ANYONE talking about Scotland being a one-party state should be ignored. It is nonsense of the highest order. The democratic engagement of the people of Scotland is something to be proud of. This is not Saddam Hussein-era Iraq where he expects no fewer than 97 per cent of the vote.
This is Scotland. Where people can vote for who they want, and do so without intimidation or threat.
That the SNP have as many seats in Westminster and Holyrood as they do is for two reasons: firstly, they proved they can govern Scotland in a way that satisfies voters. Secondly, they have the massive fortune of not being Scottish Labour.
One thing we heard again and again when talking to voters during May’s General Election campaign was that they wanted change. Change was the reason many left Labour to vote SNP.
In May, Scotland got change when many constituencies up and down the country who had always voted Labour turned their backs on a party that they felt had turned its back on them.
Interestingly, we are now starting to see change come from Scottish Labour.
Its move to becoming a more autonomous party isn’t so much about the May 2016 election as the vote in May 2021.
It is a welcome move – a start for that party to become the effective opposition they need to be, that their supporters want them to be. Indeed, the effective opposition the supporters of the SNP would like them to be.
The Scottish Greens leadership contest should also be welcomed. The party has proven itself to be a party of principle rather than a party of politiking. Where the Greens have led on many issues, not least of all climate change, other parties have followed. We should expect to hear much, much more from them in the next Parliament.
Scotland is changing. The way it is governed is changing. There is the real possibility of independence within the next 15 years. The move to that point is going to see the country demand more and be given more.
Scotland deserves political parties fit for the time in which we find ourselves.
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