Prior to 1999, they used to joke that they didn't count the Labour vote in Scotland, they weighed it. They installed an electoral system in Holyood which they believed would all but ensure: a) that Labour would always be the largest party and b) that no party could ever win an outright majority. Fast forward to the 2011 Holyrood elections and the SNP romp home with an outright majority, even picking up seats in the regional list when they won the majority in the first-past-the-post seats. There's no doubt that this year with the Olympics and all the other sporting activities has given people a certain Britishness but people are fickle. Very fickle. The independence vote is a good two years away. Regardless of what you think of Salmond and the SNP, they have a fantastic campaigning team and big money behind them. The pro-union group is being led by the likes of Cameron, Milliband, Johann Lamont and Gordon Brown. That opinion poll lead will soon narrow.
can I ask, why, apart from it's your job, do you want to break up the United Kingdom so much? Who does it benefit apart from SNP members like yourself?
I don't disagree with any of that but why are they waiting 2 years to hold it? I don't for one minute believe that they think doing it to coincide with the Bannockburn anniversary will swing it. I'd have thought that it's unlikely that people who are set on independence will change their mind notr that those who are set on staying in the union will change theirs so it's down to the don't knows. Do you seriously believe that they're going to vote yes on the back of celebrations of a war that took place 300 years ago? Salmond's no fool and he's absolutely driven by getting independence so surely there has to be another reason?
First of all I'm not an SNP member, nor do I work for them. I do some work for Yes Scotland, who are an umbrella group for political and non-political organisations and individuals. I support independence because I believe we'll be better off economically, environmentally and socially whereas if we continue as part of GB we'll forever be ruled by a bunch of Eton toffs, whether they be Conservative, Labour or Tory. All three parties are basically the same. They all support cutting taxes for the rich while hammering the poor for the mistakes of the ventripotent and heartless bastards who got us into this mess in the first place.
