IF we can take anything from John Curtice’s article in today’s National, it is that we are still 95 days away from the Scottish Parliament elections. As the saying doesn’t quite go, three months is a long time in politics.
If the polls are right, the prof says, then SNP voters in five regions, including Glasgow and the Lothians, will find their list vote makes not a jot of difference to the final result. Although, if the SNP lose ground to Labour, or their vote slips on polling day for whatever reason then it could lead to the party losing their overall majority.
Ultimately, responsibility for your vote is down to you. If you are an SNP voter and you feel safe taking a “risk” to “lend” your second vote to the Greens or Rise or Solidarity, or indeed Labour, the Tories or the Liberal Democrats, then we hope the professor’s article helps inform that decision.
But your vote is your vote and you should use it wisely. There are three months in which to become better informed. And all of us can all always be better informed.
To those campaigning for our votes for the few months, let the campaign be proper a one. Let it be a clash of philosophy, ideas, of discussion and debate. And let it be done respectfully and patiently.
Although anything other than an SNP win at May’s election would be a real surprise, the campaign must be about the future of Scotland.
It would be a shame if it becomes a messy fight between six parties all aiming to be the opposition.
Let us have an election campaign free of the SNPBad nonsense that leads to other politicians criticising a cancer surgeon for giving up her Christmas holidays to perform a mastectomy. Or the nonsense that sees a party put out a press release criticising the SNP for hurting the state of dancing in Scotland (no, that really happened).
But also let it be free of the supporters of Nicola Sturgeon’s party’s shouting SNPBad every time anyone has genuine criticism of the Scottish Government. There is a real opportunity for a proper discussion about the state of the nation over the next few months. Let us not miss it.
Lending list vote to SNP’s rivals is not without risk, warns pollster
The Big Question: List votes must be used wisely to have impact in Holyrood election
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