In true Taylor Swift-style, Scottish voters have decided to “shake it off” by ignoring sustained opposition attacks and continuing to show their support for the SNP.
In spite of the “SNP bad” rhetoric from Labour, which has been mounting a Better Together-style campaign against literally anything the SNP says or does, its negativity is failing to reap rewards, according to a TNS poll this week on next year’s Holyrood election.
If the results anticipated by the ScotlandVotes seat calculator play out in May, the SNP will win a majority, with 78 seats.
Labour will drop to 25 MSPs, with only list seats after losing in every single constituency. A very painful result for them but the upside is our proportional representation system will ensure they remain the main opposition party, with all the benefits that brings. The Tories would have 15 seats, the Greens would grow from two to nine, becoming the fourth-largest party in the Scottish Parliament and the Lib Dems would see themselves relegated to fifth with just two MSPs.
The less said about that the better
Much publicised attacks such as a claim that the SNP are “robots,” from Labour MP John Woodcock of Barrow-in-Furness, that well-known guru of Scottish politics, are having a boomerang effect.
However, this is just a poll and anything can happen before May. The biggest danger the SNP faces is complacency, which is what happened to Labour in Scotland. I don’t think that mistake will be repeated in this case.
What the poll reflects is that Scottish politics is revolving around the SNP.
It wouldn’t take long to count the main opposition’s press releases about their plans and policies. They are all about attacking the SNP, no matter how tenuous the link.
This is a sad state of affairs for Scottish politics. Whether you like it or not, the SNP has a record, a strong team and a vision it is 100% focused on laying before Scottish voters.
The opposition needs to find its substance if it is to turn around its fortunes. Just repeating “SNP bad” demeans both their chances and themselves.