Can’t work it out.

Moved north of the border since the last election.

Passionate about removing nukes from our toy box.
Am now pro independence (might not have been in 2014 – brexit and the voting tastes of the English has seen me switch)
Pro social reform
Others have done worse than Sturgeon during the pandemic

You’d think it was a done deal.

Big picture – it’s a good fit, but I’m struggling to think of myself as an SNP voter. Maybe it’s because I have never actually voted for the winning side in any election ever and it looks weird. Maybe it’s because of the whole Salmond debacle.

Just vote Green

Green +1

Yeah just vote SNP Lite (Green)… lol

SNP are just barking mad, If there was a single Unionist party they would have got nowhere near being in power but as it is there isn’t so hence the unionist vote is splintered.

I think a lot of the electorate on both sides feel disenfranchised politically.. we just can’t get 100% behind who we want to vote for.

Am now pro independence

Just vote Green

Does not compute

Two cheeks of the same arse tbh.

If you are pro independence then vote whichever pro Independence Party you prefer.

The interesting thing about all the other parties not SNP is none of them are ready to form a government. They are campaigning to be the opposition party at best.

Can you imagine Dross as the first minister. He would be totally out of his depth and have to be told what to do by Gove at al.

Can you imagine the NHS payrise discussion with Dross as 1st minister. ‘hi Boris can I give the Scottish nurses a 4% payrise?’

You can’t do that we are only giving them 1%. You cant embarrass the party.

” … but I’m struggling to think of myself as an SNP voter.”

Perhaps you are wondering about nationalism and patriotism on the rise over there?

Are you putting too much thought into it, i.e. are you in an area where the SNP have a huge majority, last time i lived up north it didn’t matter who i voted for, whoever wore the SNP colours would win no matter who they were.

As always though, i tend to just vote for the person i like best, back when i lived in Scotland that was the SNP candidate, and also the Lib Dem when i moved, that one was a wasted vote as they were the 3rd horse in a two horse race, but the guy was a local and a good all round supporter of the community, the winner was parachuted in and a party fanatic with no real care for the local area, as we see more and more off these days, at least with the SNP most are actually locals with ties to the area!

I have never been a nationalist and voted No in 2014 but I Vote SNP for the Scottish elections which probably doesn’t make much sense but it’s what I do

Must also add I’m not rabidly against independence either.

Are you putting too much thought into it,

Probably. Locally it would take a massive swing for the 2nd party in the last poll (the torys) to win and I’d be cutting off my left bollock (or my right to be honest, but I have special fondness for my left) before I vote for them so on that score it’s largely irrelevant.

With the list vote I’m minded to vote green just because I think enough annoying voices knocking around Holyrood reminding everyone of the impending doom is probably a good thing and there is a chance my vote might make a different there. Their policies too pretty much fit; they are just not fit to govern really and I don’t warm to their leaders particularly.

SNP then Green or Green then SNP?
I can’t see anything else worth voting for. Labour are just not worth it although policies moving in a direction I can live with. Tories as a UK party and locally I’d rather castrate myself with two bricks for all sorts of reasons.

SNp constituency, Green list in most seats. Some seats list snp gives a better chance of a pro independence msp than green. Borders IIRC and Highland – and highland has the complication of Andy Wrightman – independent green and worth a vote

Know what you mean. But I see it as long term. I want independence. I support many of the SNPs policies, I think Sturgeon is a good leader and has proved herself well in the last year. So right now I’m voting for the best chance we have for independence with a moderate party and a decent leader. Afterwards I’ll vote Green. Maybe.

My worry (Brexit aside) is that the Westminster politics have now hit a new low and is the sleaze backhanders etc now going to be part of UK politics. If that is the case I absolutely want out and to be honest I don’t see the (Westminster) problem ending anytime soon so it is a no brainer for me. As already said if SNP are no good after independence then other parties will be there.

Try speaking to your local MP’s, see what they are actually doing on your area.

One of the nice things about holyrood is that the minority parties can have a real impact on the legislative agenda without having to fall into the old model of coalition/opposition. I think the Greens have done a pretty good job on this, and not just on environmental issues – for example they were key in sorting out the exam result mess last year.

I agree with the OP though – I’ve voted SNP a few times but my heart’s never been in it. I think some of the conversations with people who are religiously pro-indy has put me off them a bit.

Mrs Inbred born and bred in Fife. We’ve always thought we would return at some point to Tayside but that’s looking less likely due to the rhetoric coming from the SNP. For me they base their whole political ideology at the moment on being a slightly better alternative for Scotland than Boris. Every single interview Nicola Sturgeon gives is a diatribe on how bad Boris is. We know, we get that but imagine Boris has never existed, now what are you going to do about drug and alcohol related deaths, hospital waiting lists, the definite drop in educational standards? There is no answer other than we’ll think of something! Remove the independence argument and at least for me there’s nothing there. Maybe that’s enough for people, I think the silent majority may think differently. I hope so I would hate the Union to break up, Brexit was bad enough, it will only be worse for both countries if they split apart.

As an Englishman living down here, who doesn’t want Scotland to go independent… I find the idea that the SNP only talk about Johnson, and Independence, absolutely laughable. Every time there is one of those “which policies do you support” type questionnaires, they always match me up with the SNP. They have a sound and broad policy base that I’d welcome for the whole of the UK… apart from the breaking up bit that is. And you can’t pretend Johnson doesn’t exist, and isn’t damaging the interests of much of the people up there, without trying to pretend that all the voters down here that support him don’t exist. When he is gone, English voters will just welcome in another Conservative PM to carry on dismantling British institutions and funnelling tax money to their mates.

Problem with the SNP is they haven’t really done anything of worth lately. All you have heard is infighting, the nonsense with Salmond and how they are not running the country properly.

They haven’t done enough on education. Class sizes are still huge, loads of teachers unemployed and Swinney is a ****. They need to get rid of the SQA and bring back qualifications similar to that of standard grades. The only alternative I can see are the greens. Labour and the tories can **** right off.

I find the idea that the SNP only talk about Johnson, and Independence, absolutely laughable

Its a weird thing to latch onto as well because they’re all at it. All the shite through the door is either “vote for us to protect yourself against SNP” or “vote for us to protect yourself from the ongoing cluster duck that is the tory party.”

Scottish Family Party for me. Down with with secular society up with prolife and Christian values.”

Am now pro independence (might not have been in 2014 – brexit and the voting tastes of the English has seen me switch)

Sorry this really get my goat when people talk like this like the English are unified.

On poin#1 even in England the Brexit vote was only about 53.4% so hardly a land slide.

On point #2.It’s the voting system and partially the political landscape. The right are largely United behind one party and the center and left are split. More people votes for not Tory than did.

It’s actually very marginal, not that dissimilar to Scotland but different subject but the political system distorts the results.

It’s actually very marginal, not that dissimilar to Scotland but different subject but the political system distorts the results.

Scotland votes very differently to england. 25% tory vote is seen as a success. UKIP got no traction here at all.

Mrs Inbred born and bred in Fife.
You say that like it should be a surprise 😉

I see the SNP as the party to get us away from how horrific the UK is going to be once the Tories are free of pesky things like employment law, and my humblest apologies to large swathes of the English electorate for that. Once that is done the political framework in Scotland will be totally different and I would be suprised if I voted for them again based on current performance.

Sorry this really get my goat when people talk like this like the English are unified.

While the English are clearly not unified, the majority vote for Tory parties, and the majority voted for Brexit. If I lived in Scotland I would be voting SNP as a chance to get away from the English majority and rule by a Tory party.

If I lived in Scotland I would be voting SNP as a chance to get away from the English majority and rule by a Tory party.

While I totally understand why people feel this way, it does rather **** over the anti Tory, anti Brexit English people.

Sometimes feels like we are being abandoned to our fate. Like I said, I understand why the Scots might, but the “we’re alright jock” tone that sometimes comes with it disappoints me.

If Brexit has taught us anything, it’s that political promises can be hard to keep, and consequences may not be what people thought they were voting for.

sparksmcguff
Full Member
Know what you mean. But I see it as long term. I want independence. I support many of the SNPs policies, I think Sturgeon is a good leader and has proved herself well in the last year. So right now I’m voting for the best chance we have for independence with a moderate party and a decent leader. Afterwards I’ll vote Green. Maybe

This is me. I voted No in the indy ref’ but have completely changed my mind and see Scotland on a completely different path to England and the rest of the UK since then. SNP to get independence then see where we can go from there.

SNP have been in power since what? about 2007. Like any other dominate party, they’re complacent. They only get scrutinised (in the English press at least) about independence. I don’t think their record on education, NHS spending, and social care spending and provision make for especially good reading. I think Sturgeon a committed and personable politician, she’s smart and I think, is generally well thought of down south. But by most measures, Scotland’s not doing well, the SNP are great at electioneering, they’re certainly less good at the day-to-day business of govt.

I tend to agree with duckman

Last ref I was reluctant to vote YES because of the fear of abandoning my friends down south. However independence for scotland is my only hope of a progressive government. I have never actually voted SNP ( shit on wildlife / land and too centralising) but this time given my constituency MSP is a good bloke and given I have firmed up my views on independence I might. Green second vote here in lothians

How much of the SNP narrative of independence is their own? R4 last week interviewed NS and off the bat were asking about independence when the story was not that. She didn’t have to raise it, in fact spent a good while trying to get back on topic.
Meanwhile DR hangs bojo out to dry and tells us that brexit delivered the vaccine roll out but independence for Scotland would have been terrible even though he raised the subject.

the majority vote for Tory parties

Well that’s not true, they got 47% of a 67% turn out, and didn’t even get the most votes across the North and even in London where Labour got 30% more votes.

If I lived in Scotland I would be voting SNP as a chance to get away from the English majority and rule by a Tory party.

The same nasty small minded bigotry that resulted in Brexit. If you’re voting for something as monumental as independence you need to be voting for it, not against something else.

Referendum should need to 60/40 in my opinion (like Brexit should have been) clear mandate for a seismic and irreversible change. Then there will be no arguments over the true will of the people (even if only a small number of people are allowed to vote, there are many other people in the union who will be affected and get zero say in this, all the businesses who trade north and south, people with relatives in the Scotland, people who live a long the border and regularly cross it etc.).

the only people who should get a say are the people who have made Scotland their home. Its no one elses business. No expats, no diaspora and yes to those of different nationalities who have made Scotland their home.

Referendum should need to 60/40 in my opinion (like Brexit should have been) clear mandate for a seismic and irreversible change

bet you wouldn’t be saying that if your choice had won.

The reason you don’t get a say is because it isn’t your country.

The same nasty small minded bigotry that resulted in Brexit.

Framing Scottish independence in this way doesn’t really improve relationships though. For me independence is a far bigger thing than just a knee jerk response to Brexit and the inherent small c conservatism of U.K. politics.

The regions have always been the poor cousins of British politics. The consistent gaslighting of the Scottish electorate by parts of the media and Westminster politics further erodes confidence in the potential for good faith in the future of a genuinely united kingdom

I may be able to tell you partly why OP without the divisive independence bit.

Because the ex 1st minister was known to be ‘handsy’ with female employees such that the civil service wouldn’t allow women to be alone with him on an evening after he’d had a few but his number 2 (now 1st minister) apparently knew nothing about it, despite the fact that that is the job of a number 2. Subsequently a serious criminal trial collapsed either because it shouldn’t have happened or because of disclosure and court contempt issues in government.
It’s a complete failure of employer duty of care and governance. It’s not money for mates but keeping quiet about serious, possibly criminal abuse of personal power (note that one offence is not proven rather than not guilty and the whole thing is very tied up in complex issues of legal disclosure that I don’t fully understand). Their domestic policies may be better than the Tories but their governance from what I can see is almost as bad.

O and look at governance of project management in Scotland. Although the Tories have taken this to another level with UK test and trace ask why Edinburgh spent more than twice the money on half a tram system. For good governance don’t vote SNP and definitely don’t vote Tory. I have no idea whether anyone else can do better but I hope so for all our sakes.

ask why Edinburgh spent more than twice the money on half a tram system.

The council are largely to blame for this. Blame where it is due

Interesting read on Scotland’s education attainment. Painted as a failure- full fact say:

‘Scotland’s maths and science ranking has fallen to a record low in international league tables but attainment in national qualifications has risen.’

https://fullfact.org/scotland/johnson-education-claims/

The same nasty small minded bigotry that resulted in Brexit.

Yeah, sure it is., Apart form it is nothing like Brexit and my reasons for Scottish Independence are nothing like those of Brexit. This is not about leaving something that is for the wider good, the tory party have never been, and never will be for the wider good.

Well that’s not true, they got 47% of a 67% turn out, and didn’t even get the most votes across the North and even in London where Labour got 30% more votes.

You don’t seem to get how voting works. More people voted for Tory MPs than any other MPs (In each seat) and by quite some margin. Yes, it is a shit voting system but that’s not changing any time soon is it.