Elections in UK result thread | 63 comments (61 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden)

BBC News - Scottish election: SNP surges to Holyrood majority

The Scottish National Party will form Scotland's first ever majority government after a stunning election victory.
The party has reached 65 seats in the 129-seat parliament, with some counts still to declare, taking key seats in Labour heartlands.
The Liberal Democrat vote also collapsed, with the party returning four MSPs so far.
The SNP now has enough Holyrood votes to hold an independence referendum.
Labour leader Iain Gray announced he would stand down from the job in the autumn.
SNP leader Alex Salmond, whose party formed a minority government after the 2007 elections, described the unfolding Holyrood election results as "historic".

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by A swedish kind of death on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 10:33:16 AM EST

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

BBC News - LIVE: Vote 2011

BREAKING NEWS: Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray tells BBC Scotland he will stand down in the autumn after his party suffered a crushing defeat in the Holyrood elections.

I believe that the forthcoming election will lead to the death of Labour in Scotland, and hopefully the birth of Scottish Labour.

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by A swedish kind of death on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 10:39:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

Gray had to go, he was widely criticised for Labour's collapse.

Leader's have to be visibly leading (Ed Milband should take note)

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 10:57:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

Does anyone know what the EU's attitude would be toward Scottish independence?

by FoolsErrand on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 10:47:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

Hm, I think most other EU countries would not care as such if the UK splits. Perhaps Spain and Belgium might see it as bad examples.

But the more interesting question is how a request to join the union from an independent Scotland would be treated (as it is the state of the UK, not its territory that are members today an independent Scotland would formally start outside the union (barring re-interpretation of rules)). Since Scotland would fulfill all requirements (legislation already in line with EU directives) the only thing that could keep it out is if some countries would try to block it.

So I guess it boils down to if the government in London would protest. Would it?

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by A swedish kind of death on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 10:57:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

Surely it would be less of a problem that German unification, which brought in lots of new people to the union.

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 11:06:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

this is presuming that anyone here from the UK actually knows much about it. :-))

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 10:55:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

I presume you know more then I have read at the BBC site in the last halfhour :)

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by A swedish kind of death on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 11:00:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland (none / 0)

I can contextualise some of the results more readily. But much of the time I'm reading the same stuff you are

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 11:04:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Only two Greens (none / 0)

BBC News - Scottish election: Live results and reaction

1603 Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie, said he was disappointed that his party had only secured two MSPs. He said: "I would be lying if I tried to hide my disappointment. It looks like we are in for another five years of extremely hard work."

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 11:08:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Scotland - final result (none / 0)

With all votes counted this is the seat distribution:

SNP 69 (+23)
Labour 37 (-7)
Cons 15 (-5)
Lib-dems 5 (-12)
Others 3 (+1)

BBC News - Election 2011 - Scotland

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 12:33:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland - final result (none / 0)

Greens got two of the "Other" seats and the last is the Presiding Officer, elected by the parliament.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Fri May 6th, 2011 at 12:47:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Scotland - final result (none / 0)

Actually the third other is Margo McDonald, an Independent who used to be quite prominent in the SNP.

The Speaker in the UK Parliament does not remain connected, in any way, with their former party. The Speaker seeks re-election as such, not using a party label.

However in the Scottish Parliament, the Presiding Officer is no longer counted with a party group when elected. I believe no Presiding Officer has yet been a candidate for re-election. I presume they would not use a party label in an election, but the custom may not yet have been clearly established as it has been in the UK Parliament.

by Gary J on Mon May 9th, 2011 at 11:14:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Elections in UK result thread | 63 comments (61 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden)

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