this time. They have a completely free reign to do what they want and follow the path they want. They have promised a lot and now they have to find the wedge to deliver.

[Granny Danger]

Labour, in terms of the Holyrood thing have been rumbled. Things will never be the same for them in Scotland again. They need to come to terms with this.

My point exactly. I don't think they will come to terms with this anytime soon. They are still too stupid/arrogant/self illusioned to learn their lesson and given the Lib Del's disarray it gives the SNP more breathing space.

[Reynard]

My point exactly. I don't think they will come to terms with this anytime soon. They are still too stupid/arrogant/self illusioned to learn their lesson and given the Lib Del's disarray it gives the SNP more breathing space.

The LibDems are finished up here too. There is a big realignment going on in Scotland. It will be interesting to see what type of government the SNP offer. I'm hoping it won't be some sort of left wing clusterfuck. I don't think the Scottish people actually WANT that sort of government. I don't think they voted for that either.

I voted for and returned a Tory in my constituency and gave the SNP a vote in the list. I had no intention of voting SNP right up until I went in the booth. Then I just decided to do it as I was pretty sure Ayr was a Tory seat after the boundary changes.

I'm actually really happy the SNP are in power. I know it's probably going to be a massive let down like all these things tend to be. But I'm content with what has happened. And I'm delighted that Labour seem to be in decline up here.