Scottish Elections Result

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200% and we let you take liverpool with you

Nah, deals off.

 

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Alex Salmond has got a full house;

The scalps of all three oposition leaders as the Tory leader resigns.

Well aren't the London bosses a bunch of idiots then.

Annabel's been pushed, and there is no reason to blame her for the parties legacy.

What a shame, you'll be missed Annabel.

 

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No-one left in the Scottish Parliament to give Eck a worthwhile arguement. Let it begin in full earnest, the utter humiliation of the unionist parties.

All governments need an effective opposition, regardless if it is your creed in power or not.

Undoubtadly Annabel was the person for the job, not now.

Hopefully she will instead nominate herself for presiding officer.

 

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Leader of the Scottish Conservatives Annabel Goldie resigns


The leader of the Scottish Conservatives is to step down following the "seismic" Holyrood election results.


Annabel Goldie said she will stay on until a likely election to find a new leader later this year.

She said: "I believe that the time has come for the torch to pass and I can confirm that I will not be a candidate.

"There are four years until the next UK general election, and five years until the next Holyrood contest.

"I want my successor to have the maximum time for him or her to shape the party and its policies, and to lead the opposition at Holyrood.

"For the sake of clarity, I will remain as leader of the MSP group until my successor takes over, and I will of course remain as an MSP for the duration of the Parliament.

"It has been an enormous privilege to lead my party. Over the coming weeks, months and years, I will fight with every ounce of my energy to support my party, my successor and my country."

Miss Goldie is the third party leader to quit after the unprecedented SNP victory last week.

 

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I thought Annabel Goldie was a good leader, shame she's gone. I suspect you're right about being forced out.

I think she had a lot going for her too, London wasn't happy with the drop in vote though from what I've read today which is a shame because I really do think they are cutting their nose of to spite their face given the circumstances.

I'm not sure reactionary politics is always a good idea either; you give the opposition (the SNP in this case) the idea that they have wiped the floor with everyone.

They did in some respects, but Annabel's campaign was largely succesful in light of the massive earthquake that happened.. it could have been worse for them put it that way.

Now, where do I send my application?

Get involved, I'm sure the party is screaming for new blood and ideas right now..

 

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snip

I think saying 14 year olds could leave school again was a bit off.

I'm not rejecting it outright and some of her points and arguments were valid and then largely ignored or passed over, but she must have seen the pitfalls in conjunction with 'common' perception and legacy of the party and the sensativities around education and employment anyway.

There is no reason why if it can't be accomplished with the grant just now, it shouldn't. Even the freeze while having some long term correction being required at some point it was a very progressive and popular move. Swinney costed it for four years, and will have to for another five even in the face of cuts passed down the line.

10 years of pause on local government growth in rates is fine by me, and I think it was fine by a lot of other people as well. It's better than Labour not spending it, and sending it back to Westminster anyway.

Kids down mines (some must have looked at it so emotively) and rising taxes isn't going to bite it, not here not right now.

A smarter campaign could have resulted in being the opposition.

I think it was too heavily stacked against them, the obliteration of the Lib Dems and Labour's lead melting away had a momentum effect and ultimately picked up votes from across the board and importantly the swing voters.

I fail to see what the Scottish conservatives could have done about it without addressing the key concerns they have reported internally about its perception.

Although I hear whispers that some in Scottish Labour are going to press for a federalist setup to the party, lose London HQ. This is at the same time as London HQ are pondering over airlifting a Westminster veteran in to help the meagre ranks - the most stupid move I've heard yet.

The conservatives and labour could be doing without this mess considering what the realisation of an SNP majority means..

 

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Wow!

Can't believe it, Goldie was the only other party leader I had any respect for at Holyrood. There's nobody left that I can see as a credible opposition.

I have no idea why they have done that.

She was very adamant (much more confident than "the killing fields" Gray) that she would stay.

And for presentation opposition and check I wish she had. She was a nice woman too, kind of felt like you were listening to your own aunt when she talked

 

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Wouldn't really know where to start, but it is probably worth checking out. I could do with doing something with my time.

Are you a party member?

 

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Not sure if it's been mentioned in here (haven't really been keeping tabs on the thread after results came in) but I'm really not looking forward to the minimum alcohol pricing which will be inevitably turning up soon.

I'm 50/50 on it.

I rarely drink anyway these days and the social problems with crime, social stagnation and poverty are at times all interlinked.

You can't tackle our perverse relationship with drink without doing something a bit more radical, it isn't the whole answer either.

That's why labour sounded so hollow, hard on knife crime ("knife crime that costs £bns per day" errr!) but soft on alcohol related policy descisions, next to none.

The electorate are a bit more grown up, and while they all don't think its a good idea what costs us more? Police, Court Prison and the NHS costs in taxation spending or a high cost for a product that causes those problems?

That is the generalisation of course, and I respect the rights of those who drink responsibly but we cannot allow these levels of alcohol abuse in certain demographics to continue unabated.

Then you add on the 'tesco tax'; and get the money back off the retailer. So it's not like we're handing it away..

It was a hard one for the other parties to comment on because they need to look responsible but I think it's a big mistake introducing it and isn't going to tackle any of the social ills that alcohol causes in Scotland.
Regular OcUK booze trips to Carlisle anyone?

LOL

I don't think it will get hideously expensive by any stretch for moderate drinkers (although that would depend on how much you drink as a moderate drinker ), but being genuine how would you deal with the issue?

Indeed, never really taken it further than that though.

Pop your head into a branch meeting one day. If you don't get post from them about it, moan at them even if you cba going.

 

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She could have concentrated on Labours record in e.g Glasgow. Remember this is local politics not national. Labours record in Scotland. The real perils of SNP's vision - break up of the UK. What it would cost etc etc.

I don't think people get scared by the anti independence style, they know ultimately that it is going to be some social shift to get to that point anyway and IF (and it's big) the support stays the same there is no problem.

Only problem now, I don't think many expected Holyrood to ever return a majority. And it's people that got that by accident really, so I suspect people might be looking at the question more closely since it does seem to be a reality.

What shouldn't be done is 'negative' projections, it shouldn't be about attacking the SNP's presentation but about making their own, equally positive, case for the Union.

If they pick the former and or the latter it is unlikely to move public opinion away from it if recent events are to be drawn across.

Support for nationalism has fractionally increased as well I believe in the wake of the majority, but that's the feel good effect no doubt... five years is another game all together.

Instead we got three parties saying the same thing on a number of policies and Goldie claiming the credit for a number of implemented policies which given they were the third or fourth party and nobody has witnessed any great SNP-Tory love-in looked a bit silly.

Indeed. I think Goldie was right to stand by her achievements as in their partnership she did show she had Scotland's interests at heart; the total opposite of Labour.

This is why I am sad Annabel is taking a back seat, although hopefully her reformist enthusiasm in the party will not disappear.

As for getting a Westminster heavy to take over, well you said it yourself.

It just isn't going to work and is going to give off the worst impression possible in this climate, they need to work with what they have and fast.

 

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I don't buy that argument. Alcohol will always be easier to get hold of than drugs and whilst being caught with alcohol if you're underage is a crime you're unlikely to be arrested and it have any effect on your life. The punishments for being caught with illegal drugs are much higher.
Drugs are pretty cheap as it is now, arguably they are even cheaper than booze but you don't see the abuse that we do with alcohol.

Minimum pricing won't stop the abuse that we see and I can't see that it'll help reduce associated costs. I think it'll ultimately result in the producers making more money and that's about it.

I don't think that it is even possible to tackle the alcohol abuse problem that we have in this country in any easy way. Education is one thing, but when you have kids of 10 drinking in the street who have alcoholic parents you'll never be able to tackle the problem. A minimum unit price isn't going to help it's just going to punish those with low incomes who'll ultimately spend more on booze and as a result won't have the funds to afford other essentials.

I do not know how I would tackle it myself. Education is often trotted out as the answer but I believe that it just doesn't work. You can speak to someone until your blue in the face about the effects of alcohol abuse and everything like it but if someone wants to go down to the park and get hammered then they will. If a child sees their father have 3 cans of Super for breakfast, no matter what the teachers say, it's going to have an effect on that persons development and how they view alcohol.

It's not so much under age drinking itself, that is enforcement issues, but the wider social effects of alcohol and the stresses it places unfairly on public services or the minority of adults who abuse it ridiculous levels in some cases.

It won't stop the abuse, but in conjunction with other socio-economic measures, care and education etc you can help reduce the abuse by limiting the access to certain demographics.

If I go for a pint, it'll cost a bit more. If I live on the stuff on a set amount of money, I'd have to have less of it.

Less alcohol is less violence, very simplistic argument no doubt but the logic isn't all wrong. It stops you having to deal with the person you describe, you set the conditions around them.

Orwellian or what?

 

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13344043

Labour call in London so-called "hot shots" to clear up the mess of the "Scottish" party in the wake of the routing and failed campaign.

This would appear to be mistake number one.