Saying Aye waeLFI

by Robbie Dinwoodie

WITHIN DAYS of this magazine hitting the streets the United Kingdom will have a new Government, and from a Scots perspective it could turn ugly; a right-wing administration with policies out of kilter with sentiments North of the Border, pursuing a car-crash hard Brexit, with an added dash of payback for uppity Jocks.

This will happen regardless of, or perhaps in spite of, the relentless fake news that is the “Ruth is winning” meme perpetrated by the usual suspects in the salivating Tory-supporting press who wilfully misrepresented the council election results as the Conservatives winning votes from the SNP when the latter’s vote actually increased and any Davidson advance was at the expense of a floundering Labour Party.

Ruth Davidson staunch unionist

Matthew Parris, chilled by the Tories radical right

Indeed, she was lauded for a share of the vote for which Jeremy Corbyn was lambasted, and when subjected to a critical radio interview on actual UK Tory policies Ms Davidson floundered.

But the same media spin will apply this month. Any failure to attain the hopelessly high bar which saw the SNP win an implausible 56 of the nation’s 59 seats two years ago will somehow be spun as a lost mandate for a second independence referendum. Perhaps it is time to remind ourselves that for most of the SNP’s history a simple majority of Westminster seats was a mandate for independence.