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Holyrood Elections 2021


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Probably needs a thread of its own.

i see Alex Neil is the latest incumbent to announce they are standing down and not seeking re-election.  

I think that's 21 so far - there were 24 retirees in 2016 - that will make the parliament look very different and for those who are constituency MSPs introduces a different dynamic where those contests are concerned - the incumbent generally carries a personal vote.

Most - 11 - are from the SNP but that should be no surprise since they've almost twice as many MSPs as the rest put together.  

A lot of big hitters going though, Mike Russell, Roseanna Cunningham and Aileen Campbell are all serving Cabinet Secretaries, Alex Neil and Stewart Stevenson are both former Cabinet Secretaries.  Some younger ones as well but a definite feel that the SNP pre-devolution old guard is taking a step back.

For the Tories, Ruth Davidson and Adam Tompkins are both going as well, so that's a chunk out of their front bench.

Interestingly, Douglas Ross *isn't* going to stand for a constituency but is going to rely on getting as top of the list for Highlands and Islands, which is how he originally got into Holyrood first time round. 

Edited by aaid
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Derek McKays constituency is up for grabs within the SNP, my councillor has put her name forward, it is an all women shortlist. I like her but she will have a bit of competition. 

She is chairperson of my local branch, its small and doesnt normally get large turnouts at meetings. Meetings have been off for months but are restarting via Zoom. There apparently has been a lot of interest in this next meeting,  not sure if it is the upcoming elections or shift in independence but there does seem to be more eagerness to be involved. 

On Douglas Ross, it really does show the uphill battle other parties face when the leader cannot rely on winning the constituency vote. It will never happen due to the structure of the system, but with all this talk about unionist tactical voting it would be rather ironic if pro independence tactical voting prevented him from getting in. 
 

 

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34 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

Derek McKays constituency is up for grabs within the SNP, my councillor has put her name forward, it is an all women shortlist. I like her but she will have a bit of competition. 

She is chairperson of my local branch, its small and doesnt normally get large turnouts at meetings. Meetings have been off for months but are restarting via Zoom. There apparently has been a lot of interest in this next meeting,  not sure if it is the upcoming elections or shift in independence but there does seem to be more eagerness to be involved. 

On Douglas Ross, it really does show the uphill battle other parties face when the leader cannot rely on winning the constituency vote. It will never happen due to the structure of the system, but with all this talk about unionist tactical voting it would be rather ironic if pro independence tactical voting prevented him from getting in. 
 

 

Derek Mackay hasn't announced that he will be standing down, although its probably safe to say he won't, so he's not included in that total of 21.   He's no longer a member of the SNP, as you say there will be a female candidate from the SNP standing.  Mark McDonald has announced he's standing down, so he's in the 21, but as an independent, not SNP.

By my reckoning there will be 6 all-women shortlists for the SNP.   Technically, Aberdeen Donside doesn't have an incumbent SNP MSP and so an all-woman shortlist shouldn't be in place there, given the fuss over James Dornan, it would be interesting to see if Party HQ tried to impose one against the wishes of the membership there.

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3 hours ago, aaid said:

Derek Mackay hasn't announced that he will be standing down, although its probably safe to say he won't, so he's not included in that total of 21.   He's no longer a member of the SNP, as you say there will be a female candidate from the SNP standing.  Mark McDonald has announced he's standing down, so he's in the 21, but as an independent, not SNP.

By my reckoning there will be 6 all-women shortlists for the SNP.   Technically, Aberdeen Donside doesn't have an incumbent SNP MSP and so an all-woman shortlist shouldn't be in place there, given the fuss over James Dornan, it would be interesting to see if Party HQ tried to impose one against the wishes of the membership there.

Do you mean he wont stand down or he wont  stand again

 

I think hes oot on his erchie'''' no way he will stand , unless its under the 'New Indy'Party.'

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3 hours ago, TDYER63 said:

Derek McKays constituency is up for grabs within the SNP, my councillor has put her name forward, it is an all women shortlist. I like her but she will have a bit of competition. 

She is chairperson of my local branch, its small and doesnt normally get large turnouts at meetings. Meetings have been off for months but are restarting via Zoom. There apparently has been a lot of interest in this next meeting,  not sure if it is the upcoming elections or shift in independence but there does seem to be more eagerness to be involved. 

On Douglas Ross, it really does show the uphill battle other parties face when the leader cannot rely on winning the constituency vote. It will never happen due to the structure of the system, but with all this talk about unionist tactical voting it would be rather ironic if pro independence tactical voting prevented him from getting in. 
 

 

You obvs live near me TYDER as I know the  two Councillors who have put their name in the hat. 

Both would be excellent MSP's

 

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3 minutes ago, stocky said:

Do you mean he wont stand down or he wont  stand again

 

I think hes oot on his erchie'''' no way he will stand , unless its under the 'New Indy'Party.'

Won't stand again, should've made that clearer.  God knows what he'll do next but it won't be frontline politics and the usual career move for former politicians of PR and/or lobbying would appear to be a non-starter as well 

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1 hour ago, stocky said:

You obvs live near me TYDER as I know the  two Councillors who have put their name in the hat. 

Both would be excellent MSP's

 

I believe I do ( live near you) . Not only that you are a week older than me, my big fat fingers clicked on your profile by mistake and I saw your DOB. 😊

I only know one of the ladies and agree she would be an excellent MSP. It’s good to know her opponent is rated highly too. I hope the Derek McKay fallout doesn't create too much of a distraction. 

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18 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

I believe I do ( live near you) . Not only that you are a week older than me, my big fat fingers clicked on your profile by mistake and I saw your DOB. 😊

I only know one of the ladies and agree she would be an excellent MSP. It’s good to know her opponent is rated highly too. I hope the Derek McKay fallout doesn't create too much of a distraction. 

Stalker alert  😉 

Well Happy Birthday for last week....

Is it Nat or Michelle you know? 

Tom Arthur is my MSP, he is seeking re election, so not directly involved in Derek's replacement

Hopefully he will just fade away and not cause any issues.

 

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10 minutes ago, stocky said:

Stalker alert  😉 

Well Happy Birthday for last week....

Is it Nat or Michelle you know? 

Tom Arthur is my MSP, he is seeking re election, so not directly involved in Derek's replacement

Hopefully he will just fade away and not cause any issues.

 

😁

My birthday wasn't last week, the DOB section must be American. 

It’s Nat I know. She has done really well the past few years and is a hard worker.

Pretty sure that bar a disaster Tom will be safe. 

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12 minutes ago, hampden_loon2878 said:

The candidates replacing stevenon are shocking up here in banff and buchan, all woman short list,, they are terrible 

 

1 minute ago, kumnio said:

I genuinely think this kind of crap will put people off the SNP.

Tokenist pist.

Agree. Total nonsense and ends up with the situation Banff and Buchan are in when there are no decent candidates.

 I understand the reasoning, but it doesn't work. 
 

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28 minutes ago, hampden_loon2878 said:

The candidates replacing stevenon are shocking up here in banff and buchan, all woman short list,, they are terrible 

Quote

 

I've seen a fair bit of support for Karen Adam, local councillor, online.  

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39 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

😁

My birthday wasn't last week, the DOB section must be American. 

It’s Nat I know. She has done really well the past few years and is a hard worker.

Pretty sure that bar a disaster Tom will be safe. 

Aye DOB is Yankee... just checked.

U dont say on yours. 😉  I stalked back at ya

 

Tom should be fine

Nat is a well liked Councillor in the SNP and works hard in a very non-snp area.

The other Lady is very ambitious and keen,  also a good councillor.

I believe Michelle is current favourite, but we will see. 

Mhari's support could help either...

 

 

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50 minutes ago, aaid said:

I've seen a fair bit of support for Karen Adam, local councillor, online.  

yes she looks the best of them,  when you are used to the likes of salmond and whiteford representing you its just a bit underwhelming,, i cant bring myself to engage with the local party after i expressing my thoughts on the all woman short list,, bunch of robots 

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the SNP and Greens need to get more than 50% of the vote, not just seats, to get a referendum.  That's my view.  If they do that, and we still don't get allowed a vote; we're up shits creek but that should be aim one.

For what it's worth, I'd vote for a Labour party that is ambivalent on independence but in favour of the right to decide.  Impossible to vote for anyone else at the moment though than the SNP.  A situation I do not like and will have a long term decay if nothing changes.

 

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22 hours ago, kumnio said:

I genuinely think this kind of crap will put people off the SNP.

Tokenist pist.

If anybody is using that to decide which party to vote for, they might be restricting themselves to just the Tories. Libdems are currently using them (they change their mind about them regularly) and Labour have been using them for a couple of decades. AWS are nothing new and aren't restricted to the SNP.

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2 hours ago, PapofGlencoe said:

the SNP and Greens need to get more than 50% of the vote, not just seats, to get a referendum.  That's my view.  If they do that, and we still don't get allowed a vote; we're up shits creek but that should be aim one.

For what it's worth, I'd vote for a Labour party that is ambivalent on independence but in favour of the right to decide.  Impossible to vote for anyone else at the moment though than the SNP.  A situation I do not like and will have a long term decay if nothing changes.

 

I don't think you'd be alone.  I'm astonished (as one former Scottish Labour leader might say) that they can't seem to see that doubling down on unionism is getting them nowhere.

Softening their stance on independence would, IMHO, entice some voters back from the SNP.

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I cant believe that anyone who is serious about Scottish Independence would trust a Labour party with a sudden crisis of conscience .
The only way they will soften on independance is if they are desperate, and desperate people can be dangerous. They would be risking the unionist vote they still have, in the hope they pick up votes from the SNP. 

This is nothing to do with their policies, just a total distrust of them to be above board on their independence stance. 

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16 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

I cant believe that anyone who is serious about Scottish Independence would trust a Labour party with a sudden crisis of conscience .
The only way they will soften on independance is if they are desperate, and desperate people can be dangerous. They would be risking the unionist vote they still have, in the hope they pick up votes from the SNP. 

This is nothing to do with their policies, just a total distrust of them to be above board on their independence stance. 

This.  I think Scottish Labour are all but finished and I'm not the only one, UK Labour seem to be coming to the same conclusion.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/politics/uk-politics/1531354/the-morris-minor-of-politics-leaked-election-strategy-documents-show-scottish-labour-finished/

 

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6 minutes ago, aaid said:

This.  I think Scottish Labour are all but finished and I'm not the only one, UK Labour seem to be coming to the same conclusion.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/politics/uk-politics/1531354/the-morris-minor-of-politics-leaked-election-strategy-documents-show-scottish-labour-finished/

 

It could have been very different for Labour , but their bloody mindedness regarding the constitution has all but killed them in Scotland. They only have themselves to blame. 

I dont think the SNP can take things for granted though.  PapofGlencoe is an example of a voter that could be won back, and from his postings on here comes across as clued up and balanced. As Scotlad says,  he wont be alone , but I personally would not trust Labour on the constitution. 

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17 minutes ago, aaid said:

Jeane Freeman also standing down, that's a massive loss, both to the party and the country.

The last six months must have been a sore shift for her.

absolutely, i am actually worried about the rockets that may be away to stand, would love some big hitters from Westminster to stand 

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