The man who described Israel’s invasion, conquest and annexation of Arab-populated East Jerusalem in 1967 as “The Liberation” claims to think that something someone else has said may not entirely make sense –
“‘Starmer doesn’t need Scottish seats to win the next election’ but SNP MPs will somehow have influence over him after the election, according to this SNP MSP.
Make it make sense.”
I’m not sure if that’s a Dugdale tribute tweet or if Dugdale’s tweet was itself a copy of others (possibly the latter given that she’s not always the most original of thinkers), but in fact Daisley is paraphrasing the SNP MSP somewhat misleadingly. Kaukab Stewart was not suggesting that the SNP would hold the balance of power after the general election, which might (depending on exact definitions of “win”) contradict any suggestion that Starmer doesn’t need Scottish seats to win. What she actually said was: “Voting SNP helps ensure there’s a loud Scottish voice in the ear of the next Labour government.”
That’s only inconsistent with the idea that Labour will win a big majority based on English votes and seats if you really believe that if Scotland again votes a different way from the rest of the UK, the London government will just be able to use its English majority to ignore that. Given his ultra-unionist outlook it’s possible that Daisley does believe that, but others are entitled to take a different view and to think a contested mandate does matter. A Labour government with a majority of seats in Scotland would be able to say that it speaks for Scotland and that its actions are one-and-the-same as the will of the Scottish people. But if another party has a Scottish majority, they will be in a position of moral authority to make representations to the government based on that distinct mandate.
That said, the SNP’s messaging about a strong Scottish voice is utterly hopeless from the point of view of electoral strategy. You need to give people something concrete to vote for, and for that to be straightforward in a cause-and-effect manner. Labour can say “vote Labour on Thursday, get a new government on Friday”, so to compete with that the SNP have got to show how an SNP vote can lead directly to independence.
Before we finish, a reminder that the Scot Goes Pop opinion poll fundraiser urgently needs a boost – let’s not leave it in limbo for months. It’s important that not all Scottish opinion polling is commissioned by anti-independence clients – we need to make sure that occasionally questions are asked that Yes supporters want asked. Donations can be made via the fundraiser page HERE.
However if you have a Paypal account the best way to donate is via direct Paypal payment, because that can totally eliminate fees depending on which option you select, and payment usually comes through instantly. My Paypal email address is:
jkellysta@yahoo.co.uk
