Brexit ‘cut across indyref divisions’ and cost Nationalists votes, report finds
0 The SNP’S Angus Robertson lost his seat at June’s election The SNP’S firm pro-eu stance ahead of the snap general election in June was a significant factor in the party failing to repeat its success at the previous poll in 2015, a report has found.
The EU referendum cut across divisions over Scottish independence and led to a number of those who had previously backed the Nation- alists switching their votes to the Conservatives or Labour, according to a post-election analysis by the University of Manchester.
The report found that in the space of three general elections the Scottish party system had been “completely transformed”, with successive referendums on Scottish independence and the UK’S membership of the EU the catalyst.
While nine out of ten SNP voters in 2015 who backed continued membership of the EU stayed loyal at June’s poll, as many as four out of ten who supported Brexit looked to other parties.
Although the SNP remained the largest party in Scotland, it lost more than a quarter of its vote share and 21 of the 56 seats it won in 2015.
Dr Chris Prosser and Professor Ed Fieldhouse examined how the two referendums interacted to produce the outcome of the 2017 election in Scotland. “Unlike the Yes/ Remain SNP voter, Yes/leave voters were much more likely to defect from the SNP in 2017, with four in ten switching to another party, with similar proportions going to the Conservatives and Labour,” the report said.
“It appears that just as Labour’s position on the independence referendum lost them votes to the SNP, many 2015 SNP voters were driven away by the party’s strong pro-remain stance.” A SNP spokesperson said: “The people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, yet a Tory government we didn’t vote for is dragging us out against our will.
“In this year’s election, the SNP won more seats in Scotland than all the other parties put together. By contrast, the Tories stood on a clear platform of a hard Brexit - and voters responded by taking away their majority.”