Vocal Voices

Yousaf has resigned so the Scots need a new leader. It will be novel for many of them given there hasn't been one for many years.

The names I have seen mentioned all seem to carry a lot of baggage and a few are too near to Sturgeon to make them popular with voters. Two of the better ones, Stephen Flynn and Ash Reagan, are either not MSPs or not in the SNP.

The Scots need a quick GE even more than the rest of the UK.

I think the SNP have had it The scandal over Sturgeon’s husband, the Salmond business, this new leader lasting five minutes - they seem to be disappearing up their own you-know-what’s

Well the front runner is Swinney and he was a spectacular failure the last time he was SNP leader when he lost loads of seats in elections, but he is popular with SNP MSPs. Not so much so with the public, and it is they who get the final say come the GE.

Kate Forbes maybe?
One thing strikes me about the SNP though; they do seem to fight like rats in a sack.
Whoever gets the job will have enemies in their own party from day one.
They went away from independence into the nutty realms of the trans and hate speech, doubtless egged on by their coalition partners the greens, and they are paying for it now.

They say that on balance, your average Scotsman still favours independance. So don't expect the SNP vote to collapse at either the Scottish or General elections. Swinney will be seen as a safe pair of hands to steady the ship.

If Humza got one thing right, at least he ended that Bute House Agreement with the rabid Greens. An absolutely classic case of the tail wagging the dog - which is of course the argument against Proportional Representation, but that's another story - and if Swinney's got any sense, he won't renew it, govern Holyrood as a minority, and set out to ditch as many of their woke policies as he possibly can before the next election.

I think the person who comes out the best from all this fiasco is J K Rowling .....

TheOstrich wrote:I think the person who comes out the best from all this fiasco is J K Rowling .....

Absolutely.

Yousaf thought he would get enough votes from the minor parties to weather the no confidence vote. What happened was that he was very shortly told he was radioactive and they'd rather step on a land mine than support him. Because it would have the same effect to their political careers.

I don't think the SNP is tarnished beyond repair but they need to take away some very strong lessons from this. Scotland is a deeply conservative "in attitude, not voting", country. People don't like change and they really dont' like batshit crazy stuff being foisted on them by the Greens.

The last 4 elections have created a precedent. SNP Westminster representation tends to be pretty strong but inside Scotland, with PR in play, their vote is much more tenuous. It looks like much of the Lib Dem vote that went SNP will return and that will give a better mix in Holyrood.

I also expect to see a better showing for Lib Dems in the Westminster elections. There are Tories who can't find it in themselves to vote Tory, can't vote SNP on princicple right now and will never vote Labour.

Popcorn needed.

The SNP survived the no confidence vote, but had the Greens abstained instead of votiing against it would have been close.

So, it is on to the GE with an SNP leader nobody is really interested in. The front runners are not exactly popular with the voters, and all the rest are anonymous. What a position for a party to be in!

I'm guessing the Greens voted against because he stood down. Otherwise I'm guessing they would have voted with the motion.

To call it a shit show would be being polite.

I see that the Coronation of Swinney as SNP leader is confirmed. However, that does not automatically make him First Minister as the SNP does not have a majority. Leaders of other parties can put themselves forward and a series of ballots will take place - Devil take the hindmost - till one gets a simple majority.

If the process is not completed in 28 days then Scotland gets an extraordinary general election.

What fun times.

Popcorn needed.