Lib Dem and SNP coalition. I reckon it will take about a week, but this is the scenario that will pan out. Why?
Well, the Lib Dems seem resolutely against any independence referendum. Tavish Scott has forthrightly declared: “We will not be the handmaidens to independence.” Now it seems the SNP have gotten themselves pretty chummy with the Greens, giving that coalition 50 votes. However, it would I think be a pretty measly 50 votes. Being presented with a pro independence coalition, would give the perfect blueprint for an anti independence opposition coalition to form. It would mean that the SNP would be able to do very, very little as a Government. Crucially, it means the SNP have no chance under any circumstanses of getting the referendum passed. Salmond knows this, knows sticking to the referendum pledge will be an empty gesture and make the election a pyrrhic victory for the SNP.
So he will present his party with a stark choice, no referendum and no governing or no referendum and an effective government. All this “minority administration” banter is just bluff as far as I am concerned. There will be kicking and screaming, oh yes, but Salmond is a canny operator and should get heads to turn. (However, in doing so, he may sow the seeds for massive SNP divisions in the future.)
The sums do not lie. The SNP have the moral authority to lead the Scottish Government, but they do not have the moral authority for the referendum.
Well, the Lib Dems seem resolutely against any independence referendum. Tavish Scott has forthrightly declared: “We will not be the handmaidens to independence.” Now it seems the SNP have gotten themselves pretty chummy with the Greens, giving that coalition 50 votes. However, it would I think be a pretty measly 50 votes. Being presented with a pro independence coalition, would give the perfect blueprint for an anti independence opposition coalition to form. It would mean that the SNP would be able to do very, very little as a Government. Crucially, it means the SNP have no chance under any circumstanses of getting the referendum passed. Salmond knows this, knows sticking to the referendum pledge will be an empty gesture and make the election a pyrrhic victory for the SNP.
So he will present his party with a stark choice, no referendum and no governing or no referendum and an effective government. All this “minority administration” banter is just bluff as far as I am concerned. There will be kicking and screaming, oh yes, but Salmond is a canny operator and should get heads to turn. (However, in doing so, he may sow the seeds for massive SNP divisions in the future.)
The sums do not lie. The SNP have the moral authority to lead the Scottish Government, but they do not have the moral authority for the referendum.
posted by Special_K at 12:18 AM
2 Comments:
How come they have the "moral authority" to govern if they do not have the "moral authority" to pursue their primary policy?
Because there is a fundamental distinction between being able to direct the public policy of a country and radically overhauling the very institutions of the state itself.
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