... but don’t expect Indyref2 soon
the 2021 campaign by insisting that she would not have accepted or recognised the list votes of Alex Salmond’s party, Alba. If that was “gaming the system” then surely relying on list votes from the Green Party is similarly cheating?
Salmond’s attempt to get SNP voters to split their ticket on the list may actually have worked. Unfortunately for him, they didn’t back Alba.
The Scottish Green Party benefited most from SNP tactical voting on the list. It may have seemed like a no-brainer for Alex Salmond to create a new version of the SNP to harvest “lost” list votes.
In North East Scotland, 137,000 SNP votes in 2016 failed to deliver a single SNP list seat. Salmond needed only 6% or 7% – around 18,000 votes.
But his personality was his worst enemy. Nicola Sturgeon will not have her former mentor holding her to account at question time.
GOOD CAMPAIGN
Nor will she face Anas Sarwar leading for the opposition. Labour’s new leader had a good campaign but failed to displace the Tories, who returned the same number of seats as in 2016.
As with Keir Starmer in England, voters were unclear about exactly where Labour stood in this election. The Tory leader Douglas Ross, deployed the clear message “Stop The Referendum” in much the same way as Boris Johnson used “Get Brexit
Done” in 2019. It worked. The Scottish Green Party were the only ones to make a significant advance over 2016, as the Scottish Liberal Democrats fell further back. Patrick Harvie may now press the case for a formal coalition with the SNP.
A coalition would perhaps make the Indyref2 mandate appear more solid. On the other hand, it would mean Nicola Sturgeon accepting measures like higher taxes or closing down the North Sea Oil industry with which she would be distinctly uncomfortable.
Her immediate problem lies with her own party, not the Greens. SNP supporters will want action, not more words.
They have been champing at the bit for at least the last five years. Just how many mandates does Nicola need? Yet it looks as if they will have to dig deep for reserves of further patience.
Had it not been for Salmond siphoning off many of the most ardent independence supporters, Sturgeon might have been in trouble from a grass-roots revolt. But they are now in the wilderness.
She remains the queen of caution and will not be bounced into a referendum until she’s absolutely clear that there is a solid majority for Yes.
What an irony it would be if it is Alex Salmond who has given the Union a
stay of execution.
What an irony it would be if it is Alex Salmond who has given the Union a stay of execution