Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Ross during First Minister Questions. There used to be a joke that there are more pandas in Scotland than Conservative MPs. At that time, there were two first and only one second, although this is due to the fact that the pandas were sent back to China at the end of this year, without giving offspring.
The fate of the same Tory is markedly different. David Mundell is still the MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale. But given the devastation the SNP is in right now, could the Tories have better days ahead? Can they be taken seriously again north of the border?
The expected general election next year marks 65 years since the Conservatives, then mostly called Unionists, won a majority in Scotland (although they did not win a majority of seats): the only post-war party to do so. While Mundell has welcomed additional colleagues over the years, he is still no closer to the 22 Conservative MPs elected in 1979 after Margaret Thatcher's victory. general election 2019. Even before her latest disasters, Nicola Sturgeon's constant demand for another independence referendum was causing problems. This helped the Tories, led by Douglas Ross, to deprive them of their absolute majority in the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.
Ross must now take on new First Minister Humza Yousaf and at the very least reclaim the seven seats that were lost in 2019. almost vehemently oppose the extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea. Yusaf promises to protect thousands of jobs dependent on the oil industry. Ross' task is to question this commitment.
As Britain's most successful political force since it became Scotland's ruling party in 2007, the SNP has been rocked by the scandal and its inner workings, including £600,000 «missing». Its collapse opens up opportunities for conservatives. Polls show that the appetite for Scottish independence has fallen to 46%.
However, the Tories cannot assume that dissatisfaction with nationalism will automatically benefit the party. Indeed, they suffer in two important ways. First, a significant drop in support for the Conservatives in the UK has been attributed to Scottish voters.
And increased Labor support under Sir Keir Starmer is better for Scottish Labor. That's a big danger for the Conservatives, who are at least 10 percent behind Labor in recent opinion polls. They are banking on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's carefully measured approach to calming anti-Tory sentiment in much of Scotland. He is also the keynote speaker at the Scottish Conservatives' Conference in Glasgow this weekend.
Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar and Sir Keir Starmer at the Scottish Labor Party conference in February. Photo: Getty
The relatively new Labor leader, Anas Sarvar, is a definite asset who has had a significant impact in rebuilding himself and his party in the former Labor heartlands of Glasgow and the west of Scotland. Most constituencies here have been taken over by the SNP, but there is a chance that Labor could win back up to 20 of them.
Traditionally, Labor expected to get the lion's share of counties in Scotland, often at least 40, to help them form the British government. However, the issue for both Tories and Labor is whether they will continue to let the SNP win seats by stealing votes from each other. The total number of Unionist votes — for Conservative, Labor and Liberal Democrat candidates — constantly exceeds the number of votes collected by the SNP, but this allows the separatists to win.
A gentlemen's agreement will allow tactical voting to stop the nat. Whichever big party is best suited to defeat the SNP should be allowed an easy victory and the rest either fail or fail to try.
The Tories can help Labor in the West, while Labor will respond in kind to North. East. Tribal loyalties are deeply rooted in politics, but now both Tories and Labor must put the country above the party in order to kill the idea of dividing Britain once and for all. Targeted tactical voting is the way to do it.
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