IT will come as no surprise to anyone when I say that I broadly concur with the views expressed by Cliff Purvis in his letter in the Sunday National (“Now is not the time for splits in the Yes camp”).
More importantly, it would appear so do the majority of the people who participated in the recent opinion poll conducted by JL Partners for Politico, details of which featured in Saturday’s edition of The National. Some 58% of respondents indicated they would vote SNP in the constituency contests and a heartening – to me anyway – 53% who would vote SNP in the list contests.
What some of us, myself included, sometimes forget is that voters, whether when contacted for a snapshot opinion poll or on the threshold of a polling station at an election, primarily base their responses and intentions on what they feel in their hearts, heads and guts.
Pragmatically, they opt for who they trust most and who they believe will most effectively represent their views and interests in government. Neither how best to navigate the complicated intricacies of the d’Hondt system nor how best to ensure the non-election of any particular third-rate Unionist politician on the list will, I suspect, be at the forefront of their minds at those points.
One further observation. Keith MacBean, in his letter which also appeared in The National on Saturday, included a comment which at first I thought was just a superfluous throwaway line but which on reflection raised a question mark. Keith said: “We need to have faith that the Greens will continue to commit to independence.”
If he knows or suspects something the rest of us are unaware of, or he has any doubts about, however minimal, then it is hardly a full endorsement of urging the Yes community to vote for them on the list. I seem to recall that the former Green MSP Robin Harper was pro-Union. Are there others of a similar view likely to appear on their candidates lists?
Brian McGarry
Inverkeithing, Fife
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