Scottish Election 6 weeks away.

Sorry Granny23 I won't be voting but am an interested outsider!

Just wanted to say that if I were a resident of Scotland I would vote SNP. I think NS has had such a rough ride considering she's not responsible for the whole debacle - the blame lies with the 'no angel'.

Anyway, I wish you all well in the forthcoming election.

Thank you Riverwalk

I admire the SNP's handling of this covid pandemic and think they have done a great job but I do not think independance is a good idea. It is all very very to think how lovely it would be not to have the English government in charge of Scotland but looking at the figures I do not think we would be as well off and well provided for if there was a split. I speak as a grandmother whose son wife and family are coming back to Scotland to live and I fear for their future. We , the parents , will be fine with good pensions from work plus our OAPension but I can see tax rates rising for those who have good jobs.

I won’t be voting SNP or Green. They’ve thrown women under the bus, in particular the two complainants in the Salmond affair. The things I’ve been hearing this week about goings on in the SNP have absolutely turned my stomach.

To be honest, the way that government has behaved lately has given me pause about how to vote. Salmond's latest shenanigans today have convinced me though. What we need is a bit of stability, not vindictive point scoring like a bairn who didn't get their own way. And as for the Tories, no other party supported them in the vote of no confidence which was clearly motivated by the attempt to smear Nicola, because they have nothing else.

SNP 1 and 2.

Yesterday's News:
In Scotland a grade 1 nurse payscale is £22,000 per annum for a qualified nurse.The 4% (for service and dedication) offered by the Scottish Government will increase that in Scotland by £880. However, the minimum increase will be uplifted to at least £1000 so that the newly qualified nurses won't lose out. Also the payrise is backdated to December 2020 plus a 5.4% increase for those on the lowest payband. Therefore, even though it's taxable pay, each nurse will end up with a decent thank you.
I wish it was much, much more but I suppose it's a good start. We owe these people our lives.
Nicola says, "Our NHS staff deserve more than applause and 1% is not enough...."

Anyone care to argue with that?

Granny23 I’m not arguing, but here’s my prediction on reactions:
SNP - Nicola is wonderful, this will convince the doubters to vote for her.
Tories - cynical ploy to win votes which Scotland can’t afford.
Labour - we would have looked very carefully to see if we could afford this, and would have been more likely to give a bonus to NHS staff for this year and see how the economy pans out next year.
Greens - we could spend that money developing environmentally friendly alternatives for PPE, but okay if the SNP want this we’ll go along with it
LibDems - we’ve got bigger fish to fry so we aren’t that interested.

Ruth Davidson has done nothing for Scottish Tories with her blatant backstabbing at Nicola Sturgeon. As a long serving Conservative voter, I feel RD has had her shot and blown it. Labour will be nowhere in the voting. How well would any other political party have done leading the country, remarkably committed as Nicola Sturgeon has shown? Credit where it is due.

Casdon and that's it in a nutshell

The Scottish Conservative leaflet for the election has just landed on my doormat. At first sight, a concentration on how they will fix the potholes and a nice picture of Ruth and Dougie having a socially distanced walk.

To be fair, our SNP candidate looks about 12 but I suspect he's doing it for the experience as we will return the same Lib Dem MSP whatever happens.

SueDonim oh I don't think the SNP threw any women under a bus! The justice system returned a not guilty verdict on Salmond and I feel certain SNP did not orchestrate that. Shenanigans in the Party - no more than the other contenders. Certainly a lot less than bolshy Boris and co. No I'm proud of SNP and look forward to Independence.

SNP 1&2 doesn't make sense except maybe in the Borders or Highlands & Islands.
ISP, Independence for Scotland Party, is the only one that does not support a policy that men can become women, and vice versa, hence they will be getting my list vote.
I haven't decided whether to vote at all in the constituency vote.
(I'm currently an SNP member, since 2015, but won't be renewing membership.)

I'm very interested in the 'list' system but don't really understand how it works. Anyone care to give me a pointer as to where I would find it explained simply, please?

SNP have had 14 year in power. Result we have the shortest lifespans in Europe, highest drugs death rate, education standard has plummeted (the report into the state of education has been withheld by the Scottish government to be released after the election. Wonder why. If it was good they'd be shouting about it.)
They've not disbursed all money sent by Westminster to support business and industry. I could go on. They have been dreadful. Don't be distracted by Nicola and her endless TV outings. Things are bad in Scotland.

Kalu

Ruth Davidson has done nothing for Scottish Tories with her blatant backstabbing at Nicola Sturgeon. As a long serving Conservative voter, I feel RD has had her shot and blown it. Labour will be nowhere in the voting. How well would any other political party have done leading the country, remarkably committed as Nicola Sturgeon has shown? Credit where it is due.

Good post. Nice to see a balanced post giving credit where due.

I’ll be voting SNP again too, and think the FM has conducted herself admirably over both the pandemic and Salmond crises.

If we do manage to gain independence though, I’d be more open to returning to my Labour roots, although they have a massive uphill battle to fight in order to regain footing.

Just in case anyone outside Scotland is reading this thread.

Things are not "bad in Scotland". We haven't quite resorted to fighting each other with claymores yet to get to the last crumb of bannock.

Kim19 - an explanation of the List system. It's quite an old article but quite good at explaining what's going on.

www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-parliament-electoral-system-explained-1477532

Thanks A. Appreciated.

I can understand your ire Aveline if you live in Aberdeenshire which has lost all the lovely oil money. Be comforted that things are not “bad” everywhere.
According to his leaflet, my local Conservative candidate wants me to vote for him to keep the SNP out. His 5 pledges are so vague as to be meaningless, apart from the one to reverse bin cuts which I thought was a local government issue.
If Ruth Davidson had not bottled it, the Scottish Conservatives might have gained some credibility with me.
Meanwhile, my votes are still up for grabs.

I have high hopes for Sarwar. He's intelligent and experienced. Just read how the attainment gap has widened yet again in Scotland. It's hard to understand how prospective SNP voters could contemplate more years of their incompetence. I sometimes wonder if they actually read about what's going on. They can only be voting with heart rather than head.
I want a sensible, balanced coalition willing to work with Westminster rather than, pointlessly, against it to score or try to score tiny points. We have so much to gain from being part of the union. Furlough money and vaccine roll out alone must underline this.
United we stand divided we fall - and it will be a plummet.

Ah, heart over head again.

I have high hopes for Sarwar as well. But IMO he needs to get himself separated from the UK Labour Party and understand that the Labour Party in Scotland needs to have Scotland's needs at the fore, and not be an poor relation of the UK party.

I get a bit annoyed at people disparaging SNP voters as though we are thick. I don't do it for Tory voters, Labour voters or even ISP voters. Its not nice .

£500,000 of taxpayers money wasted because Sturgeon had a beef with Salmond and wouldn't let go of the legal fight against him? Two women complainants thrown under a bus? Salmond bringing another legal case 6 weeks before election because he has a beef with Sturgeon? How is this a responsible/competent government? Education down the pan etc etc

Westminster has shown itself to have no interest in working with Scotland.
Johnson, in particular, is constantly trying to score tiny points.

People vote SNP because they want independence. Some may not like SNP much, now, but feel that it's their only chance to become an independent country.
I will probably vote for my local SNP candidate because I think he will make a good MSP and he wants independence, not just a comfy term in office.
I'll be hoping for independence then to be achieved quickly so that different parties can come forward.