General election 2019

[ronaldo7]

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By that do you mean SNP supporters? Or do you mean the Scottish electorate? If you mean the latter, then I'd beg to differ because in my view it's thanks to the main political parties 'listening' to the Scottish electorate that Scotland now has such a heavily devolved Scottish parliament. Also, the 2014 independence referendum was agreed to by a Tory government, which doesn't really smack of 'not listening' whether you happened to like the result or not.

As for Brexit, while a significant majority of Scottish voters may have voted remain (although the million plus who voted leave is not an insignificant minority) when the opportunity came in 2017 for the SNP to gain political mileage from that (ie crank up the calls for another independence referendum based on the fact that 'the people of Scotland' voted remain) the Scottish electorate ended up returning more Tory MPs than have been seen in Scotland since the 1970s while de-seating a hefty chunk of SNP MPs.

I agree Corbyn cut a particularly gormless figure in his tartan scarf last week, but what do you expect that main party leaders to do during an election campaign? Just not bother turning up in Scotland?

If the upcoming election turfs out most of those Tories who took up office in 2017, I'll look forward to your move towards our next independence referendum with glee. The people of Scotland will have spoken after all. 👍

[G B Young]

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If the upcoming election turfs out most of those Tories who took up office in 2017, I'll look forward to your move towards our next independence referendum with glee. The people of Scotland will have spoken after all. ��

The SNP (understandably) thought they'd spoken in 2015 but the over-hasty post-Brexit charge towards a fresh independence referendum didn't work out so well...

FWIW I think it's pretty clear the SNP will all but sweep the boards here next month. Without Ruth Davidson at the helm in Scotland the Tories will struggle for an identity and Labour, well, as others have said, it wouldn't be a surprise if Ian Murray is the last man standing again. Nevertheless, I also think we may find that Johnson isn't as loathed in Scotland as generally portrayed and the Tories may still win a notable share of the vote, while (as in 2015) a sizeable chunk of the SNP vote will be made up of utterly disillusioned former Labour voters who feel switching to the Tories is a step too far (ie not necessarily an endorsement of independence).

As I've said before, should we end up with Corbyn as PM I'll be right with you when it comes to backing independence. However, the only conceivable way I could see that coming even close to reality would be via a pact with the SNP - and given his seeming (and baffling) determination to burn his bridges on that score I think we'll be spared such a fate.