NP Election results bolster independence push
Early SNP wins buoy push for independence
Scotland's main pro-independence party captured a swath of seats on Friday in a crucial Scottish parliament election that could determine the future of the United Kingdom, although its leader cautioned the result remained “on a knife edge.”
The ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) will seek to hold another referendum on independence by the end of 2023 if there is a pro-independence majority returned to the devolved 129-seat parliament — setting up a potential legal showdown with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says he will refuse any such vote.
The SNP won 14 of the first 16 seats to be declared, including one of the election's key battlegrounds from Labour. However, in some areas there was an increase in support for opposition pro-union parties, indicating the final outcome could be very close.
“A majority has always been a very, very long shot,” said Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister and SNP leader. “It would be good to do. But I have never taken that for granted and it has always been on a knife edge. I am extremely happy and extremely confident that we are on track in the SNP for a fourth consecutive election victory.” She regained her own seat with a comfortable majority.
Britain's departure from the European Union, a move opposed by an overwhelming majority in Scotland, a perception that the Scottish government has handled the COVID-19 crisis well, and antipathy to Johnson's Conservative government have all bolstered support for the independence movement.
The SNP need at least four more seats to win an overall majority of 65, but could rely on the backing of the pro-independence Green Party, which took five seats in 2016, to pursue a second referendum.
If there were another referendum and the Scots voted to leave, it would mark the biggest shock to the U.K. since Irish independence a century ago.
Turnout across Scotland was higher than five years ago. Results from about twothirds of the 73 constituency seats were due Friday. The remainder and regional seats — allocated on a complicated proportional representation system based on a second vote — are to be announced Saturday.
All the parties say how those regional seats fall could be crucial in whether there is a pro-independence majority.
In England, which is electing 143 councils, 13 mayors and 35 police and crime commissioners, early results showed the Labour party — under new leader Sir Keir Starmer — lost control of four councils, while the Conservatives gained six and lost one.
Results from those elections will continue to come in through the weekend.