POLITICIANS are often accused of being out of touch.
But you would have imagined that the dominance of pro-independence parties in Scotland for a decade, huge Yes marches in the last year and an obvious sense of disconnect between voters and Westminster would have caught the attention of Unionist parties.
Yet their constant criticism of pro-independence sentiments would suggest otherwise.
Fortunately, a new piece of research has provided them with a stark reminder of the uphill battle they face to remain relevant in Scotland.
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Produced by Election Maps UK, the study shows how a Westminster General Election would play out if only younger UK voters, aged between 18 and 24 (and 18-34 for Wales), were able to vote.
How a General Election would look if 18-24's only were allowed to vote:
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) April 5, 2019
Seats || Votes
LAB: 541 || 55.0%
SNP: 56 || 4.5%
LDM: 25 || 14.0%
SF: 10 || 0.9%
PLC: 4 || 0.7%
DUP: 4 || 0.4%
CON: 3 || 14.5%
IND: 2
GRN: 1 || 2.0%
UUP: 1 || 0.4%
ALL: 1 || 0.4%
SDLP: 1 || 0.3% pic.twitter.com/yIkpL8OUhC
It reveals that Unionist parties in Scotland would effectively be wiped off the map – with only three seats not going to the SNP.
Two would be won by the LibDems and one would go to Labour. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party would not have a single representative at Westminster.
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The results may sound fanciful, but the number of SNP seats, 56, matches the total they won in 2015.
Evidently, Unionist parties failed to heed that warning. Will they take not of the latest one?
Only time will tell.
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