General British politics discussion thread

I was obviously focussing on the Scottish parliamentary election today but just had a look at the council results in England so far and I am surprised at the Greens performance given the assertions that they did poorly

Best comment today below but some will say it is only seats that matter under the current system

Should have happened years ago. Lb then with others would almost always govern as the major party in a coalition. No strategic thinking.

Think it was a very bad election for the SNP, significant drop in their vote share and despite a perfect storm for them to prosper in with a collapsing Labour vote and Reform splitting the unionist vote and allowing seats to go to the SNP which they would have lost in years gone by with that vote share, they have ended up with fewer seats. Swinney also looks daft as he was claiming he could get an overall majority and push for Indy Ref 2 and has fallen way short, in fact no where close to his target despite the ideal conditions. It will now just be another Scottish parliament of the SNP doing what they have always done which is give out freebies to the benefits brigade and moan about Westminster every time something goes wrong and play the victim card. They have been at it for years and same old.

The incumbent governing party for 19 years and they still get the vast majority of seats and you think they had a very bad election?

Yes very poor performance considering the total collapse in the Labour vote and the Reform dynamic splitting the Unionist Vote. The SNP seem to have two groups who vote for them, a large number disgruntled people who just hate the Union for the sake of it and it gives them something to moan about and then a chunk of the benefits brigade who they constantly pander to giving away freebies. The SNP seem to figured out that by appealing to those two groups you can stay in power but constantly have the excuse of blaming the union and Westminster for all significant problems and ultimately be accountable for nothing. They also constantly get involved in discussions politically which they have no control over for example International affairs which are reserved powers so wasting time talking about Iran or Israel or something else just deflects from failures be it the ferries, roads or NHS which they actually have control over. It's classic whataboutery. I do quite a bit of business in Scotland and the middle Scottish business community and people I work with just laugh about the SNP and people who vote for them. Was talking to a very nice Scot recently who is convinced the SNP love the current setup as it effectively means a never ending gravy train for them all and every time a thing goes wrong they just blame the union. If the SNP were serious about independence they should be coming up with a creditable plan for building a Scottish state without Union handouts and appealing to the middle class working Scots who in many cases currently view them as a grievance party buying votes with handouts to the benefits brigade.

Yes and in conditions that absolutely were ideal for them to prosper in.

And labour / Starmer have had there chance to take the UK back into Europe. Should have been far more forthright about this and that it is happening hands down. Should have happened already - I think now, the chance is lost. Not sure it would be of any benefit to EU now, with the absolute unknown ( like Farage as PM ) in the next General election. And it hands him another "policy" to add - Brexit 2, he would love that. Or worse still - Farage keeps UK in EU and attacks it from the inside with a load of Reform MEPS

Labour did not really collapse since the last election, their expectations were a lot higher this time which did not happen. If anything, the Tory vote collapsed and that mainly went to Reform. Reform did split the vote in some areas and allowed the SNP to come through the middle.

What freebies would you propose stopping?

I don't have all the figures to hand for years of elections but they are 9.5% down on the constituency vote and 13.5% down on the regional vote compared to 2021. Considering the huge move away from Labour and split Unionist Vote due to the rise of Reform I am not sure how anyone in the SNP can consider this election a success apart from guaranteeing that they go back into well paid jobs in Holyrood and continue their age old blame everything on Westminster anytime anything goes wrong for the next 5 years. It's a bad result for Scotland as it basically means no change to the what has been going on in recent years and the SNP are economically illiterate and entirely dependent on Union handouts to keep things ticking over and then have the nerve to criticise the very hand that feeds them. But I suppose respect has to go to them for figuring a way to ensure a never ending gravy train for themselves by using a simple combination of buying votes from disgruntled anti-union Scots and poor communities who are largely dependant on handouts and have digested the story from the SNP about all the ills in Scotland being due to the union. Reality is the poverty in many Scottish communities is entirely due to economic failings from the SNP who have done nothing to grow the Scottish economy and are happy to foster a dependency culture and mix it in with a nasty side of 'Braveheart' nationalism to keep those who fall for it frothing at the mouth.

I am referring to the claim from podge that it is the lowest vote share since 2006.

Largest number of pro-independence seats at 73

What 'handouts' or 'freebies' are you proposing the Scottish parliament should stop?

Interesting … if true

Scotland is not independent and cannot run a massive budget deficit. It is claimed Scotland within the UK is running a massive budget deficit. The Scottish parliament gets a block grant from the UK parliament and has very little means of deviating from that (small borrowing powers and small tax powers).

So your pitch to the voters in Scotland is to stop all those 'freebies' in your post including the etc etc?