You would never guess it from the media but Lord Ashcroft’s latest major polling effort strips bare the entire lie about a Tory and Unionist bandwagon rolling in Scotland.
You would never guess it from Lord Ashcroft’s Tory agenda-driven report of the findings either. This tendentious nonsense ignores Scotland completely – indeed I do not think he even mentions the nation’s existence. No paid media journalist would ever dream of reading more than the executive summary of the report, and certainly would never comb through the data tables, which contain the actual information on which the report is just a gloss.
But the data tables break down the sample by “region”, of which Scotland is one, and thus give us a very great deal of information. The Ashcroft polls have a 10,000 sample and the Scottish sub-samples of over 900 are more than used for many standard Scotland only polls.
So here are the highlights:
It is indeed true that Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is more popular than Nicola Sturgeon – but only in England.
Contrary to constant media propaganda, Nicola Sturgeon rates over 12% higher than Ruth Davidson. Invited to rate their performance from 0 to 100, Scottish voters gave Nicola Sturgeon a mean rating of 52.91% (Table 47) and Ruth Davidson 40.52% (Table 48). Despite Davidson being proclaimed by the media as the new Jim Murphy/Jesus Christ, including constant lying claims that she is the more popular.
But Ruth Davidson is very much more popular than Nicola Sturgeon – with the English. In every region of England, Davidson is widely preferred to Sturgeon.
There is no Tory Revival in Scotland.
Asked whether they would consider voting Conservative at the next Westminster election, on a scale of likelihood from 0 to 100, 65% of Scots voters answered 0-10 “there is no chance I would vote Conservative” compared to only 10% who answered 91 to 100 “I will definitely vote Conservative”. (Table 8)
The mean Tory score in Scotland on this scale was 23.84. This was narrowly behind Labour. (Table 9) Typically Ashcroft’s poll does not even ask about the SNP. But note this methodology gives a mean result that is higher than a party’s actual percentage vote: totaling the party mean scores for England gives you more than 100%. So Tory support in Scotland is running below 23.8% and below Labour.
Again this is completely contrary to the media propaganda that has been blasted constantly across Scotland.
Tory Britain is Totally Alien to Scots.
In answer to the question “Do you think Britain is on the right track, or heading in the wrong direction” Scots stated by a resounding 67% to 33% (excluding don’t knows) that Britain is heading in the wrong direction.
This compares to a clear majority in England that Britain is heading in the right direction. (Table 15).
Again contrary to constant media propaganda, Scots are much less obsessed than the English with controlling immigration. Only 28% of Scots named controlling immigration as one of the top three political issues, significantly lower than any region of England. (Table 19) A tiny 4% of Scots think immigration is the most important issue (Table 20).
But more revealing still is the ability to discern continued Scottish support for more left wing approaches to the economy. Here Ashcroft accidentally does us a favour by his exclusion of the SNP from the question.
Asked who would “have the best approach to growing the economy and creating jobs”, and not given a chance to answer SNP, Scots favour Labour over the Tories by a conclusive 46% to 36%. This compares to an equally strong preference for the Tories across England. (Table 25). Interestingly an extraordinary 15% of Scots plumped for the Lib Dems, presumably in reaction to no SNP choice being offered.
Again this is a devastating disproof of the media narrative that Scots have swallowed Torynomics. The Scottish preference for Labour over the Tories shows up in later tables on schools, the NHS, the environment etc.
Tory Scotland is a Myth the Media are Trying to Propagandise into Reality
As we gear up for the next referendum, I am cheered that the poll clears up the difference between empirical observation of the Scottish public and the picture portrayed by the media.
The media are lying.
The Blairite leadership of Scottish Labour betrayed their party by close collaboration with the Tories in Indyref1. As a result the party is in meltdown – but there is still a strong public sympathy for what might be described as real Labour values. This mantle has been taken up by the SNP.
But because the Scottish Labour Party as an organisation is a laughing stock, and because the Tories are highly hubristic and have convinced themselves of their own propaganda about their popularity, in Indyref2 we will face an open clash between Independence and Toryism. The Tories will no longer be lightly disguised behind Gordon Brown. Hard-faced anti-devolution unionism and City of London economics will be shoved down voters’ throats.
I have no doubt at all we will win this battle and finally achieve national independence again. If Ashcroft has the honesty to look at the message hidden in the unused data of his own poll results, the Tories realise it too. Which may explain their aversion to a referendum.
first ! 🙂
Great and fascinating piece of analysis. Thanks, Craig. I shall resist the inevitable nonsense that will ensue with the usual suspects.
Labour no longer has the support to keep Scotland in the union. The Tories never could have enough support to keep Scotland in the union.
The only chance that Labour did have, and it was a good one, lay in putting forward a policy combining maximum devolution with a radical left wing for social and economic justice. Such a programme could well have outflanked the SNP’s mildly social democratic proposals.
That is not going to happen however-all the energies of the ‘deep party’, the MPs, the bureaucrats, most of the Union leaders, the local machines, the swamp of academics, media types, political aides and probably most of those listed as potential candidates for office by Party HQ, would sooner follow Hollande and Papandreou’s ‘socialists’ into oblivion than allow the Labour Party to put forward a socialist programme.
Such a profusion of confusion. God bless your soul, if you haven’t put him to sleep.
Elsewhere in the sky, such a beautiful moonrise.
Bevin
Firstly I would say that the SNP are moderately strong social democrats. Neither mild or radical social democrats. And certainly not fake social democrats like David Owen’s SDP.
If Scottish Labour had become genuinely pro home rule and distanced themselves from the London Blairites they would be still an electoral force. But that ship has sailed.
Labour has no clothes on the DevoMax promise. Most especially because when Dugdale said it Corbyn shot the idea down. The idea that the minor SLAB party with one MP could wag the Westminster dog with no interest in granting Scotland full Home Rule is absolutely stupid and after Gordie Broon promised it in the infamous Vow and then SLAB were the most miserly in the subsequent Smith Commission vetoing almost everything proposed. Even the Scottish Tories were, slightly, more devo keen than SLAB.
Polling consistently shows over 70% of people in Scotland think the Vow was in no way lived up to. Which all together means that SLAB have tried to offer it again shows how absolutely and utterly desperate they are to stop or scupper IndyRef2 as they know in their water that Scotland is likely to vote Yes this time.
It is not the offer of a confident party able to deliver but the last dying wave of a drowning group.
Nailed it, Muscleguy!
A referendum for the sake of a referendum
Politics for the sake of politics.
Independence for the sake of independence.
Whisky for the sake of whisky, I can understand.
But during the day, for God’s sake or your own, please talk about how to make the cake bigger than just how to carve it. Is *any body* in Scotland? Please show me.
I left this comment on the previous thread around the time you posted this story. It’s not wholly inappropriate here, so with permission I repeat:
It’s official: The chief export of Scotland, over the years, decades and centuries is not whisky, it’s their people. I wonder why?
And it’s chief import is cars. Over 30 million Scots around the world, yet Scotland has never managed to produce a viable car. I also wonder how many countries have over 80% of their population living outside their country?
With such erudite Scottish commenters and thinkers here, I hope one can get some quick and frank answers.
Because, Alcyone, the metropolitan always waxes while the colony wanes. That’s the entire purpose of colonialism.
I have some sympathy with that Craig. I shall reflect upon that. Now please grant me the favour of a reply to mine @21.35. Does Nicola have the foggiest understanding of business?
A bit out of date. Most people are over their awe of Lord Sugar.
Rather disappointing comments thus far. And the humour as per usual exceedingly weak.
Just call it the usual CM Gobledegook!
If it’s being called out as ‘Gobbledegook’ as early as this in the thread-it must be pretty much correct.
” The chief export of Scotland, over the years, decades and centuries is not whisky, it’s their people. ”
This may come as a complete surprise to you but the same can be said of Ireland and many of the English counties. It has to do with their being driven from their landholdings and livelihoods by capitalist agriculturists.
Look in any phone book in Canada, the United States or any other of the anglophone countries and you will run across the names ypou will find in your local directories (it occurs to me that there no longer are directories!)
You might want to look up Highland Clearances – they are old news, Samuel Johnson wrote about them, so they might have filtered down to your locality.
Have you not heard the songs and music of Cape Breton or the Appalachians? Leadbelly made a career out of the Border Ballads.
Absolutely right Bevin. The diaspora of the Scots was largely caused by the greed of Westminster and their friends. The land was not able to support them, mainly because they were thrown off it in favour of sheep. If you had ever studied history, Alcyone, you would know that. Or did you study only English history at school? I’m sad to say I did, and I was at a Scottish school. I hope those days are over.
Did your school teach you of the enclosures acts as well or did it only teach Scottish history?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure
The rest of Britain isn’t still feudal, the Highlands isn’t the only place they adopted modern farming methods, it’s the last place they adopted modern farming methods, everywhere else in Britain people had already been cleared from the countryside to the cities.
Alcyone, Scotland has very little economic autonomy. Your inference that it is not competent in handling its economy is therefore invalid. I suggest you educate yourself about Scotland’s economic position in relation to the UK and try to objectively analyze information you receive about Scotland’s economic potential. Examine the history of the union of Scotland and England and you will find that Scotland has never been able to achieve its economic potential under this arrangement. However, perhaps you feel more comfortable being fed information that you can easily digest? Maybe life’s just a bit easier that way?
I asked for ‘erudite Scottish commenters and thinkers’ to speak. So far only one has spoken –16 words– and it’s not you.
Skunks are known to release a powerful smell through their anal glands when threatened. Skunks will usually only attack when cornered or defending their young, and spraying is not the first method of defense. A skunk will growl, spit, fluff its fur, shake its tail, and stamp the ground. If the intruder does not leave, the skunk will then lift its tail and spray its famous skunk odor.
Obviously Better Together isn’t working for Scotland is it.
*Suffering Together
FTFY
Please tell me the name of a country with 30 million people that manufactures automobiles. Australian auto production just terminated, and that was an ongoing operation for many many years with significant exports. Labor unions in OZ are very powerful, and even they could not stem the tide of economic efficiency in a world of low tariffs. To begin production in Scotland, enormous investment would be needed, and no one is foolish enough to waste that money. The economies of scale are nowhere as important as in mass production of cars. Henry Ford proved that. Compete with the Chinese? The Koreans? The Japanese? The Indians? Dream on.
Furthermore, educating people for export is a very sound green industry.
Australia is having a pretty good go at that right now, have a look at the percentage of college students in OZ who are from China.
Canada.
Australia, too (pop. < 25M).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_Australia
Oh, and also the Netherlands (pop <17M).
In fact, this gives all the car manufactures in western Europe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Western_European_automobile_manufacturers
Many of these countries have populations under 30M. I don't think the lazy sod who asked the question ("mauisurfer") bothered to give it more than a moments' prejudice.
as i said before, no more autos being made in oz
last plant closed
wiki says
There are currently two large car manufacturers with production lines in Australia; however both manufacturers have announced to end Australian production in 2017.
glenn said:
I don’t think the lazy sod who asked the question (“mauisurfer”) bothered to give it more than a moments’ prejudice.
The lazy sod actually said:
Please tell me the name of a country with 30 million people that manufactures automobiles.
And thus far the only countries named are
Canada which has over 36 million people
Australia, which is terminating production this year, and Netherlands, which manufactures 100,000 cars per year, the name brands of which very few people on earth have ever heard.
Canada/Population
35.16 million (2013)
wiki says
Netherlands
Main article: Automotive industry in Netherlands
Netherlands imports most of vehicles, having small own manufacturing less than 100,000 per year.
The current population of Canada is 36,547,617 as of Sunday, April 9, 2017
Sweden?
Sweden, yes, historically did manufacture lots of volvos and saabs, i have owned both. But Sweden peaked 10 years ago and now produces half that many. Volvo sold out to Ford, which then sold the company to Chinese, and that is the future.
quote
My iPhone, my shoes, my clothes, pretty much everything else mass produced I own is made there, why not my car? What’s in a name, anyway. Does it matter if the Swedish car you are driving is a Chinese-built car made by a Chinese company? Is there, in the consumer’s mind, a difference between “Volvo, designed, engineered and built in Sweden (and owned by Geely)”; and “Volvo, made in China, by a company called Geely, which owns Volvo”?
Swedish trucks are a success however. So Sweden is a good reply to my inquiry.
Oh, Sweden is a good reply, forsooth! How very generous of you, I trust Roy appreciated the pat you kindly bestowed on his head.
Why don’t you have the courage just to say, “Yes – acknowledged – I stand corrected”, even after you’d weasled, ducked and dived around all the other refutations of your lazy assertion that no car manufacturing takes place in smaller countries.
And even more importantly has flourished even, particularly in the overall century referenced.
The only “strong” unions in Australia are the AMA (doctors), the CFMEU (construction, energy, mining, forestry), the CPSU (bureaucrats). Most of the others such as the Shoppies, AMWU (manufacturing), AWU (grab bag of what ever they can get), and the once mighty MUA (merchant sailors, stevedores) etc are as weak as p**s, they only exist as vehicles for getting their leaders elected as Labor party members into the 17 chambers of Australia’s nine parliaments – plus the 546 local councils!
Another factor in the timing of the demise of vehicle manufacturing in OZ was the very high value of the AUD during the so called ‘mining boom’ (cheered on by the then Federal Labor government as a mark of their economic expertise). At the same time the value of the currencies of the vehicle industries major export markets (Middle East) were in decline. The cost of an Aussie vehicle doubled in the gulf states. If the AUD had remained at its historic trend rates (closer to where it is today) Ford and Holden might have survived – for a while longer at least.
Boris Johnson’s arse is blocking out the sunlight in Tory Britain. The total eclipse has been compared to the Icelandic volcano eruptions in 2010 which threatened to destroy jet engines landing at UK airports. The main problem with the current Mount Johnson volcano is the huge emissions of toxic gas, lies and utter bollocks from the molten core of pressurised vomit lying under mountain of neo-con propaganda about Syria.
Glad to hear the sun is still shining in Scotland. I might go there this weekend.
Excellent satire there Giyane.
That wasn’t satire.
Masterful !
Show some respect you people.
That man is the Forlorn Secretary of the Disunited Kingdom.
If anything the fact the Conservatives have become the official opposition in Scotland has been underreported. The general narrative about Scotland has been its radical, anti-UK long term direction, with fairly lazy paralells drawn with Scandanavia or Southern Europe. Which doesn’t correlate with an upswing in voting for the party that has formed the most right wing goverments since the war.
The Tory party is only the opposition party in Holyrood because of the bizarre voting system. They won less constituency seats than Labour and it was because of the list votes that put them second. In fact the got a smaller percentage of votes than Maggie Thatcher did at her worst. There is no growth of right wing politics in Scotland.
Given – as you say – that the SNP is now perceived in Scotland as the standard-bearer for Left politics, I am now wondering whether it will continue in that role after independence. Will it not be forced to plan its economy in accordance with global and EU commercial and financial norms, and hence be unable to deliver the greater equality and adequate social provision it implies, but never quite promises, will ensue?
And, given that the the Scottish Tory vote has also partly fled to the SNP, its chameleon attributes are much more indicative of a populist party flawed by internal conflicts between left and right than a genuine leftist movement. It’s a ‘disposessedist’ movement, IOW. Like UKIP, it’s attracting whatever the Scots equivalent of Essex Man is, along with disenchanted Red Clydesiders. I don’t think it’s a party of the left at all.
Corbyn, Sturgeon ain’t.
SNP are left of centre social democrats. Corbyn is not liked in Scotland so god forbid that the FM would be like him!
It will be interesting to see if anyone posts an answer to you: I am far from being an expert on the subject, but, from a distance and paying relatively little attention, your analysis seems right on.
Love that one sentence! In order, then. The nature of the SNP post-independence is obviously irrelevant. The whole point is to achieve a situation where new parties form new policies in response to new conditions. The ‘myth’ of an SNP-Scotland outside the UK is actually just lazy non-thinking, and there’s really no mystery about how leftist politics works in northern European nations of around 5million, is there? Plenty of examples!
The myth of Tory flight is equally so: even a brief perusal of Wikipedia shows that the permanent fall in the Tory vote equated to a rise in the Labour vote, and that the current rise in SNP votes equates to falls in Labour and LibDem votes. To the (small) extent there’s been a Tory ‘resurgence’, that’s small-c conservatives returning from Labour *as* the conservative opposition. Obvs, there are conservative members of the SNP, as there are in BritLabour, but as noted above, that’s irrelevant. Building a broad consensus representing majority Scottish voter interests is not a flaw pre-independence, it’s a precondition of independence. Afterwards, there will be a Conservative Party to represent them, a Socialist Party to represent them, and so on (really, only in the UK could one ever have to point this out – anyone would think no-one had ever become independent of UK Parliamentary politics before!)
The UKIP analogy is just ignorant: the SNP are attracting the votes of a consistent 50% of voters, drawn from all regions and demographics, they are a party of government (not one ex- defector MP), are pro-EU, pro-immigration, and allied with the Greens!
As a socialist, I’d say that no, the SNP are not left-*ist*. But they aspire, for obvious reasons, to represent and enact the policies favoured by the majority of voters in Scotland. Which are. And there honestly *is no actual* debate, much less any contradiction, about ideological purity vs. democratic representation of collectivist, progressive social and economic policies. That all-against-all fight in the PLP is truly the stupidest and most pointless in modern politics. There is an alternative, but calling it ‘like UKIP’ and stereotyping those who vote for pro-EU, pro-immigration, pro-equality, pro-Green, anti-austerity policies as ‘Essex Men’ and ‘Red Clydesiders’ won’t ever get you there. I don’t expect (or frankly, want) to convince anyone whose preconceptions led them to that interpretation of those facts. But facts they are.
Try https://www.politicalcompass.org/uk2015 to get an idea of where the SNP sits in relation to the other parties.
After independence the SNP will probably fragment over a period of time into several parts based on individuals personal political opinions. This is not a bad thing as there is room for many differing opinions and ideas. First things first though independence before anything else. The EU can wait.
Thanks for the reponses! As I am typically and intentionally provocative on this topic – I want to see some evidence of thinking through the independence proposal, and that’s evidently the way to get it – it often seems that people are reading even more criticism into my comments than was intended. A couple of points, then.
1. I said that the SNP was ‘like’ UKIP in the sense that its appeal is across the political spectrum, with the main common point being that it taps those who feel hard done by: in the one case by Westminster, and in the other by y’know, the system. (Ultimately, I can’t help feeling that our present socio-economic-commercial arrangements are wholly responsible for what Westminster does, and would argue that they’re pretty much the same target, but the SNP, being, as someone mentioned, a left-of-centre social democratic party, aka a trimming supporter of globalism with a nice face, prefers not to see this.) UKIP’s anti-immigration stance is another matter: the two parties differ on this, IMO because the problems of mass immigration are only visible locally in Scotland, while they are widespread in England. Even where they are not present, as in the Northeast, the formerly industrial workforce can clearly see that un- or semi-skilled labour from god knows where is substituting for British workers, whose employment standards are rather higher in progressively de-skilled jobs. Rightfully, incidentally. They fought long and hard for decent conditions.
2. The notion that the SNP will fragment into an array of democratic parties once it leaves the Union is worth a look. What you are saying is that it exists only as a unifying force for independence (much as UKIP has been a unifying force for Brexit) and will fade away, its purpose served, once that’s been achieved. Like, dare I say, the much less competently organised UKIP? Well, maybe. But that’s not how politicians usually behave once they get a sniff of power, is it? I think you’re going to need some checks and balances there. Particularly as to the dominant party’s economic policy. You certainly aren’t going to be declaring independence from globalisation by rejoining/whatever the EU (any more than UKIP is by leaving it) And that means that overall, what really afflicts you remains unaddressed, unless the old-guard real Socialists can take over….and they’re not the most independence-minded Scots I can think of: many have a visceral loathing of the SNP and all its works.
I reiterate, the SNP’s numerical support derives from the disaffected, like UKIP. It’s a populist movement, and no worse for that. But its prospect of actually delivering what its present, probably partly transitory, support thinks it’s voted for, is minimal. Independence by itself cannot achieve this.
Ba’al, you may well thank DrL for his exemplary and patient answer. What is baffling is that it needs to be pointed out to detached English observers that the SNP (in some ways like the French Resistance was) is more of an organised broad movement of liberation than a conventional British political party. The “notion” (as you put it) of its future fragmentation has always been the corollary of its aim ( if not yet its destiny) whether or not independence is as futile as you suggest.
You need a Jean-Luc Mélenchon in Scotland (a French politician who Craig never, ever talks about).
We’re in the Twilight Zone, folks.
Your entire existence is controlled by the CIA and other assorted loons and criminals.
Great post.
Fascinating how they manipulate these polls to fit their narrative.
I noticed since Corbyn was reelected leader the Gurdianrag publishes an ICM/Guardian poll every other week showing how ‘unelectable’ he is. Its a psychological campaign. Flashing red ‘live’ feed. They learned their lesson the first time around when he came from 14 points the Tories to 4/5 points ahead before a new challenger entered the ring. Now its just a constant ‘polls show Corbyn is unelectable’ message.
Independence is coming. Call the vote monitors at the UN.
(on a side note – change the mail.ru address, the company is owned by Usmanov – the man you allege is a ‘ a Vicious Thug, Criminal, Racketeer, Heroin Trafficker and Accused Rapist’ in another post. I recommend @NSA.com 🙂 )
That should read – 14 points behind the Tories to being ahead……..
If only Scotland had a media that served Scotland’s interest, rather than the UKs.
Treeza to the electorate earlier. Her nation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08mjffk/party-election-broadcasts-conservative-party-english-local-elections-10042017
I has assumed it was only transmitted to England for the local elections on May 4th but I see that there are Scottish elections too on that date so commiserations all round for the PPB. 😉
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_local_elections,_2017
.
More total rollocks, which of course people like me are no longer allowed to comment on…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/10/the-guardian-view-on-the-french-election-change-is-the-only-certainty
Ain’t democracy great.
Mods, can you send this attention-seeking, off-topic git to the other room/thread. The penultimate commenter too please. Some people have lived decades and still don’t know ‘there’s a time and place for everything’. These are the new dissenters in our society? Heaven help us.
There seems to be some local lunar disturbance. Maybe it’s because there’s a full moon tomorrow night and it will be pink.
Not even your excuse is original. I’m ready to die a death by monotony.
Wonderful how the cockroaches try to divert from the obvious.
Whilst also trying to lead us into yet another idiotic war.
Whatever you do Mods, please don’t show them the United Airlines doctrine:
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/851550764325588992
What? Keep them fed and watered until we get there?
Oh my; what a delicate, special snowflake you are.
Do you need a safe space?
Yes,thanks.
Nice one! A little bit of sanity goes a long way.
I for one completely enjoy contributions from RobG-and very many others of a similar mind-set here, thank you very much.
You don’t think that Scottish independence deserves a reasoned debate without interruption?
This person completely denies that there are three full-size commercial nuclear reactors which are in complete and ongoing meltdown at Fukushima…
https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot
It’s like living in a lunatic asylum, it really is.
And going across to ENE News…
http://enenews.com/most-catastrophic-fisheries-collapse-in-history-expected-along-west-coast-official-this-is-a-nightmare-i-have-never-in-my-life-dreamed-that-it-could-get-this-bad-threat-o
I could give you much worst stuff than this, but know that I’ll be wasting my breathe.
Quite frankly, I give up on it all.
Tops, you’ve got twenty or thirty years. Worst case scenario is ten years or less. The cockroaches will tell you otherwise, because they are cockroaches.
You’ve allowed these total scum to destroy our planet.
RoBG
“This person completely denies that there are three full-size commercial nuclear reactors which are in complete and ongoing meltdown at Fukushima…”
Yes Rob. Mombiot has fallen in with Lady Barbara Judge who went to Japan to tell the Japanese
radiation was good for them.This is what she said. “And with scientists such as Professor James
Lovelock and critics such as the environmental activist George Monbiot coming on side, she is now even more confident.”
They are totally insane and should be sectioned
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/lady-barbara-judge-japans-smart-nuclear-weapon-8497747.html
Agreed. The Fukushima situation is the most dangerous humanity has ever faced. It is a perfect reflection of the nature of our intelligentsia that this story is suppressed even though not one of them has the ingenuity actually to show that ‘radiation is beneficial.’ A fortune, to be disposed of in a short time, awaits the prostitute scientist who comes up with a theory that is in any way plausible.
Listen RobG, genetic advances are caused by mutation, right, and what above all else causes genetic mutation? Stop panicking!
How can findings be a lie when something relevant is not mentioned? Just wrong.
I have been genuinely delighted with the Scottish media’s treatment of Rape Clause Ruth as the Great White Hope of the Tory Scotland. The hubris is delicious and I can’t wait to see her crash and burn with the intensity of a million nuclear holocausts.
Here is a message for any arrogant Tory wank floundering in the delusion that Scotland will turn Tory –
You are hated.
You are despised and will be driven from this land come the next referendum as the principle, nay eternal national enemies of an Independent Scotland. You’ll go in our history books as the main antagonist. That’ll be your main role – the Skeletor, Sauron or Satan of the Scottish people.
My father is a dyed-in-the-wool No voting Orange Order man. He’ll never vote for you and hates your guts. When I asked him if he would vote Tory to save the Union he just looked at me and went “I’d rather not, but if it came down to it, I’d vote for independence before those cunts”
We will always hate you. Feel free to believe otherwise – it’s only going to make the democratic punch in the gub a much more satisfying prospect.
Expect us.
Amen brother.
Yawn! As if a Scotsman asked to stand his round down the pub is any different to a Tory…. I cannae aford it! Yea right! We’ve heard it all before.
Racist!
There is a great likelyhood that Scotland will soon be free of their English Masters, good luck to you plucky fellows.
Aye, good luck yersel.
Thanks for the excellent analysis Craig.
Craig: Are you fiddling with Scotland while the rst of the World burns?
Yea, you sure have that right, Ben.
“the Scottish sub-samples of over 900 are more than used for many standard Scotland only polls”
Incorrect I’m afraid. it’s less than just about all of them, which are in the region of 1010-1030.
Still a valid poll, with a margin of error only slightly higher than the customary 3% (can’t be bothered looking it up).
Have you been on the whisky, or something? Is there any time you actually make sense?
Mmm, a veritable tyro. Step into my parlour!
CM,
Not withstanding as a Welshman that I cannot ever take seriously a Poll of 10,000 respondents across the UK, that when broken down by region gives completely different outcomes – if these Ashcroft Poll’s were 10 X larger, i’e., a minimum of 100,000 persons weighted by Region, great, we could make some real analysis, alas, this is not the case because in Wales it’s a fact that more than a third of Labour Party voters voted to leave the EU, and yet all we ever hear are figures quoted from one single Poll, namely the Ashcroft Poll, which is biased towards outcomes in the South East and London.
With regards your concluding statement that Ms. May (the Tories) is opposed to a further Scottish Referendum, this I believe is untrue, Ms. May has actually conceded that The Scot’s can have another Referendum, it’s the timing of the Referendum that’s been of issue, one I think the Unionist will lose.
As for Labour in Scotland, well, until Scotland has its own ‘independent Labour Party’, that is one that’s Scottish only and represents Labourism in Scotland, far to say Blairite Labourism is dead as a Dodo.
Excellent article and the poll result is repeated on the doorsteps of North Ayrshire where I have been leafletting and canvassing for the SNP. The Tory vote in my ward is also going to be split by the Scottish Unionist Party. Wiki them for their aims as you would not believe me! This party is going to attract the core yoonuch bunny boilers, and nicely split the Tory 22%. Do remember peeps to ‘vote til you boak’, a Northern Irish description of the local ielection voting system. After voting SNP 1, 2 and possibly 3 then give your next vote to another indy supporting party e.g Scottish Green Party or Scottish Socialist Party, then Libdems, then lastly, always lastly, give the Tories your last choice. This cannot harm your SNP 1, 2 (or 3) vote but if you stop there and don’t rank the others, you effectively abstain giving the Yoonuchs the decision on which of them will be a councillor. By placing the Tory councillor candidates always last, they will lose hundreds of potential councillors to Libdems and SLAB, if we all do this and it cannot harm your SNP choices (unlike in the Holyrood MSP Election when splitting your list and constituency vote by giving your second vote to Greens or Rise etc). By voting the Tories last (by preferring all other candidates before them) the Tories will fall into 3rd or even 4th place and will send the clearest message yet to Treeza that her tea is oot. By the way this is how Sinn Fein voters in N Ireland recently toppled the DUP, by voting ’til they boaked’ and placing the DUP LAST AFTER voting for every other party, whatever their policies, before the DUP.
Here in the Highlands we tried a SNP led council last time, it didn’t work, it didn’t work because their loyalties were to the SNP government in Edinburgh not to the people they were elected to serve.
We need councillors who will put schools, hospitals, social services first, Scotland will just sink further behind if people use their vote for a councillor thinking they are voting for independence, the young and the vulnerable will suffer for it.
Fred
How would being out the EU and losing EU support for rural transport and numerous projects help the Highlands? Vote unionist and you’re sending Theresa May a message that her bullying of Scotland is ok.
We are out of the EU as which councillor I vote for. We will wait and see what effect it has.
I’ll vote for the person who will do most for schools, hospitals, social services. We used to have a good hard working dedicated MP who fought tooth and nail for people in Caithness then a load of idiots voted for a muppet wearing a yellow badge because they thought they were voting for independence.
A plurality of your co-constiuents are a load of idiots? Perhaps you should move to a utopia where everyone shares your political perspective.
Colour me surprised that a Liberal is so intolerant; is everyone that disagrees with you on any issue an idiot, or just those that support independence?
Just the ones that would vote for a chimpanzee if they put a yellow rosette on it.
I fear, though I’m not surprised, you don’t understand.
Are you genuinely of the opinion that a plurality of those in your home constituency are idiots because you disagree with their political choice?
Seems a very illiberal idea for a Liberal.
I know many blinkered Labour ‘folk’ and similar numbers in the SNP but you’re the first Liberal I’ve seen espouse the idea, takes all sorts I suppose.
It seems to be you having difficulty understanding Sunshine. You do jump to irrational conclusions as well. Read what I said it isn’t difficult.
And if you think I’m a Liberal you’re in for a big surprise.
I understand Sunshine perfectly, it might not be Boyle’s finest work but it’s a relatively decent Sci-Fi thriller.
A surprise!!
I love surprises, what is it? Are you coming to visit? Should I bake a cake?
xxx
fred. see what Muscleguy says -april 11 @13:53.
HSBC’s Rona Fairhead and her cohort have had the chop at the BBC. The BBC Trust has been disbanded and there is now a BBC Board as at 1st April.
‘The government sought to find a new chair for the unitary board after Fairhead, the chair of the BBC Trust who was handed the role by David Cameron in May, stood down after May indicated she would have to apply again for the role.’ LOL
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/10/sir-david-clementi-bbc-chair-unitary-board-trust-bank-of-england
The new chair is Sir David Clementi, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and chair of Prudential and Virgin Money. Nice for Branson to have a friend in place there as he continues with his acquisition of OUR NHS.
Clementi produced the report on reorganizing the BBC management and then Bradley and May give him the new job. Hilarious.
Sir David Clementi Chairman
Tony Hall Director-General of the BBC
Simon Burke Non-executive Director
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson Non-executive Director
Ian Hargreaves Non-executive Director
Tom Ilube Non-executive Director
Sir Nicholas Serota Non-executive Director
Steve Morrison Member for Scotland **
Dr Ashley Steel Member for England
Anne Bulford Deputy Director-General
Tim Davie CEO, BBC Worldwide & Director, Global
Ken MacQuarrie Director, Nations and Regions
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/board-appointments
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Morrison_(TV_producer)
The 33 to 35% approval rating for Davidson and May in Scotland is actually well above what the Scottish Tories have ever recently polled. While the polling on independence is also clear No is still ahead in any future indyref2 and Scots want devomax not independence
None of those figures appear in this Ashcroft poll and there is no question on Scottish Independence there. I think you are just regurgitating some YouGove lies. Higher ratings for party leaders than the parties themselves are historically not unusual. Annabel Goldie had a similar thing in Scotland. Jeremy Thorpe is the classic example in the UK; also Charlie Kennedy. It doesn’t translate into votes.
In 2016 Ruth Davidson’s Tories got their highest ever voteshare and number of MSPs at Holyrood since the Scottish Parliament was founded in 1999. Thorpe revived the Liberals and in 2005 Kennedy got 62 seats. Almost all the recent Scottish independence polls have had No ahead
HYUFD
Ruth Davidson’s ‘fun’ election photocalls on assorted fauna and fighting vehicles might have given her a bit of celebrity and therefore made her approval ratings outstrip the support for the Tories in Scotland. Add in the factor that she was puffed up like mad for a while by the London based media and that really explains it.
Perhaps but in 2016 she still led the Scottish Tories to their best ever result at Holyrood
But still worse than the tories with thatcher at her worst. Not really impressive.
As Giyane said, wake up and smell the bacon:
“Westminster Terrorist Linked to Salafi Luton Imam Paid by Taxpayers to Fight Extremism”
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/10/westminster-terrorist-link-radical-luton-imam-paid-taxpayer-fight-extremism/
Andrew Gilligan @mragilligan
Here is the leaflet – picked up at the Luton Islamic Centre last week – that shows Westminster killer was its public contact
1:34 AM – 9 Apr 2017
https://twitter.com/mragilligan/status/850869555345985537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Flondon%2F2017%2F04%2F10%2Fwestminster-terrorist-link-radical-luton-imam-paid-taxpayer-fight-extremism%2F
”Manufacturing consent” ?
”Manufacturing consent” ?
Sorry about the repeat posting. Old and impatient !
Bevin, Labour has now gopt the chance for root and branch reform.
-It could reject the electoral system, appeal to most voters by announcing a law that would establish fair and proportional elections at all levels of Government.
-It could offer to reject postal voting and voter intimidation at the ballot box.
-it could specify that new housing must mention whether one is able to get a king size bed upstairs, at the point of sale.
-That every housing allocation should be split between individual housing and apartment building with one, two and three bedroom housing, offering a cheaper chance for young people to get somewhere to live. Affordable new housing rents should be pegged for a period of time at affordable levels.
– reject the Tory’s cheap and nasty plans to become a low tax low wage economy.
-reject this current war mongering for what it is, i.e. bad for our future.
After the local elections Labour supporters should demand the wholesale rejection/expulsion of all those who elected representatives who do not want to follow the new course that has been marked out by the current leadership. These people had their chance to fit in, their actions are making Labour a laughing stock, hallo Mandy and Miranda.
Scotland has always had a friendship with France, both want to be open to the world Socialist Utopian societies.
France has high unemployment and has been in a State of Emergency for more than a year.
France migrants: Huge fire guts Grande-Synthe Dunkirk camp
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39562742
A camp housing 1,500 migrants in northern France has been destroyed in a fire that officials said began during a fight between Afghans and Kurds.
At least 10 people were injured when the fire tore through closely-packed huts at the Grande-Synthe camp, near the port of Dunkirk.
Last month officials said the camp would be dismantled because of unrest.
The French north coast has been a magnet for migrants trying to reach Britain.
“There is nothing left but a heap of ashes,” said Michel Lalande, prefect of France’s Nord region.
And?