“Yes” got 45% in the Scottish referendum (on a high turnout of almost 85%).
SNP won about 50% of the vote for Parliament in this election, while that’s more than 30% higher than 5 years ago, it’s only a gain of 5% from “Yes”. So you take most of the “yes” voters and add a few disaffected Lib Dem and Labour voters (seems Labour ran a lousy campaign in Scotland) and there you go.
Their opposition was badly split so they easily scooped up seats by plurality. That’s multi-party politics for you. If the IRV thing had passed they’d not have won so many.
They’re to the left of Labour (though the marginalized right wing of the party is surely better than Labour) but it’s nice to see Labour reduced to 1 seat.
That 1 Scottish Tory knows he’s sure to get the Scottish Ministry.
Pinging the “The Scotsman” to this discussion
Maybe giving them fiscal autonomy (disaster) and the forbidding Scottish MPs from voting on rest-the-uk-only matters is what the future has in store.
As for Farange, no matter how many seats UKIP won, 1 seat or 30 seats, there was always a ZERO% chance anyone other than Cameron or Milliband would be PM.
UKIP could do with a better leader.
Just watched the video (live I guess) showing South Thanet’s totals, right when they announced Nigel Farage’s 16K (second place, the Tories took that seat, Labour was 11K, a couple of independents had 61 and 300+ respectively), and there were some rude folks in the crowd yelling “goodbye Nigel”. The Tory winner glared at them, and he credited Nigel with being the epicenter of a quake of discontent. Nicely done. Of course, he then said, there’s no need for UKIP. Nigel is speaking now, he’s pointing out that voters for SNP showed repudiation of Labour, and pointing out that second place for UKIP has resulted in just one seat, and calling for reform. Hmm, sounds like a Labour crowd, and the candidate is coming across as a thug, badmouthing Nick, typical Labour. The LD got its ass handed to it nationally, and the LD loser is still beating his campaign drum. Nick Clegg has resigned as LD leader.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11585996/Watch-live-Election-day-coverage.html
Ed Miliband resignation imminent as Conservatives win stunning majority - LIVE
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11591281/conservative-government-live.html
Technically the smallest number for a majority is 326 (half of 650 plus one) but Sinn Fein never attends Parliament, so the more seats that IRA/terrorist front wins, the smaller that half becomes. They lost ground this year.
Election results: Conservatives on course for majority
(no coalition, chew on that for a while; Cameron committed in 2013 to a 2017 referendum on EU membership if 2015 saw a Tory majority).
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-2015-32633099
[snip] The BBC forecast, with 635 of 650 seats declared, is Conservative 329, Labour 234, the Lib Dems eight, the SNP 56, Plaid Cymru three, UKIP one, the Greens one and others 19. [/snip]
[snip] Just as in 1992 when “shy Tories” refused to tell pollsters they were backing the party, but voted for John Major in droves, the exit poll suggests that all the conventional measures of public opinion have drastically underestimated support for the Conservatives. That will lead to something close to a nervous breakdown in the polling industry. [/snip]
The Toxic Miliband Factor That Will Swing The Entire Election... My Predictions For 2015 — Bill Coles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3283245/posts?page=25#25
Britain’s Labour has one-point lead over Conservatives - YouGov
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3285493/posts
Labour takes three-point lead over Conservatives ahead of UK election - Survation
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3285966/posts