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Some questions about Scotland

A nagging question in my mind is: why was the late swing in Scotland earlier this month to the SNP and not to the Lib Dems? Following yesterday's FPC meeting I am none the wiser.
But I vividly recall the speaker from Scotland in the Trident debate in March who told the Federal Conference that the Scottish Lib Dems really, really did not want to retain Trident.
And I have been told that a balloon shaped like a Trident missile was being towed round Edinburgh's streets during the election. A very effective campaigning tool, I am sure: if someone installed a nuclear missile facility near my home, I would have pretty strong feelings about it.
I suspect that the Scottish Lib Dems' disappointed hopes are a first instalment of the price we will pay for that narrow majority to sit on the fence on whether to replace Trident.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think you're right, to an extent. In the north of England, many Labour voters turn to us when they are fed up with their 'traditional' party. It would be nice to think of it as mass conversion to liberalism, but that seems highly unlikely to be perfectly honest. In Scotland, the SNP, in the complete absence of any coherent political philosophy outside their commitment to "independence", have no trouble filling the void left by any Labour collapse.
16 May 2007 at 21:00
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