http://www.tns-bmrb.co.uk/news/snp-h...-in-government

TNS poll on Scotland election

Constituency
SNP 62%
Labour 20
Con 12
LD 3

Regional List
SNP 54
Labour 20
Con 12
Green 8
LD 4

Lib Dens with the Liar Carmichael around not looking good. Will they lose the Orkney and Shetland seats?

Will the SNP get all the constituency seats?

I dont think many beyond Scotland care any more. In England the Tories are hovering on 39 - 41 per cent and Labour on 28 - 30. I think in reality the English seem to be quite content with how things are going and I know a lot of English people are bordering on the "good riddance" attitude towards Scotland. Something that was unthinkable a year ago.

Very possible that the SNP will win all the constituency seats. AFAIR all the pre GE polls were a good indicator and actually underestimated the SNP support. I can see the SGs doing better than this poll predicts, I will be voting SNP/SG.
For a voting system that was designed and put in place to stop any one party having an overall majority what the SNP have done and are doing is remarkable. Until SLAB sort themselves out it is too easy as all NS has to do is point south and a lot of folk in Scotland want nothing to do with the direction of travel of politics in England

I agree with this. We have become tribal and the Tories, Labour and Libdems now have to re-evaluate their future. Do they concentrate on their core English voters or do they risk pissing off these voters to try and appease the Scottish voter? How can they reach a happy medium and satisfy both? I think in reality we are edging away from the UK as it is now and the inevitable will happen because attitudes, and politics, are so different between us. I dont say that as an insult to the Scots, but assumptions that we all wanted the same thing and taking voters for granted, not just in Scotland, but England too, has resulted in what we have now. I applaud the Scots for breaking away from the status quo, it was a brave and brilliant thing to do, but as an English southerner, I feel happy with what we have at Westminster.

Speak for yourself.

The whole Scotland/England thing is brewing up trouble.

Once the North of England realises it has been shafted by the cosy deal arranged by the Tories and the SNP, there will be a backlash.

I am a relatively well-off Northerner, and Liberal voter, who previously was fairly ambivalent toward the Conservatives and supported the coalition. But frankly after seeing the attitude of the Southerners toward Scotland recently my feelings have changed completely. I despise the attitude of the South to the current situation. It's only a matter of time before the attitude of the North hardens against you lot, in the same way Scotland's has.

And, what are the attitudes of the south that you allude to?

I have no gripe with anyone in the UK nor do I particularly want Scotland to leave the UK. I agree that the Tories and the SNP seem to be on an annihilation mission in Westminster, but the South have a lot of issues that make us probably think differently to the rest of the UK. We have the biggest population, the biggest immigration settlements, the banking sector is here ( you can have it up North if you like, we didn't ask for it to be here), we have virtually full employment, so in fairness, it is hard to be able to identify with the problems you guys encounter because our situations are different. We get a lot of brow beating about the SNP and the SNP do a lot of anger talk regarding the Tories. I can fully understand why Different parts of the UK think the way they do. The problem is is how to resolve it.

Speaking as a Northerner myself I couldn't give a hand relief about the attitude of the "Southerners" to the Scots.and the only hardening attitudes I've heard are jokes about rebuilding Hadrians Wall should Scotland go Independant.

You mentioned them in your earlier post. The demonisation of the SNP by the London media is another example.


No Northerner would make such an ignorant comment.

I'm loving the 180 degree switcheroo on this thread.

Over the last years before the election is was the Left treating these polls as the definitive measure of public opinion and the right warning them that it's not necessarily the case. Now it's the other way around

It's still great entertainment though!

It is a comment from the southerners that the poster is alluding to. Why does it anger you that some southerners are no longer bothered about whether they (Scotland) remain in the UK or nor? Doesn't mean they are saying nasty things about the Scots! I hear "if they want to go their own way then let them". I dont hear negative horrible things about the people of Scotland. Just the politics situation. Do you not think you are being slightly over sensitive?

With regards to the Hadrian wall comment, it was a joke. Something us Brits used to be very good at was taking a joke. My Scottish friend said if the Scots get independence, she would want border controls set up immediately to keep us English out. She then said " The Welsh have the right idea, they charge you lot for entering their country. As Scots I'm surprised we don't charge twice as much!" Is that any worse or far worse than the Hadrian wall comment? Its called banter. People are so uptight these days!

I'm pretty sure that County Durham is in the North and I'm pretty sure that I've just said it.

Is the North some homogenous group of people who groupthink as one, and are you the sole barometer of the outcome of this Groupthink?

You raise valid points regarding public opinion. The polls are meaningless anyway as there Is no GE for a long while yet. But it does suggest that Scotland is on the verge of something truly historical and it does suggest that Labour have a huge huge battle to fight. Whatever happens by the time the next GE comes along is anybody's guess.

Fair enough, no Northerner with any understanding of geography would make such an ignorant comment.

Bearing in mind Wallsend to the border is about 50 or 60 miles.

Farron can't even say that homosexuality isn't a sin.

The lib dems are finished.

Probably,

...and if you can name me a single one party state that is a social and economic success then I will wish them good luck.

As a Scot who now lives in England but still spends about 4-5 weeks a year in Scotland is terrifying to see how backward and dilapidated Scotland is becoming compared to England.

Its no longer the country I spent the first 29 years of live in, its become a darker, nastier more insular place and one that I don't think I would even bother to visit if it weren't for my family. Given the declines in UK tourism to Scotland I would think I'm not alone in those sentiments.

1. Use of "one party state" is lazy and wrong. The inability of other parties to get elected does not make somewhere a 1 party state. Equally lazy people could call England a 1 party state under the Tories, especially with the proposed constituency changes and rumoured packing of the HoL.

2. As an Englishman who has moved to Scotland, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else and see it as a forward looking country where everyone is welcome and opportunities abound. Dark, nasty and insular are adjectives I would never apply to Scotland or Scots (apart from dark on a driech December day).

As a northerner who lives within sight of said wall, and who has connections on the northern side of it, my missus has Scottish roots and has lots of family t'other side o t'wall,
and someone who is originally from the north Midlands I know there's nowt new in hostility towards people from oop north from some elements of those who dwell south of Watford, and it's not only aimed at those north of said wall,
myself and my fellow travelling band of stage hand/roadies got quite used to being called "northern monkeys" when we worked down that end,
all good natured banter (mostly) of course, and we gave the 'shandy drinkers' as good as we got.

I do think that for some, any maps north of Watford seem to just have "here be dragons" on them.

Really? Why can't he, and when was this? Incredible if factual from Tim Farron.

I'm just wondering when Corbyn is going to break through and get 100% compared to 0% among the other three candidates for the Labour leadership with the way his alleged bandwagon keeps rolling like an ever expanding snowball.

Singapore.

August ICM/Guardian

Conservative 40%
Labour 31%
UKIP 10%
Lib Dems 7%
SNP 5%
Greens 4%
Others 2%


http://www.icmunlimited.com/data/med...rdian_poll.pdf

Corbyn obviously raising Labour's popularity. Where is Jol of late, very quiet.

Waiting for a policeman to come after reporting the theft of Labour's sanity and electability?

YouGov today has Jeremy Corbyn now at 57% in the Labour leadership race which is now being discussed on Any Questions on Radio 4 with Andy Burnham as a guest.

An outright win in the first round if correct.

If Corbyn wins, what do you see the Labour Party looking like in five years time? As a Tory I would like a strong united opposition - it isn't good for the country or parties for one party to rule for a very long time. I wore that a split Labour Party is bad for the UK. Corbyn may come across as honest, but he scares me.