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Scottish Independence: A Second Bite of the Cherry or a More Fruitful Pursuit?
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I voted Remain in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Since then, I have come to the conclusion that I was young and naïve back then and didn’t completely understand all the arguments. I most likely voted ‘no’ for sentimental reasons: my heart felt more attached to being part of the UK, than Scotland per se. Fast-forward to today and obviously being a lot more mature and educated on the debate surrounding Scottish Independence, I am still content that I would vote Remain again on the grounds that I don’t believe that the SNP’s argument for Independence is persuasive enough to…
Proportional Representation Is Back on the Agenda but Which Kind?
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When arguing for proportional representation in a country where voters have become used to first past the post, we hit the problem that voters expect their MP to be a good constituency MP, that is a kind of social worker who will sort out their problems if they’re unfairly treated by the state. Proportional representation can’t happen when you have seats returning one representative. Hence, under proportional representation, voters don’t get a single representative dependent exclusively on their votes – except with Additional Member Proportional, the system used in London and Scotland, they can. In London, the Assembly has 25…
Another Referendum?
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The problem of asking people what they want in a referendum is that after the event, those happy with the result declare that the matter now settled and those who do not like the result then want another referendum at a later date. The problem for the Liberal Democrats is the party has held both views at the same time, following the Scottish Independence referendum and then the Brexit vote. In Scotland, the Party was happy with the result after the Independence Referendum, as the party campaigned strongly against independence, although it was estimated that 40% of Liberal Democrat voters…
The Scottish Parliament Election
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The recent elections to the Scottish Parliament saw an increase from 4 to 10 Liberal Democrat MSPs at Holyrood, compared to 58 for the SNP, 17 each for Labour and Reform, 15 Greens and 12 Conservatives. Now the sixth largest party in the Scottish Parliament, the Liberal Democrats have fallen from 17 MSPs in the first Parliament in 1999, when they entered a coalition to form the first devolved government with Labour 27 years ago. In the following two elections the Lib Dems only lost one seat. The party has celebrated this recent result as a great success, but what…
