I AM struck by the apparent claim that there is not a mandate to call a second independence referendum, given that by itself the SNP does not command an overall majority. To initially highlight the scale of the SNP victory, the party achieved 47.7% of the constituency vote in these elections, the highest achieved by any party since Labour’s victory in the 1966 UK General Election, when it achieved 48% of the vote, including 49.8% in Scotland. The SNP now holds an amazing 85% of the constituencies in Scotland, smashing the 63% of seats won by Tony Blair in Labour’s 1997 landslide victory. Let us not forget, prime minister David Cameron enacted a referendum on Brexit with a paltry 36.1% of the vote and this was enacted by Boris Johnson with a mere 43.6% of the vote.
A nuclear weapons stockpile will not protect us from modern global threats
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Let s follow the lead of England and Wales and ban live exports
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THE RICH PAY MORE TAX, WE ALL BENEFIT JUST how long are we going to accept increased poverty (including in-work poverty), foodbanks, homelessness, zero working hours, poor health, anti-trade union laws, nuclear weapons, reactionary economic and social policies, the lowest benefit support in Western Europe, and all the horrendous ways that inequality impact negatively on our people? How long are people going to continue to blame those groups of people who they deem to be less worthy than themselves – e.g., immigrants, asylum seekers, the unemployed, the sick, when we should be supporting them and be looking at those who actually caused the mess we are in?
LETTERS
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon missed an opportunity to criticise the UK Government and say what Scotland could have done as an independent nation HAVING watched FMQs on Thursday, it’s clear – as it has been for a while now – that as much as Nicola is a good leader of the SNP, she is not the one to lead any independence charge. It’s not that she couldn’t, but that she doesn’t push for it, even when given the clearest of clear chances.
Patrick Harvie asked her about the PM’s visit being unnecessary, he asked her about sticking too closely to the UK rules, he asked about where sticking to a four-nations approach held Scotland back etc. These are clear, wide open goals for anyone of the independence movement to highlight where Scotland could have done things differently – but could not due to being in the UK.