Holyrood Elections 2021

[Toepoke]

25 minutes ago, duncan II said:

So more than the Lib Dems in that constituency!

The Libs got nowhere near a list seat in Glasgow last time though.

Taking those results and comparing them with 2016 it looks like the Greens could pick up a second Glasgow list seat from the Tories.

 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Toepoke

[Caledonian Craig]

The SNP not taking Dumbarton was a blow and could see them finish on around 62 seats - three short of a majority on the constituency according to John Curtice.

[biffer]

Anyone who views Alba as anything other than Salmonds ego trip has been smoking salvia.

[duncan II]

Just now, biffer said:

Anyone who views Alba as anything other than Salmonds ego trip has been smoking salvia.

I don't know what that is, but apparently I've been smoking it. Find that quite insulting. I liked their manifesto (well, the bullet points).

[Caledonian Craig]

The rhetoric from unionist mps during the coverage today was the usual BS of Scotland has spoken it does not want another referendum. Sorry but that is off the mark. There were one or two more sensible enough to realise that the question about independence is not going to go away claiming it be divisive. Well there is a solution to it. You accept it needs revisiting and grant another referendum. I'd be happy to settle for a compromise saying that it would settle the question for a lifetime. I mean nothing worse can happen than Brexit to us now anyway that will change Scorland's circumstances. 

[Squirrelhumper]

11 minutes ago, biffer said:

Anyone who views Alba as anything other than Salmonds ego trip has been smoking salvia.

Agreed. 

[Squirrelhumper]

42 minutes ago, aaid said:

You might be interested in these numbers.

Kilmarnock

SNP 18649
Tories 8781
Labour 8199
Green 2017
Lib dem 868
All for Unity 706
Alba 636
 

Proud. 

Very proud. 

[ThistleWhistle]

In fairness to Kirsty Wark she ripped the Tory sock puppet at least three new arseholes there.

[Freeedom]

The SNP have to push on with indy now, this is the last chance they'll get. If they dont get a coherent plan together pronto then it is going to be extremely damaging to independence. 

[Dave78]

38 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I have said it lots of times on here - damaged goods. Michael Barrymore and John Leslie have been unable to resurrect their careers after much publicised court cases and Eck is no different here and it did not help his cause that he is an unpopular figure. Sure there are many that place him on a pedestal but there are many more who cannot stand him as stated in polls. Heck even Boris tops him on the popularity front.

I'd have no problem him making a comeback attempt but this seemed ill-timed and ill thought out - almost like an after-thought hence the lack of time to drill his message home.

With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, he should have stood as an independent. 

Of course, he wouldn't then have garnered the media exposure required to win his seat, so.... 🤔

 

38 minutes ago, duncan II said:

Yeah, cheers. I'm quite disappointed. But number one priority for me is pro-Indy majority. I woke up on Thursday undecided about my list vote. I was aware Alba were unlikely to get enough in south Scotland but decided to go with what I believe in. I believe in a more urgent push for independence. I also believe we need a strong independence alternative to the SNP. Didn't quite take to the SSP in the past and wasn't drawn in by RISE, but hoped ALBA could break through. Oh well, hopefully an Indy majority. And Nicola's initial statements are encouraging, determined to push on with legislation and Johnson will have to go to court to stop. Hopefully all systems go in the not-too-distant future. Onwards and upwards.

 

The SNP rely on their list vote in South Scotland. Mad to vote Alba there, sorry.

If you'd been in Glasgow or the North East, then aye, i'd have went for it.

 

15 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Proud. 

Very proud. 

Brilliant. And don't forget us Ayr lads 

[Lamia]

3 hours ago, aaid said:

And you could say the same thing about Alba.

I think Alba is even more obsessed with this issue. In many cases it is their number one reason for supporting them. 

[tartandon]

30 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I have said it lots of times on here - damaged goods. Michael Barrymore and John Leslie have been unable to resurrect their careers after much publicised court cases and Eck is no different here and it did not help his cause that he is an unpopular figure. Sure there are many that place him on a pedestal but there are many more who cannot stand him as stated in polls. Heck even Boris tops him on the popularity front.

I'd have no problem him making a comeback attempt but this seemed ill-timed and ill thought out - almost like an after-thought hence the lack of time to drill his message home.

Once you are tainted by sexual misconduct it is game over. You just have to look at Noel Clarke. There are lots of allegations of inappropriate and unsavoury behaviour, none of which may be deemed illegal. But, like Barrymore and Leslie, his showbiz career is now over.

Salmond should have been smart enough to realise that he was similarly tainted and that a return to front-line politics was not likely to gain enough voter support. The failed Alba foray was only ever likely to take votes away from other pro-independence parties.

If Salmond was truly trying to maximise the number of pro-indepence votes, he could have encouraged his supporters to vote Green on the regional list as a tactic to maximise the number of seats for established pro-independence parties. Hubris saw him launch a new party believing he could gain seats and seal a return to front-line politics.

If all the registered Alba votes had actually been cast for the Green Party, I wonder if the Greens would actual have managed to win any more lists seats.  Maybe somebody more informed on how the list seat allocations are calculated will be able to run the numbers once we know the actual results.

[Freeedom]

2 minutes ago, tartandon said:

Once you are tainted by sexual misconduct it is game over. You just have to look at Noel Clarke. There are lots of allegations of inappropriate and unsavoury behaviour, none of which may be deemed illegal. But, like Barrymore and Leslie, his showbiz career is now over.

Salmond should have been smart enough to realise that he was similarly tainted and that a return to front-line politics was not likely to gain enough voter support. The failed Alba foray was only ever likely to take votes away from other pro-independence parties.

If Salmond was truly trying to maximise the number of pro-indepence votes, he could have encouraged his supporters to vote Green on the regional list as a tactic to maximise the number of seats for established pro-independence parties. Hubris saw him launch a new party believing he could gain seats and seal a return to front-line politics.

If all the registered Alba votes had actually been cast for the Green Party, I wonder if the Greens would actual have managed to win any more lists seats.  Maybe somebody more informed on how the list seat allocations are calculated will be able to run the numbers once we know the actual results.

The greens are hopeless, they are quite happy to take or leave independence as long as they can push their "green" agenda. But at least least they support a Scottish currency, hopefully they can push the SNP in that direction.

We needed a party like Alba that would make independence the number one agenda, but unfortunately the party is tainted by the reputation of Salmond who carries way too much baggage.

[tartandon]

34 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

The rhetoric from unionist mps during the coverage today was the usual BS of Scotland has spoken it does not want another referendum. Sorry but that is off the mark. There were one or two more sensible enough to realise that the question about independence is not going to go away claiming it be divisive. Well there is a solution to it. You accept it needs revisiting and grant another referendum. I'd be happy to settle for a compromise saying that it would settle the question for a lifetime. I mean nothing worse can happen than Brexit to us now anyway that will change Scorland's circumstances. 

Precisely! 

If the unionists are so confident that the people of Scotland dont want independence, they can easily put it to the test. Grant a referendum and see if the people really do love the precious union. 

If the unionists were to win a second referendum, the fight for independence would be dead in the water. Sturgeon would be gone, and the SNP vote would crumble. Douglas Ross and BoJo would be the hero of the union and could celebrate with knighthoods as they skip off into the sunset knowing they had done their bit for Queen and country.

 

[tartandon]

3 minutes ago, Freeedom said:

The greens are hopeless, they are quite happy to take or leave independence as long as they can push their "green" agenda. But at least least they support a Scottish currency, hopefully they can push the SNP in that direction.

We needed a party like Alba that would make independence the number one agenda, but unfortunately the party is tainted by the reputation of Salmond who carries way too much baggage.

You can't rock up and form a new political party just days after a parliamentary inquiry that ultimately resulted from allegations of serious sexual misconduct. To also do this days before the start of the election campaign is nuts.

What made Salmond think that a sufficient number of people in the general population would seriously consider voting for him and his party? 

The inner circle who bought into the conspiracy theories may have bought into the 'cause'. But most people would just have seen Salmond as 'damaged goods' and would have been actively discouraged from voting for him or anybody else associated with him.

People may not like the Green policies but they are the only other mainstream party who are pro-independence. I don't support a lot of the SNP or Green policies, but I have been a single-issue voter all my life. Independence is the only policy I care about and the only thing that determines who I vote for.

[bonzo]

49 minutes ago, Freeedom said:

The SNP have to push on with indy now, this is the last chance they'll get. If they dont get a coherent plan together pronto then it is going to be extremely damaging to independence. 

Can I ask, how is this the last chance?

[Jim Beem]

1 hour ago, biffer said:

Anyone who views Alba as anything other than Salmonds ego trip has been smoking salvia.

And fingering their own bum hole. Its excruciating. Salmond was the man back in the day and clearly got a raw deal but this is tough to watch 

[Dave78]

2 minutes ago, Jim Beem said:

And fingering their own bum hole. Its excruciating. Salmond was the man back in the day and clearly got a raw deal but this is tough to watch 

"The people have spoken.... the bastards"

😏

[slasher]

Much more nonsense to come thankfully, I'm buzzing! 

[EddardStark]

It’ a crazy that an incumbent government going into a 4th term can increase its constituency seats by 3. And there will be a referendum majority. But this is being spun as negative. 
 

Not sure what to expect from the list vote but the SNP now have a big call to make. I do think support for independence is around 50/50. 

[dipped flake]

10 hours ago, hampden_loon2878 said:

Alba have got no seats,, i am sure there are the usual unpleasant folk on here who will be delighted, unfortunately we are going to need that other independence party, its a shame that foresight is missing here,,

 

So because we don't agree with Alba we are unpleasant?? If Alba votes stop the greens getting seats AS should be ashamed of himself

[duncan II]

8 hours ago, Dave78 said:. 

 

 

The SNP rely on their list vote in South Scotland. Mad to vote Alba there, sorry.

If you'd been in Glasgow or the North East, then aye, i'd have went for it.

 

Sorry, not having being called mad. I voted the way I believe. There can’t be regret in that.

I voted SNP in Eastwood constituency in the early ‘90s. Was I mad then? Not a snowball’s chance of a seat.

Maybe I love a lost cause. Like the guy from the NE (whose name I can’t remember) I think Salmond would have been an asset and a different Indy voice across the country could have helped us. 

[Hertsscot]

And the headline in The Times today reads 'PM views decades in power'. Is that really what decent folk in Scotland want? Labour need to realise they could be a force in an independent Scotland and stop supporting the union. Some SNP politicians need to stop demonizing other independence supporters, Salmond needs to call it quits. Lib Dems, what exactly is the point of anyone ever voting for them?

Edited May 8, 2021 by Hertsscot

[ParisInAKilt]

In hindsight it seems naive of Alba to expect enough Indy voters with so little time to campaign, inform (some) voters how the list works and Salmond’s trial. 

I think there is a need for another Indy party though so be interesting to see if they stick around for the next election. 

[Caledonian Craig]

3 minutes ago, ParisInAKilt said:

In hindsight it seems naive of Alba to expect enough Indy voters with so little time to campaign, inform (some) voters how the list works and Salmond’s trial. 

I think there is a need for another Indy party though so be interesting to see if they stick around for the next election. 

There are a few reasons Alba did not work out. And the only way it will work is if Salmond steps down.

I do agree there are merits in a secondary Indy party who stands on the list votes and spends time getting the message across over many months even years not like Alba with two months notice.