The Green Ribbon

SNP gain at expense of Lib Dems

Today’s Sunday Times carries a Scottish YouGov poll which forms the basis for the following two stories:

Most Scots believe that independence is ahead
Only 7% of voters want Alexander as First Minister

Perhaps the most interesting aspect however, is the the trend in voting intentions highlighted by politicalbetting.com.

LAB 40% (nc): SNP 31% (+13%): CON 14% (-2): LD 11% (-12%)

If this is anything approaching the truth, it is a good showing for Labour, with the SNP’s improvement coming almost entirely at the expense of the Lib Dems. The corollary is that the situation in Scotland might not necessarily be an obstacle to Gordon Brown calling an early election.

Brown won’t want a strong SNP showing, even at the expense of other parties, but if it doesn’t threaten Labour’s majority it might not be a deal-breaker.

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TomGriffin

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2 responses to “SNP gain at expense of Lib Dems”

  1. Tartan Hero avatar
    Tartan Hero

    If this poll was the intentions of how people would vote tomorrow in a general election, the Lib Dems would be wiped out of Scotland by the SNP. Bye bye Ming, Charles and the other nonentities. And why? Because Ming thinks that avoiding a coalition deal with the SNP at Holyrood was a price worth paying for a coalition with Brown in London. All too often, Brit politicos ignore Scottish opinion to their own cost.

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  2. Tom Griffin avatar
    Tom Griffin

    I have actually clicked through to electoral calculus from your post on the poll, and the result does make very interesting reading.
    I think the unionist parties are behaving as if they were operating under Westminster conditions, and between them they could tacitly exclude independence from respectable political discourse.
    Instead all, they’ve achieved is to overtly polarise politics around the SNP and Labour. The Lib Dems and Tories ought to be worrying about the emergence of a two-party system.

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