The Jokers
In the end, the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse made fools of us all.
Because nobody, but nobody, saw that result coming.
The bookies didn’t see it coming – they’d shifted Labour out from favourites at the start of the campaign to astronomical 11/1 outsiders by the close of books.
The New Statesman’s experts from Britain Elects/Britain Predicts didn’t see it coming, calling it as a fairly comfortable hold for the SNP earlier today.
SNP voters didn’t see it coming, even minutes before the declaration.
We certainly didn’t see it coming, having observed Labour’s absolute haddie of a candidate, the trainwreck of a media campaign the party ran, the party’s abysmal state in national polling and the incredibly confused messaging of the Daily Record and assumed, like the bookies, that it was an SNP/Reform dogfight.
(Nor, incidentally, did the much less popular “analysts” who spent thousands of words discussing the contest by, er, hurling purple-faced abuse at Wings, but didn’t devote a single sentence in any of it to even considering the possibility of a Labour win.)
Indeed, fully two weeks ago we were looking on bewildered at Labour’s campaign and wondering if they were actually trying to throw it to embarrass the SNP.
It’s going to take a while to unpick quite what the heck just happened, but one stat did jump out at us as we took a look at the final numbers.
Reform+Tory: 8,709
SNP+Green: 8,652
Lab: 8,559
With just a little more tactical voting, a seat in the absolute Labour/SNP heartlands could have easily gone to the most right-wing party on the ticket tonight, delivering a shock that would have eclipsed even the one that actually happened.
Despite failing to come second as had been widely predicted, Reform will still be absolutely delighted with this result, making it a tight three-way battle even despite the Labour vote holding up far better than anyone expected. Nigel Farage’s party clearly picked up support from right across the board.
With turnout down by a quarter, all things being equal the Tories could reasonably have expected 4,749 votes compared to the 2021 general election result, but only got 1,621 – which suggests they lost 3,128. That’s well under half Reform’s total, which means that Reform got almost (at least) 4,000 votes from elsewhere, and both Labour and the SNP will be losing sleep over just where that was.
(In fact, even on a lower by-election turnout of 44%, Reform got comfortably more votes tonight than the Tories have EVER mustered in the constituency.)
What’s clearly true is that this election makes them a credible force in Scottish politics, and it may be the case that more Unionists start to see them as a good bet to stop the SNP in the wake of such a strong showing from nowhere.
Had the Greens not stood a no-hoper candidate, meanwhile, and if all their voters had voted for the “pro-indy” candidate instead, the SNP would have held the seat, so the great outbreak of pro-indy unity clearly isn’t coming along any time soon, despite Alba’s remarkable decision not to contest the seat at all.
But perhaps Katy Loudon would still have been too much of a dumpling to pick up their votes – she’s now lost THREE attempts to hitch a ride on the gravy boat in the area (despite having an absolute fortune flung at her by the cash-strapped party in the last two), and it’ll be interesting to see if the SNP fail to take the hint and try to foist her on voters a fourth time next year.
(Weirdly, the seat was entirely missing from their 2026 candidate list last month.)
To the SNP’s maddest psychos, though, it was all Kate Forbes’ fault somehow.
But maybe we’re overthinking it. It could be that the voters of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse were just scunnered with everyone telling them what they were going to do and decided to throw a spanner in the works purely for laughs, turning out in unexpectedly large numbers to vote for the candidate nobody gave a chance to.
Or maybe they all saw the incredible odds, stuck 50 quid on it just before bets closed, and then smartly went out to make it happen and cash in. And in these tough times, who could blame them for that?
I don’t think Alba’s decision not to stand was all that remarkable. I am not privy to senior leadership discussions and certainly do not speak for the party, but Alba has made it clear that we are going to be a list-only party in the next election. So it would have been remarkable if we had stood today.
This result should be as much of a wake up call for the established Scottish parties as the BNP win in Millwall was for the English establishment 25-30 years ago. Now Reform can argue they are a serious player in Scotland. That is a credible argument whether we like it or not (and I really, really don’t, because Nigel Farage in power would be a pale version of King Don-John). Folk are clearly scunnered (bugger off American spellcheck) and it is incumbent upon the established parties to formulate policies that will meet the needs of the Scottish electorate. There is no hiding place now.
Both ALBA leadership candidates promised to reverse Salmond’s election strategy for 2026. Salmond would have stood candidates in constituencies. Repeating the 2021 ALBA strategy of “ALBA love the SNP and are only here to help them gain power” is a failed idea, as Craig Murray said , if members were attracted to idea of helping the SNP gain power, they would resign from ALBA and join the SNP.
It’s a by-election – different to a full election – with media attention for a small party who desperately need to be seen by public as relevant to them – likely last one before May 2026 for a small party that fights random council by-elections (that have heehaw to do with Indy and use an entirely different voting system so tell you nothing about Holyrood voting intention).
With only party leader who is outside of elected office what media time will Alba get in 2026 election campaign- given they turned down this clear opportunity for messaging? The Greens candidate stood but refused interview or debate too ?
Alba can’t BUY press coverage since electing a non-MSP as leader. They really needed the exposure.
Not electing Ash Regan was a big mistake. Undermined her at Holyrood and, frankly, she is a superior thinker and speaker.
It’s just the usual central belt voting cycle; make a(n) A8se of things here then reap what you sow and f u..
Tick Tok boring as dishwater Elder Swinney..
The SNP; what a fall from grace, cheers Nikla; you killed it!
Nicola will take your words as complementary as a job well done.
Are there any politicians, particularly party leaders that are/ have been competent over the last 10 years?
Any whatsoever?
Answers on the back of a sealed down envelope..
It’s back to roots for the majority of the old voters.
Another disappointing turnout of 44%, with the majority of voters abstaining. I wonder what the result would be if everyone was engaged.
Swinney and Co will be delighted, they/them stopped Farage.
The real result in that election is not a labour win.
The real result is a win for “none of the above”.
A turnout of 44% means that 56%, the majority, refused to validate that election as a democratic exercise.
It does not matter who of the three parties got the biggest share of the minority vote. That result is not democratic and cannot be seen as such.
According to Wikipedia, the number of electors in that constituency is 61,485. This means that the number of electors endorsing Labour is only a ridiculous 13.9%. In what parallel universe can that possibly be seen as “representative” for that constituency?
But we all know the pretend labour win will go as official because the UK is not a democracy, just pretending to be one.
The press and the political class will trumpet this result as a Labour win fully ignoring the massive elephant in the room: the election has not even been validated as democratic by the majority.
All that matters in this pretend democracy is that a candidate, even a paper one, is put in the seat. It does not matter an iota how they get the seat.
“The real result in that election is not a labour win”
Oh yes it is!
You must be facing the wrong way.
It’s behind you, Mia!
It is not in real terms, actually. The majority of the electorate didn’t even validate that election as a democratic exercise.
I do acknowledge that Labour got the largest share of the vote. Yes, they absolutely did. I do not deny that at all. But the whole vote for all parties put together was a minority in this case.
That Labour’s share of the vote is trumpeted as a “win” is proof that the UK is not a democracy and does not even bother in hiding it anymore.
I am facing the right way and observing the whole picture. The whole picture says the labour candidate represents the choice of less than a 14% of the electorate in that constituency.
The whole picture says that none of the candidates in that ballot were seen as acceptable options by an staggering 56% of the electorate in that constituency. That indicates just how disengaged from the voters ANY of those parties actually are.
The whole picture says that that constituency has four times more disenfranchised voters than the minuscule proportion of voters endorsing labour at this election.
How on earth is that democracy?
Whether anyone likes it or not, an absentee voter is still a vote – it’s a vote to abdicate the decision to anyone who chooses to exercise their choice. It’s fun to use statistics like this, e.g. Labour has a massive majority based on the positive votes of only about 25% of the overall electorate, but that’s how politics works everywhere in the world. Those who vote make the decision, those who don’t have no choice but to abide by others’ choices.
Is there such a thing as an undemocratic vote? What is the percentage below which the vote should be rejected? Tough decision, for that way can lead to authoritarianism and dictatorships. (Only 40% voted? NOT VALID, time for a coup).
Maybe the politicians should give the electorate genuine choices AND KEEP THEIR PROMISES. Maybe then turnout will increase.
“Whether anyone likes it or not, an absentee voter is still a vote – it’s a vote to abdicate the decision to anyone who chooses to exercise their choice.”
I couldn’t disagree more.
It is not for you or for me to decide what is in the mind of voters when they decide not to vote, or indeed what their refusal to vote must be interpreted as. Who gets to decide? Only each voter gets to decide on what they base their decision of not voting.
Because the UK is not a democracy and now no longer even pretending to be one, that excuse may well be used by the corrupt and undemocratic political class to brush under the carpet the actual, but inconvenient majority in that election, which is the 56% who didn’t even legitimise the election as a democratic exercise.
But that is patent nonsense. If this result was in England rather than Scotland, I doubt very much they would take it laying down.
Claiming such a thing involves the assumption that the ballot covers all possible options. The problem with that is such assumption is false. We know the ballot excludes the options that are inconvenient for the deep state.
For starters, there is not an option “none of the above”. It has been established in this blog, and I have to agree with it, that spoiling the ballot as a way to express that choice is not a viable option.
It is not a viable option because purposely spoiled ballots are not counted as such. They are airbrushed by being deliberately thrown into the same bag as “invalid votes”.
Why exactly are spoiled ballots invalid votes? Spoiled ballots are not invalid votes. They are perfectly valid votes expressing the rejection of EVERY candidate in that ballot or even the rejection of the election itself (for instance, spoiled ballots with “End the union” written across, made it clear what the voter was casting a vote for.
They are only deemed “invalid” under the current UK optics because they are inconvenient to the narrative, so the establishment hides them under a misnomer to make them disappear and remove them completely from the count. It is, to say the least, dishonest.
Then we have the option to express of protest. The assumption that the only protest vote a person seeking independence for Scotland can make is by voting for a pro-colonial party that voter despise or by a useless pro-devolutionist party which spent the last 10 years betraying voters is the most absurd reasoning there is to be.
At a time like this, when both the SNP and Greens are no longer pro-independence parties and are in the exact same side as labour, tories, libdems and reform in the constitutional question, such assumption is beyond fanciful. The limitation of the options is more evident than ever.
Then we have the proportion of pro-independence voters who do no longer agree with the UK political system and thing the whole thing is a complete and utter farce. What option can those who reject the entire thing choose? There is currently no available option. The only option they have is to abstain.
Then we have the proportion of pro-independence voters who are not interested in the nonsense of party politics and who are only interested in voting for independence. Well, what option in the ballot could those choose? None.
You cannot credibly claim that voters who decide not to vote are delegating on those who approach the polls. That is YOUR opinion and YOUR interpretation. But it is undemocratic, because it assumes the ballot covers all possible options. This may be true for the pro-colonial side, but not for the side of the constitutional question that seeks liberation from this so called union.
Tony,
Little do you know: if you do not put X in a box according to particular rules then it is NOT a vote. You, for your own reasons, wish to construe it as a vote. You sound like dictator candidate.
One plausible explanation (which I heard) for low ‘turnout’ is that some potential electors do not cast a vote because they are (or feel) inadequately informed to make a choice.
It is also irrefutable that others choose to vote without sufficient knowledge to make a reasoned choice. That could include you.
Mia sets out a more extensive refutation of your ideas, 6 June at 9:51am.
All people registered get a vote, so the UK is absolutely a democracy. Just because people can not be arsed to go out and vote doesn’t mean it isn’t a democratic process.
Try living in Russia where the opposition gets bumped off or NK where even your haircut is vetted by officials.
Our nation isn’t perfect but if you want to mould it to how you want it you are allowed (in our democracy) to stand on the street and shout about it.
Steven. Your last 2 lines are false. You either do not read enough or are a liar or delusional.
Your first 2 lines are false for several reasons and on several grounds.
It seems likely that you are an SNP supporter, possibly a Unionist.
“Can be arsed to go out and vote”?
Why should they even waste their time in going to the polling station if there is nothing in that ballot they want to vote for?
Why should they bother in casting a vote if they know it will not make an ounce of a difference?
Was the option “None of the above” included in the ballot?
No. So what should those who despise every one of political parties included in the ballot vote for?
One at random?
Was every possible option included in the ballot?
No. In fact, you could argue that the option the majority might have gone for was carefully left out of the ballot.
The only available options appear to be restricted to voting for the status quo. How convenient.
If some election process becomes democratic just because everybody is given a vote, then, according to you, it would still be democratic if a single option with no alternative was included in the ballot or if only one person turns out to vote. Sorry, that is not democracy. That is controlled absolutism. Manipulation of the process.
The result of that election is clear: 56% of that electorate failed to legitimise that election as a democratic exercise, possibly because the option many of those would go for was left out of the ballot. In other words, the options included in the ballot are not representative of the preferences of that constituency.
The only reason as to why that clear majority is being ignored is because it does not fit the status quo narrative.
If the UK was a democracy, that election and every previous one which did not reach quorum (50% of the electorate) would have been declared null and another one would have been called until at least 50% of that electorate endorsed that election as a representative, democratic process.
Someone should whisper in Swinneys ear what FAFO accually stands for.
Playing reverse psychology and looking retrospectively, I think that labour would get the biggest share of the 44% minority vote could have been predicted.
But, of course, it is much easier to understand things when looking at them retrospectively and you have the big picture.
Because it was completely written off as a possible win by all the bookies and commentariat, it was a wake up call for all labour voters, past and present, to go to the poll. It could have also been seen as a safe bet by those who did not want to vote Reform, did not want to facilitate a unionist win, but still wanted to give the SNP and Greens a waking up slap across the face (metaphorically speaking, of course).
I wonder until what point this was precisely what was pursued by the deep state all along. Deceiving the electorate with faux information and then relying on a low turnout to fake another pro-colonial “win”.
Deception rather than democracy has become the engine moving elections in the UK forward.
And here is another thing: if the Greens had endorsed SNP instead, SNP could have won the largest share of the minority 44% vote. So, it is not Alba who “divided the pro-indy vote” in this instance. It was, once again, the Green Party. I wonder if the SNP worshippers in the National will have the balls to acknowledge that instead of continuing to slag Alba off.
Great, SNP lost, and I hope they continue to lose.
I find this quite an incredible result.
Labour have done nothing for working class people since the 1960’s.
The don’t understand left of centre politics so they copy a diluted version of conservatism as they seem to win the vast majority of elections.
In modern times Labour have taken us into an illegal war, watched as the banks headed off to crash the economy, stoped final salary pensions, sold off U.K. gold reserves at a give away rate, their PPI saw £50 Billion of new schools and hospitals built at a cost of over £350 billion to the tax payer.
Recently back in Westminster power they claim they didn’t know the level of debt the U.K. was in with their £20 billion black hole claim.
Why wouldn’t the opposition be tracking something as major as this?
To solve the debt problem they prioritise removing the sometimes life saving fuel benefit from the largest segment of voters and then on to attack the poor and the disabled.
Can you look at the link below to see the calibre of the parrot the people of Hamilton just voted into the role of MSP.
Will he have the intellect to fetch a pint of milk for Sarwar in Holyrood?
link to x.com
PS The former trade union leader on last night’s Question Time should be PM.
“don’t understand left of centre politics so they copy a diluted version of conservatism as they seem to win the vast majority of elections”
Aha! So they DO understand left of centre politics is poison to the majority of small ‘c’ conservative voters. And they DO understand small ‘c’ conservative policies win elections. Both north and south of the border.
This remains an unfathomable mystery to you, obviously. So you’re special, but that means you’re destined to always be in the losing minority.
Effijy, I think this character is going to set a world record for points of order.
“Eh, um Presiding Officer, I have a point of, er, order. I couldn’t get the, what do you call it, voting app to work again. I’m not sure how I would have voted because I deleted that wee thing off my phone that gives you messages from someone else. Can you put me down as a maybe aye, maybe no?”
“Labour have done nothing for working class people since the 1960’s…Labour have taken us into an illegal war, watched as the banks headed off to crash the economy…”
And this is reflected in the ridiculously low level of support they currently have. Yes, they may have got the “largest” share of the vote, but the actual vote in itself was minuscule to begin with. In real terms, only 13.9% of the electorate in that constituency endorsed labour. Wow! What a solid win. Not.
Labour is politically dead in Scotland and has been politically dead for a long time. Despite all sort of strategies, deceptions, tricks, etc, including having the SNP for the last TEN YEARS committing political self-immolation to resurrect Labour, Labour has not resurrected politically. The only way the deep state can now present it as “a winner” is by disenfranchising the majority of the constituency.
So how far is the deep state prepared to run with this farce? Will they declare it also a “winner” when the proportion of the constituency endorsing the labour candidate hits single figures?
We need to look at the whole picture. The whole picture tells us that 56% of that constituency’s electorate refused, for one reason or another, to legitimise that election as a democratic exercise.
Whatever this “voting exercise” was, the moment over 50% of the electorate did not turn out to vote, it ceased to be a democratic election. It is a farce and simply an excuse to parachute a deep state-compliant useful idiot to the seat.
That the SNP got even less votes that Labour when support for independence is hoovering over 50% at times, tells you just how despised by pro-independence voters this utterly useless and betraying devolutionist version of the SNP is.
The big picture is telling us that the UK has become ungovernable as a single entity. When you have support for independence hoovering around 50% in Scotland and steadily approaching those levels in Wales, you know the UK is over. The only way it can be forced into becoming governable is by brutal suppression of Scotland’s and Wales’ political tendencies. In other words, imposition of absolute rule from London. And it is on this scenario that this so called “Reform” party and its newly found desire to terminate Holyrood and the Senedd, come into play. In my opinion, the only reason for this noise around shutting Holyrood is to, somewhat, make the UK look governable.
We should not fall for this. It is a con.
“It could be that the voters of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse were just scunnered with everyone telling them what they were going to do”
It could be that they, like the majority of Scottish voters in all constituencies, are happily unaware of the existence of the people telling them what to do.
Pollsters, columnists, pundits, bloggers. Most Scots don’t give a shit about any of them.
Hatey I think you well may be right and for folk up here to be mair scunnered with the SNP than Labour just shows you how bad the SNP have become. Fuckin wokery and the greens have a lot to answer for
Anyone see the acceptance speech…?
Good God, if anything served as a precursor to coming performance, that was it. Head down, stalting voice, stumbling over his words, he obviously hadn’t practiced it. He could be dyslexic right enough but…jeezo.
There ye go, Hamilton et al. Am sure you’ll see nothing more than the back of his head, much like his election interviews.
The voters in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse won’t be worried much about it, because when this Labour “pig with a rosette” gets into the Scottish Parliament, it’ll only be a few months before he’s booted oot again at he 2026 Scottish Parliamentary Elections.
Who’ll win next time? Maybe the SNP will perform a miracle and recover the seat, but more likely, without the troops on the ground with the Get Out The Vote operation, Labour will lose the seat again, this time to Reform UK.
Davy was a throwback from Labour’s usual Lego haircut wimmin or bum fluff say boy teachers. He was actually more of a literal gammon than many Reform voters. He needed a script to mumble through less words than an averagely intelligent toddler greeting his nursery teacher. The fact is that Reform have despite their internal stramash been the winners.
I didn’t care who won as long as it was a SNP loss, I’m one happy bunny today.
To go in to an election and constantly talk about reform and Labour was in fact promoting these parties, what was the SNP thinking.
We have all been saying for a while who ever has is determining the SNP strategies and policies are leading them up the garden path.
But today we’ll here from the J Swinney saying this is a success for the SNP.
Its all on board for next year to wipe the SNP totally from Scottish politics, with the formation of Liberate Scotland and all the Indy parties signing to join Liberate Scotland to stand on this Indy ticket on a one line manifesto. Then you have a new entity Reform, taking a huge number of votes from the electorate. The SNP is now in real trouble, but it isn’t over for the SNP all they have to do is join Liberate Scotland and stand with the rest of us, but they won’t.
The SNP is going to lose votes to all other parties in next year’s Holyrood election. Lets remember people like myself who used to vote SNP, the SNP can no longer count on my two votes, in fact the SNP won’t even get one vote from me or indeed the rest of the household.
Next year we might finally see the demise of the SNP, finger crossed.
“it isn’t over for the SNP all they have to do is join Liberate Scotland”
I do not want them to join Liberate Scotland. If this devolutionist SNP joins, I will not vote for Liberate because I will cease to believe they are serious about independence.
For the last 10 years this version of the SNP has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that independence was completely chucked out from their list of priorities. Actually, preserving the union and accelerating the transfer of Scotland’s assets to England seemed to have become their newly found priority. They abused our vote, they pissed on our democratic mandates and they corrupted our perfectly good anti-union MP majorities into becoming completely worthless. They cannot be trusted and should never be trusted again. Joining Liberate will destroy the reputation of Liberate and de-legitimise it as an umbrella for independence.
The time for the SNP is gone. We have let them laugh at as and acting as an obstacle to independence for long enough. It is time to bypass them and leave them behind. They are no longer of any use to pro-independence supporters.
Absolutely nailed it there Mia.
We are going through a parties death throes, not pretty but it needs to be gone and cremated before a phoenix can rise from the ashes..
To answer your question yes the SNP will put forward Karty Loudon again for Holyrood next year simply because she a puppet and will do and say what ever the SNP leadership tells her to say and do.
Never mind, Hamilton. At least your football team’s doing well.
He may be a haddie, but he’s a local haddie, born and bred, and he seems to have been active in the community?
I posted yesterday (although my comment seems to have failed to pass moderation) that while the SNP may have been spending a fortune on their campaign that from where I am it was Labour that seemed most desperate to win. I’ve had way more leaflets from Labour than all other parties put together and a ludicrous number of canvassers at the door.
Yesterdays comment was prompted by the 4th canvasser from Labour despite it already being lunchtime on polling day. In fact I got two more during the afternoon and may have had more had I not told the last that I’d voted. On my way to the polling station there was a team of Labour volunteers still out busily knocking on doors.
I’d say the Labour guys did their absolute utmost to get their vote out.
“I posted yesterday (although my comment seems to have failed to pass moderation)”
You’ve changed your email so you were treated as a new user by the system. I manually approved your comment yesterday.
AS PLAIN AS DAY, Scottish independence is unlikely via the ballot box.
Hey! 44% of the Hamilton electorate thought these zero rankers were worth the schlep to the polls….
The Refascists next time?
Truly a damning indication of the damage done by Sturgeon, the Greens and the failure of Swinney to turn things around.
Aaaaaand we’re back into the “voting for a [pudding – Ed] with a red rosette” territory.
Should’ve seen it coming, really. Let’s face it, carrying on a fine tradition of voting in one total woffer after another, across the decades.
Disappointing yet hardly surprising. Explains a lot.
This is gleeful headline news in the Guardian online.
‘didn’t we do well!’spluttered everyone and their auntie!
The BBC can hardly contain their glee…
I still can’t quite believe this was a by-election FFS. What an utterly gutless result.
If the Reform Company can’t win in Larkhall then they have no chance of winning anywhere. Let us remember that the Farage lovers will have been the single most motivated group of voters in this election.
Otherwise it’s a case of Labour winning by default. Many SNP supporters appear to have stayed at home. If this result does not wake them up then nothing will. Unless they start delivering what the majority want and stop pandering to tiny minorities it’s all downhill for them.
I also suspect many voters opted for the least odious party which had a chance of winning. So that ruled out the Cons, Lib Dems and Greens.
Many a true word said in jest. It would be interesting to see how many bets were laid at 11/1 in the many betting shops throughout the area!
Obviously not many, otherwise the odds would have been lower.
Many independence supporters stayed at home, like they did last July, instead of voting for the devolutionist SNP. Others shunted over to Labour to keep reform out – following Swinney’s advice lol. Meanwhile many Labour and Tory voters shunted over to Farage’s lot.
Expect the same next year if Swinney remains FM.
“It’s going to take a while to unpick quite what the heck just happened, but one stat did jump out at us as we took a look at the final numbers.
Reform+Tory: 8,709
SNP+Green: 8,652
Lab: 8,559 “
Look at it another way, another stat jumped out (if my arithmetic is correct)
Reform+Tory+Lab (Pro-Union): 17,268
SNP+Green (Pro-Independence): 8,652
How did that happen!!
It’s Larkhall ffs.
Unionist parties 2-1 over (nominally) Indy parties is in line with the national polls.
This aspect of the Hamilton result should surprise no one.
Now look at it from this other way:
Reform + Tory: 8,709
SNP+ Green: 8,652
Lab: 8,559
Total: 25,920
vs
None of the above: 34,330
Who were the real winners?
The real winners of this “election” were the non-voters, who refused to endorse any of the candidates, effectively voting for “none of the above”.
“Reform+Tory+Lab (England’s Pro-colonial parties): 17,268
SNP+Green (Scotland’s devolutionist parties): 8,652”
Total in support of the status quo: 25,920
vs
People refusing to approach the polls to endorse the status quo: 34,330
Who is the real winner of this so called “election”?
The real winners are the non-voters, those who refused to approach the polls to endorse the status quo and who refused to endorse the election as democratic.
The union loses.
How far and for how long is the deep-state going to continue running with this farce?
Expect the same result next year if Swinney remains FM.
It wouldn’t matter which of the current crop of SNP MSPs they put in his place they are all toxic and people have had enough of them. What’s utterly depressing is that the new gravy train chasing recruits into their ranks are even worse
Masochism is hardly a new phenomenon amongst the Scottish electorate.
The voters have chosen… better the useless f..k wit you know, than a new one.
The results for Reform will be sufficient to establish John Swinney and the Sometime Never Parties new slogan…. now is not the time for indy, we have to see off the threat of Nigel/Hitler first.
Sadly it will work. We are too nice.
In reality, the SNP should be pointing out the obvious, and the best way to spike Reforms rhetoric.
In an Independent Scotland it will be the people of Scotland who decide our immigration policy and how best to defend our borders.
Labour wins the only poll that matters. Well done.
Look forward to the “Well its disappointing but lets not forget…” pish from Swinney. How long before Stephen Flynn has to start denying he wants to be the Leader…place your bets
The Colonial News (edited in London – capital of the ’empire’)
Latest news from our Scotland colony:
Hooray! The Colonials Vote for England (because they don’t really have any other choice)
Analysis: Have unionists in Scotland dumped that stale old Tartan Tory taste for the latest in colonial flavours?
Reform UK: A political party or a rehabilitation programme for convicted criminals? The Colonial News investigates.
Anyway, back to the ‘election’ – held faraway up north in a Scottish backwater somewhere for the locals to pretend they have a say in.. anything at all really – for a forensic breakdown of the results by some glaikit ‘expert’ we roll out when the colonial circus comes to town.
Total votes for the three top English political parties (Labour, Reform UK and Tory): 17,268 – 63.5% of turnout.
Add in the colonially co-opted SNP share (7,957) of the vote and we arrive at a total of 25,225 (92.9% of turnout) votes for England’: the percentage is actually 99.9999% when the smaller England party results are added.
Hooray for England!
Confirmation, yet again, that England is Scotland’s favourite oppressor.
And that concludes our colonial news for today.
Election? What a waste of Scotland’s time… and everything else.
Encouragingly, it looks like those Scots seeking their liberation from colonial rule have realised the total pointlessness in participating in an electoral system wholly owned by their oppressor and decided to vote for Scotland and stay at home instead.
@Northcode says: 6 June, 2025 at 10:34 am
Vote for Scotland – stay at home.
Work for Scotland – stay at home.
Make Scotland better – stay at home.
Advance the cause of Indy – stay at home.
Still, it’s probably all for the best for somebody daily “living in fear”.
What’s your advice about our curtains, NC? Keep them closed at all times?
The guy thinks he’s Shakespeare.
Alfie boy will be proud of that mince. Did you think of it all by yourself?
In the name of God, Swinney, just go.
Well what a surprise. It turns out the majority of voters don’t care about anything political, indeed, not least “wanging on about Gaza.” But they also don’t care about independence, trans, immigration, Sturgeon’s finances, or Pakistani party leaders’ inverse-racism.
As Blair said, “the average voter doesn’t give a second thought to politics the whole day long.” The Labour party is a media-messaging machine engineered to cause these people to go to the polls.
They simply don’t care. They want their winter fuel payment — and Starmer hit that talking point hard. They don’t trust “socialist radicals” like Corbyn, because the media tell them now to.
Now is that the level of conversation we want to get into, or do we want to be the people who give shit?
If you take the time to listen to the average Scot, they are politically aware and know exactly what is going on.
The problem is that they are totally disengaged with what is going on politically that they don’t have the motivation to go out to vote because every political party enacts the same policies when they get voted into power, despite what they say beforehand.
Katy Louden voted against funding for Hamilton town centre! She got what she deserved – a big massive rejection from the voters!
She’s now a serial loser who has “Humza on speed dial!” So we know she’s got a burner phone like lavender Pete and Nikkla from Dreghorn!
The SNP are corrupt to the core – protected by Dorothy Bain and Jo Farrell – the corrupt establishment!
Well done Hamilton! No Surrender to the SNP!
The migrants invading Britain is upsetting to so many working class men wanting housing but can’t get on the ladder. The changing faces on the busses in Glasgow. Hearing different languages. The fact Reform got so many votes must tell them that this is case. There’s an invasion of Britain that’s affecting Scotland. People want to see their GP. And the entitlement of these illegal migrant criminals is unacceptable.
Labour will not deport them back to where they came. But Reform will.
What upsets me is the media manipulation, censorship, and distortion of reality in our so called “media”.
I haven’t trusted, (or watched), the TV for decades, but even the internet is increasingly shut off from the truth.
Bitchute won’t air video in the UK for fear of prosecution, and now YouTube is even white-screening mainstream “moderates” like Judging Freedom with Judge Napolitano for routine and informative discussions with the likes of Douglas Macgregor, Jeffrey Sachs etc…
Clearly, the warmongering genocidal Establishment obviously fears ordinary people having access to the truth and being capable of informed free thinking…
Very worrying when the insane and bloodthirsty UK seems utterly determined to kick off WW3. Pacifism and human compassion are thought crimes to be quietened.
Free speech UK? What a joke, a total piss take. But if “they” can manipulate the media so effortlessly, what makes you think a paltry ballot is safe or reliable? There’s a war on, init…
“Utterly determined to kick off WW3”
FFS wake up. WW3 started over 3 years ago.
You’re like one of those ignoramus loud mouthed Yanks who believes WW2 didn’t begin until the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor.
“…You’re like one of those ignoramus loud mouthed Yanks who believes WW2 didn’t begin until the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor…”
And you’re a prick.
Aw, James.
Still unable to summon up an original thought.
Have this one on me: Indy For Knuckle Draggers. Awa and explain how Indy will benefit our home-grown Neanderthal throwbacks. It’ll take a lot of painful hammering at yer keyboard with yer scabbed knuckles, but you just keep visualising male genitals in yer mind’s eye to keep yer pecker up.
100%. That’s it in a nutshell. Our country is changing afore our eyes and most politicians couldn’t give a fuck. This is why, even in Scotland, that Reform will do great
Those changing faces and hearing different languages are from people who are working here legally via the visa scheme and students over here to study.
From the hard of understanding, they haven’t just come by a boat over the English channel.
You’re either lying or you’re spouting ignorant shite.
30 seconds of research is all it takes to find that there are thousands of asylum seekers quartered in Scotland as part of the Home Office’s dispersal programme.
THE JOKE’S ON US ALL,
given that the real power on the planet is in the hands of unaccountable sociopathic US oligarchs who gives a damn who is sent to be lobby fodder in London, certainly those oligarchs don’t.
There are still the delusional hordes musing on other sites. That Swinney the Grim Reaper will save the SNP.
The SNP have accepted their fate, and Swinney is just looking for a pension post 2026.
Ironic when indy support has never been higher.
We now have three unionist parties (and I include the SNP). Fighting for mid table existence.
The biggest failure of the SNP since 2015, apart from the obvious one – not delivering independence – is allowing the cold, dead hand of the Labour party to claw its way back into contention in the last couple of years. After their ill-fated dalliance with the Tories in “Better Together” they were finished, done. To see them return, albeit as inept as ever, is a shocking indictment on Sturgeon and her contemporaries.
I never take notice of opinion polls – maybe they should not be given prominence in future on here?
If this was the full HR election would this have this affected the constituincy seats if we assume the swings were the same accross central?
Would “both votes” suddnly make sense?
“Would “both votes” suddnly make sense?”
Only if folks are happy with another 5 years of colonial administration and inept divisive woke policies….
POLITICAL OUTFITS love «process», effectively a cover for doing nothing.
That «referendum» obsession by the putative independence party is a classic example.
Garbage in, garbage out.
If those who had voted for Tory voted for Reform, Reform would have won.
Stating the obvious but for the hard of understanding…
Since 2015 the SNP has been a blocker to pursuing independence. A Trojan Horse on behalf of the Brit establishment opportunity after opportunity was squandered.
Moreover, in terms of good governance that is something that they did not do.
And now with the SNP Trojan Horse is reaping what it deliberately sowed as it heads to a terminal decline. But here is the big thing none of us should ignore. Despite the SNP and the utter lack of any campaign, the demand for independence has not gone away. That demand, that support is there ready to be rekindled.
They say nature abhors a vacuum. But so does the electorate. The message in this by election result is clear. Yes without an independence party like the SNP was under Salmond, the politics within the faux electoral system make things difficult – but independence can be won.
Westminster of course know this. That is why Scotland is being flooded with settlers and the numbers supressed. That is what happened in the plantation of Ireland. The parallels are uncanny.
And that is why Westminster is moving apace to install UK freeports, ensure renewable energy extraction is, like oil and gas out of Scotland’s hands. The country of Scotland, it people, its culture and its resources are being filleted out in a coordinated Westminster.
Indians and glass beads, peasants in their own land, its what England and its now faded empire does.
But now that more know this something can be done. And yes, the rotten SNP will be usurped just like the Irish National Party was back in the early 1900’s. And yes, Ireland took its independence too.
Willie
Hear hear. Astutely pointed out, the filleting out of Scots, and also the Irish and the Welsh in the past.
And meanwhile those in charge are now doing the same to England voters, by filleting out theIr vote using the same MO, dilute englands votes by infiltration of new settlers.
Perhaps one day Englands people will wake up too, at the moment they are so busy trying to control Scotland and Ireland by voting for a union that wishes and is taking steps to colonise Englands people,
Looking ahead, say five or ten years time, possibly sooner England will shouting for independence of their country,
Hoping the Scots and Irish will support them free Britain,
I attempted to reply to your comment but “Gateway” has decided not to allow those comments, so I will be changing the system I use too so I do not get blocked.
Freedom of speech is not free when when you are prevented from commenting.
Old Eskimo proverb;
Don’t eat the yellow snow.
Reform could be king makers at the next Holyrood election,
bringing in a British unionist Government,
Starmer would be happy to make a deal with Farage in Scotland,
and
Sarwar would burn Scotland to the ground just so he could rule over the ashes.
Mia,
You are also wise in your observations,
That there is no voting system for those that do not wish to vote for any of the above, and stay away altogether,
Scotland is well aware of politics and the political system, it is undemocratic to say the least, and that is a high % of the Scottish population in this bi- election who did not wish to vote for the status quo on offer.
That said, they are being classed as wasted or spoiled votes. And very similar to how we supposedly entered the treaty of union, Scots did not vote then either.
Dammed if we do and dammed if we don’t. And that has been the voting system applied for Scotland for centuries now.
That has indeed been the voting system for centuries now.
If you are again suggesting that the Act of Union is invalid because the people of Scotland did not vote for it, then presumably you are saying that all previous treaties are invalid also – because the people of Scotland did not vote for the either.
So goodbye to Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles for a start…
On the other hand, if the people of Scotland were not required to vote for the ratification of this treaty of union, then there is no requirement for the people of Scotland to vote to terminate it either.
What is good for the goose, is good for the gander.
In 1706, a simple majority of (bribed and self-serving) Scotland’s MPs ratified the Treaty of Union with England. This was done in the face of a well known massive opposition across Scotland. Those MPs were only thinking in themselves when they ratified that treaty.
This means there is nothing stopping a majority of anti-union MPs representing Scotland ending that treaty. It means there was nothing stopping 56, 35 and 40 something SNP MPs ending the union any day from 8th May 2015 to the last UK GE. Nothing other than their own greed, self-servitude, lack of principles and cowardice, that is.
Its not the Act of Union, whichever one you had in mind that’s invalid; it’s the Treaty of Union that is invalid because its terms were never properly implemented or adhered to by the English establishment. It presumed powers and authorities the Treaty never gave it, and used those illegitimate powers to subjugate and abuse the Scottish half of the Union.
That establishment treated the Treaty as a menu, to accept what suited it and ignored what didn’t.
Maybe you should change your name, since you appear unable to live up to it.
My comment are going into the ether by gateway.
Hallelujah!
Stu.
I will be changing my gmail address too sometime over the next few months, just to let you know in advance,
The ‘Scottish’ National Party, the SNP, is now and forevermore lost to the Scots and has become a weapon wielded by that foreign power, England, in its attempts to thwart Scotland’s ambition for independence.
That the SNP once was a great beacon of hope for Scots to rally round and to follow – a bright light illuminating the gloomy path to their liberation – is no longer of any consequence since its great Saltire heart was torn from it and melted down and recast in the image of St George.
The custodians of the SNP; those meant to be the guardians of its great promise to free a people from oppression have forsaken Scotland and the Scots; their hearts too faint and too feart tae fight fir ther ain fowk’s freedom.
The SNP cannot be salvaged nor its custodians forgiven for their self-serving cold-hearted and callous avarice.
The SNP is dead to the independence movement and can never be revived as a truly Scottish political party solely representative of those Scots seeking their nation’s liberation.
The SNP’s rotting carcass should now be dragged from Scotland under cover of darkness and unceremoniously dumped in an unmarked grave in some forgotten field in some faraway foreign wasteland never again to be spoken of – except perhaps as a cautionary tale woven through a children’s rhyme or story.
The SNP was lost to us that day in 2015 when the political fraud Sturgeon announced that a vote for the SNP was not a vote for independence, despite every single poll released BEFORE her sickening announcement had predicted a landslide win for the SNP, on the basis it was the political vehicle for independence.
That day, it became obvious the political fraud Sturgeon was a Brit plant conducting damage limitation work on behalf of the deep state. And she did not disappoint. Every single action that political fraud took whilst in power was to pull the hand brake on independence, accelerate the transfer of Scotland’s assets to England and preserve the colonial arrangement Scotland finds itself in for as long as possible.
“The custodians of the SNP; those meant to be the guardians of its great promise to free a people from oppression have forsaken Scotland and the Scots”
An important point Northcode. But, we have not merely been abandoned; according to postcolonial literature a colonized people, culture and nation are in the process of being ‘sacrificed’.
As Mannoni put it:
“One feature of this dependent psychology would seem to be that, since no one can serve two masters, one of the two should be sacrificed to the other.”
And so, the Scots are presented as another sacrifice on the despicable alter of corporate colonialism, courtesy of a mankit co-opted national party leadership and privileged/assimilated bourgeois elite.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
Indeed, Alf. Thanks for adding that important addendum to the point I was attempting to make.
When we look around us and see what’s happening in Scotland right now it certainly feels as if the future of Scotland and the Scots, the future of an entire people, is being sacrificed for nothing more than the base greed of foreign raiders plundering Scotland’s wealth of natural resources.
I have mentioned in these threads several times that I am of the opinion “elections” in Scotland are a charade. Window dressing for the masses.
I have not hid my opinion that any democratic aspect of elections in Scotland disappeared sometime around 2014, before the referendum took place.
I have not hid my personal belief that Yes won that referendum, therefore, as an exercise in damage control, since then, the result of every relevant election that takes place in Scotland is decided by the deep state ahead of time. Then it puts its useful idiots within “Scotland’s” political class to work like little ants to deploy a pre-arranged “strategy” so the election can be manipulated and the “result” can become believable.
To aid that fabricated “credibility”, “experts” are routinely and regularly wheeled out to prepare the masses for the chosen “result”.
I stand by that thought even more today.
As I said in a comment above, Labour is dead in Scotland. The recent Hamilton election is a testament to that. Yes, it got the largest share of the vote, but that vote was in itself the minority, despite how much the deep state is trying to ignore that.
The “result” of a lower than 50% turnout being declared an official result proves to me beyond any doubt that the deep state is not even bothering any longer in pretending elections are democratic.
The only way Labour could have been possibly made look like a winner is if:
a. a ridiculous proportion of the electorate is disenfranchised (check. 56% of the electorate did not vote) and
b. the option the electorate most wanted was removed from the ballot (check. The SNP, which is the party most pro-independence voters sadly still associate with independence, did not campaign for independence. It campaigned to fight a ghost in Scotland: “the hard right”) and
c. a bogeyman credible enough to distract the masses from what they most want can be fabricated (check, enter “Reform”) and
d. voters scunnered with the useless government party are given a black-hole option for a protest vote, which will hoover the vote and will never do anything to disrupt the status quo (check, enter Reform), and
e. the low turnout is somehow successfully hidden from sight or successfully presented as “irrelevant”
Labour could only be presented as “the winner” in that voting exercise that took place in Hamilton because the five conditions above were fulfilled.
But here is the thing. Those five conditions could not be met randomly. For those five conditions to happen simultaneously, all the other parties involved in the deception exercise had to cooperate. Had the SNP campaigned for independence rather than fighting a ghost, labour would have not won. Had the greens not stand in that election, and the SNP would have possibly hoovered those votes and won. Had REform not stood, and tory voters would have voted tory, getting a largest share of the vote than labour. Had all disenfranchised pro-independence voters approached the polling places and cast a spoiled ballot, and the 56% disenfranchisement would have been more difficult to brush under the carpet.
Had the press not made light of the ridiculously low turnout, and the fact elections are no longer democratic could not be hidden any longer.
This was published today in an article within The National newspaper:
“SNP activists say John Swinney’s framing of the by-election as a “two-horse race” between the SNP and Reform UK helped clear a path for Labour’s win – despite members warning party HQ ahead of time”
And there we go. If I wasn’t already suspicious that the elections in Scotland are all rigged by default and that all political parties are colluding to preserve this union, this would have convinced me.
We are all being taken for fools.
I am uncertain if ‘we are all being taken for fools’ but i have no doubt whatsoever that you certainly qualify Mia, Is there a more bitter, collection of fantasists anywhere in Scotland than those who post drivel on ‘Wings’ everyday, all day?
” Is there a more bitter, collection of fantasists anywhere in Scotland than those who post drivel on ‘Wings’ everyday, all day?”
Does that make you one, then?
Chas. Usually, I bypass your comments because they contribute nothing positive to National liberation. You appear to have virtually unrivalled ignorance and obviously are incapable of analytical thought such as Mia exhibits in ‘Wings’ comments.
Mia’s analysis is logically sound but not, of necessity, proof of co-ordinated action involving all of the ‘actors’ identified in the analysis. However, the example of State activity exposed in Daniel Di Simone’s (see BBC news) ongoing investigation shows the lengths to which officials will go. You are no threat to such ‘actors’, Chas, and that is an insult.
Chas, You seem a good intellectual match for the new MP for Hamilton.
“analytical thought such as Mia exhibits”
Mia’s “analytical thought” has led her to praise poot on here. And blame the Jews for stymying Scotland’s independence on here.
If you were any good at analytical thought yourself, you would have noticed that Mia writes off every democratic vote in Scotland as illegal or invalid when it does not result in something she herself would vote for.
But when it comes to Indy, she’s adamant that a minority vote in favour would be sufficient.
“you would have noticed that Mia writes off every democratic vote in Scotland as illegal or invalid when it does not result in something she herself would vote for.”
And I write off any ‘democratic’ vote in the House of Commons as unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic, if the outcome is that a piece of ‘Union’ legislation is passed by a majority of England’s MPs, despite it being rejected by a majority, even a unanimous one, of Scotland’s MPs.
No legislation passed in such a cavalier, unilateral manner can be considered legitimate ‘Union’ legislation, since the Union’s two sovereign so-called partners clearly did not agree to pass it.
Nothing in the Treaty or Acts of Union subordinates Scotland to England in any way, or obliges Scotland’s formal representatives to defer their majority decisions to those of England’s formal representatives, or even mandates the use of a flat voting system in the then brand new British parliament’s brand new House of Commons.
As those things weren’t written into the Treaty, then they weren’t formally signed off by England’s 31 commissioners, weren’t formally signed off by Scotland’s 31 commissioners, weren’t formally signed off by Anne Queen of England, weren’t formally signed off by Anne Queen of Scots, weren’t formally signed off by ratification by Scotland’s parliament, and weren’t formally signed off by ratification by England’s parliament.
Ergo, the current flat vote system in Westminster today, and in fact since 1707, has no legitimate formal standing whatsoever, in the Union.
On top of all that, Scotland’s MPs are the sole formal representatives of Scotland and its sovereignty, as England’s MPs represent England and its sovereignty, and neither is subordinate to the other by definition and by default, absent a formal agreement to the contrary, in the Treaty. No such agreement was written into the Treaty or Acts.
That means that any legislation or other matters passed on the basis of English MP majorities without corresponding Scottish MP majorities are fraudulent and unlawful, and every instance presents a serious infringement of Scotland’s sovereignty.
I wonder what Professor Black KC would make of the above?
OK, Xaracen, I stand corrected. You and Mia both.
I constantly challenge you to give us some examples of how your everyday life goes, when you put into practice your “sincerely held belief” that every law, statute, rule and ordinance that governs the minutiae of your daily life is illegal, unlawful, illegitimate, unconstitutional and a hoax.
That’s a challenge you constantly duck!
And yet, the merest second of thought tells any alert reader just how interesting and challenging even a simple trip to the shops must be for you when the very cash in your pocket represents an abusive, oppressive, over-reaching assault on your Scottish Sovereignty.
Oh to be standing behind you in the queue for the check out! What a riot of fun and fantasy that must be 🙂
I don’t know who is more insane, the people continually competing with each other to offer the most insane, delusional, fantasist rantings, all day every day (probably from the same wing of a secure hospital somewhere) whatever the subject of the main post, or the rest of us for engaging with it. There are a couple of posters who occasionally come and offer some interesting insights worth discussing, but I genuinely cannot understand what satisfaction anyone is getting for spending hours a day writing this stuff.
SNP is a top down party but one whose leadership is as dumb as fuck. The SNP lost a seat to a nearly invisible candidate who when tracked down could not construct a sentence. Lost to an unpopular Westminster Labour government who have gone out their way to punish the poor, the sick, low paid workers and the disadvantaged. The SNP leadership have not only alienated its support base but now plans to punish its own party activists for speaking out about this loss. A silenced party is a dead one. While Salmond was a radical and a winner, Swinney is a loser, Humza was useless and Sturgeon was an abomination.
AND THEY CALL IT «DEMOCRACY».
NOT A JOKE.
When the Romans set about extinguishing the Jewish identity of their administrative province of Judea following the Bar Kokhba «revolt», circa 130 of our era, against their occupation Judea was renamed SYRIA PALAESTINA by the emperor Hadrian, and non Jews from other Romanized provinces were actively encouraged to settle.
Bar Kokhba lost to the savage might of imperial Rome but during four years he was the greatest existential threat to Roman hubris.
I suspect that a Pax Anglica Farage-Starmer axis would be happy to see the return of NORTH BRITAIN as payback for those heady years of the Scottish «revolt».
After all, you never know when the next «revolt» might erupt, do you?
I think you should add Swinney and Sturgeon to that Pax Anglica thing. We would not be in the place we are now had Sturgeon and Swinney truly pursued independence instead of the preservation of this colonial arrangement with every single one of their actions.
CLIENTELISM takes many forms.
Wheesht, TURABDIN!
Wingers mostly don’t like facts that contradict their preformed prejudices.
Like the fact of which indigenous group first laid claim to that disputed region washed by the eastern Mediterranean. That fact gets them screeching with inchoate, carpet biting rage.
Quite a few Wingers are cheerleaders for the savage might of imperial colonisers too. They reckon that any colony or former colony that “pokes” the empire deserves what comes to them.
The Greatest Living Scotsman – Sir William Connolly is apparently back home this week. The result in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse gives me an opportunity to rehash his wise words: “Don’t vote – it only encourages them.
‘Russia is at war with Britain and US is no longer a reliable ally, UK adviser says’
That came as a wee surprise this morning – never heard of this so called Defence Expert before , Fiona Hill is the name – anyone else?
Any analysis of the postal vote yet?
Mia, Is as always, 100% correct.
The enemies of independence are at the heart of the SNP
The problem for us now. Is that the indy voters are not going to vote. Added to that the indy vote no longer coalesces under one party. Indeed many indy voters are voting for unionist parties.
So that leaves us with a massive problem. Even if the polls show 60% support for indy. This is not reflected in who they choose to elect.
To the outside world , and mainly London. Any vote for Labour, Reform, Tory or Liberal, is an endorsement of unionism. We all know that’s baloney. But perception is as important as reality.
The SNP have become a devolutiinist party. So there is no reason to actually vote for them. Other than the false perception that they are an indy party.
The mess Sturgeon has left, could be the end of our movement. I think we are splintered to a point of headless chickens running around bumping into each other.
I’ve copied some text from Alf Baird’s THREE PHASES OF DECOLONIZATION paper which I think is relevant to a comment I made up thread about the SNP.
Alf’s paper can be read in full on the yoursforscotland.com website here: Liberation of the Mind
Is that you,Alf?
🙂
Mia says
‘On the other hand, if the people of Scotland were not required to vote for the ratification of this treaty of union, then there is no requirement for the people of Scotland to vote to terminate it either’
Except that Mia also believes in the supremacy of the wishes of the sovereign Scottish people.
For Scottish MPs to attempt to break the Union against the expressed wishes of the Sovereign Scottish people would be at best an act of treachery against their own people. We need a majority of votes cast, not a majority of MPs.
“For Scottish MPs to attempt to break the Union against the expressed wishes of the Sovereign Scottish people would be at best an act of treachery against their own people.”
No, it wouldn’t. The act of treachery has been being elected as a party of independence and then renegue on the constitution of the party itself for the sake of extending their salaries and pensions for 10 years and counting.
For your assertion to be true, you must make the assumption the union is the default state. Well, I do not start from that assumption. Why the hell should I? The union should have never happened. The opposition to that union across Scotland was well known. The union was forced on Scotland thanks to the collusion of the English crown with its “aristocracy”. Therefore, the default state remains the Kingdom of Scotland as a separate state. Those MPs would simply be putting right a wrong that has lasted over 300 years and counting.
Now, there are many people in these threads who advocate pursuing independence following the rules of the British state.
Well then, according to the British state, the UK is not a democracy, but a parliamentary democracy. In that context, it is perfectly legitimate for a majority of Scotland’s Mps to end the treaty.
“We need a majority of votes cast”
No, we don’t. We never did. All what we have ever needed is a majority of anti-union MPs with conviction, with a backbone and with balls.
I invite you to read the memoirs of Scotland’s representatives of the first two “Great Britain” parliaments. You will see it there in black and white. “We never called a vote to enter the union, we therefore do not need one to exit it”.
Scotland has been going round in circles for over 300 years because, either its MPs are to feart to do their jobs, or too greedy and want to make a career on the back of those desperately seeking the restoration of Scotland’s statehood.
A majority of the vote was never an obstacle to force the union on Scotland. Why should now become an obstacle to end it?
“Kingdom of Scotland”
Hear, hear. I’m all for it.
But first we have to get rid of those damn republicans who infest the Indy movement like a parasite.
Isn’t it odd how quickly people jump on the bandwagon of believing Scottish politicos have sold out to cash in on the generous salaries and pensions provided by WM and HR?
Yet just a moment’s thought clarifies we could fix that in an instant – just promise to set Independent Scotland’s politico salaries and pensions at double the pre-Indy rate.
That would incentivise the move to Indy. Not only that, we’d maybe get a better class of politico too post-Indy. If we want the best, we should be prepared to pay for it.
And our national exchequer will supposedly be hoaching with cash to pay for it all.
The petrifaction of Scotland’s elected national representatives and their ‘lack of courage at the decisive moment’ (as predicted by Fanon) has left Scots in a constitutional limbo.
Which is why Liberation Scotland was created by the people and has taken up the mantle and initiated the decolonization process under international law.
However, another, perhaps complementary action, may be to request Scotland’s Court of Session to review the ToU; especially now that Professor Black KC has made such a compelling case that the Treaty was never implemented, that the ‘UK Union’ was and remains a political hoax and hence is a constitutional fraud against the Scottish people and nation who have gravely suffered ever since from oppressive colonial governance and laws.
Would Scots crowdfund such a judicial review of the ToU?
“Would Scots crowdfund such a judicial review of the ToU?”
This one would!
You may have a point, Alf.
Never mind the 5.5 million Scots who have been hoodwinked by the hoax.
There’s 50 million Anglos and billions of others of all nationalities and races all over the world.
People don’t like being made a fool of. That’s a heck of a lot of people to have pissed off.
“People don’t like being made a fool of.”
Yes, quite, and in this regard we are still awaiting the response from Scotland’s legal establishment to Professor Black’s findings, who remain awfully quiet on the subject, including the usually responsive Dean of the Faculty of Advocates.
Professor Black’s legal opinion that there is no UK Union as far as Scotland was and is concerned has major ramifications also for Scots Law and is surely worthy of some response, especially from those wha, and yes, in their foolishness, aye ser the wrang croun!
Thanks for your reply, Alf.
I’m very happy with the idea of re-instating the Scottish Crown. That’s exactly the kind of “out of the box” thinking that is needed to kick start an Indy revival.
When will it become official policy, and by which party or group?
I mind weel the legal shenanigans that went on back in the discredited EU era to ensure that EU law did not impinge on the royal prerogative owned by the English monarch. We could get the same independence of action written into our new Scottish constitution to ensure our Scottish monarch would never be at the mercy of foreigners.
That would be to the benefit of every Sovereign Scot too.
No doubt plenty of the usual republican suspects would flounce off in a monumental huff. But no loss if we can garner a groundswell of support by Sovereign Scots for our Scottish Crown.
And exactly how do you achieve that without interference from Westminster?
That’s right, you can’t! We even have English parties allowed to stand in Holyrood elections!
Give it a rest.
I’m surprised that Mia hasn’t told us that Scotland beat Iceland last night yet.
How do you account for Ferguson?
Has he been colonised?
@Hatey McHateface
What Ferguson are you referring to here? Here is a wee update from me. I got an estimate for a communication and media strategy to stand as an Independent Candidate in 2026 of between £110k and £120k. Unreasonable? Let’s compare with an Independent Candidate who stood in 2021. Spent over £15k for 1.4% of the vote. (And he was a former MSP with a relatively high public profile) So I stipulated saving my deposit of over 5%. I think a six figure sum is accurate. When you see 15 minutes of Politics Scotland this morning devoted to Labour and the SNP each! that is the commercial equivalent to thousands in ad spending. So I have to find a more creative innovative way of competing. Brakes on after Hamilton result meantime for a good think.Got the basis of around half of the 30 policies needed to stand. Presently I cant see any Independents getting elected in 2026. And a 3 way split will squeeze small parties as well. I will come back in a few weeks if I have a credible solution. A Pamphylia Parliament it won’t be.
Hi George,
Thanks for the update.
I was referring to Ferguson’s OG for Iceland 🙂
Good luck with the ongoing campaign.
OF COURSE to many in native Scottish politics this is by far more important.
link to archive.is
The owl and the pussy cat went to sea,
in a boat they called the Madlee
‘n she crewed some goonies with plenty o’ hubri
swathed neat in a nice kuffiyi
It’s really wicked to hope somebody takes her down into the tunnels to sample at first hand, for a year or three, traditional humous hospitality.
That’s why I try desperately not to hope that.
Dammit! Must. Try. Harder 🙂
She’s safe! Praise be!
They’re gonna take her home, but first, like a naughty but badly parented child, she’s gonna be plonked down in front of the telly for a wee while.
The important thing is to keep Reform UK out but that’ll be an even bigger battle in the main Holyrood election where they will surely get some list seats.
Interesting to see RevStu again gloating at SNP failure. Perhaps he’s right to insist that the SNP are no longer interested in independence, but I doubt it. You can dislike the party as much as you want, but what else are they about?
The Rev himself has done a great deal to talk down the only credible pro-independence alternative. What actions does he recommend, I wonder? Given that ALBA are dropping down the plughole, perhaps it’s the Rev, not the SNP, who is less interested in independence than he claims.
“Interesting to see RevStu again gloating at SNP failure. Perhaps he’s right to insist that the SNP are no longer interested in independence, but I doubt it. You can dislike the party as much as you want, but what else are they about?”
We’ve answered that question extensively over the last few years, but if you want a one-word summary: gravy.
Where the fuck else is Shirley-Anne fucking Somerville going to get a job that pays over £100K?
Hmm, I notice the rest of my post goes unregarded. Wonder why.
Because I’m tired of fucking repeating myself? I’ve explained half a dozen times, in thousands of words of articles, what I think needs to be done. If you can’t be arsed reading them, I’m not summarising them for you on demand every three days because you’ve got a fucking goldfish’s memory.
As ever Mia, you are 100% correct!
The result didn’t shock me – Weak Swinney leadership and an SNP that doesn’t promote Indy plus Sturgeon and her alphabet queer and Wokist cabal continue to damage SNP and Indy Cause.
The result actually angered me. Reform are an English NAZI Party. Imagine the vote they will get in those constituencies with Huge English White Settler Populations.
I think ALBA need to start contesting by-elections. Note the Queer Greens got enough votes to have given weak SNP a win.
Oh and we have the Quisling Press and Media and even the Wokist Press and Media in Scotland pandering to an English NAZI Party without a shred of shame. Imagine we are now in the last year of the Devolved Parly but we wont be going Independent.
I’m rather proud of the voters in the place of my youth issuing a big FU to the election forecasters. It’s so in character of them too.