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Election 2015: SNP wins
56 of 59 seats in Scots landslide
The SNP has won 56 seats, the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour have just one
each. That sees Scotland's political map changed from a distinctive
red/orange to a widespread yellow.
We are still to see what the SNP can achieve at Westminster under a
Conservative majority government.
Analysis by Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland political editor
In the aftermath of the referendum, folk in Scotland have been in a
mindset which was focused upon the need for a clear Scottish voice.
That demand is inchoate and imprecise - in that it is not pegged
directly or solely to a demand for particular devolved powers or a
particular economic strategy.
It is, nevertheless, powerful and all-consuming. Perhaps all the more
potent in that it is wide-ranging, rather than narrowly driven.
It is an aggregate feeling of remoteness from the concerns of a
metropolitan elite, a feeling of physical and cultural distance from the
Westminster centre of UK political life. A shout of anger, a yell of
anguish, a demand to be heard.
And that feeling found expression through the SNP. Nicola Sturgeon is
right. It tells us nothing about independence - other than the fact that
the people of Scotland were not seemingly scared to endorse a party
whose reason for being is to end the Union.
Points to note...
The SNP got 50% share of the vote which actually means a majority of
Scots either didn't vote or voted against the SNP. In many ways the vote
in next years Scottish elections will be interesting as in Scotland we
have proportional representation rather than the first passed the post
system in UK elections.
World media fear UK EU exit, looser US ties. European papers are
concerned about the effect on the EU in the light of Prime Minister
David Cameron's promise to hold a referendum on leaving. And there is
speculation that the Scottish nationalists' spectacular gains may herald
the break-up of the United Kingdom. A US daily fears the result may be
the harbinger of the end of the US-UK "special relationship"
The Trident issue is one to watch and while Scotland is keen to get rid
of Trident people should consider what this means in regard to world
politics. You might read the article at
http://www.scottishreview.net/NigelBiggar5a.html |
