by James Kelly

Scot Goes Pop

What are the most important truths about Scottish politics at the moment? Here are three that spring to mind…

1) Cross-voting on the constitutional issue, although less common than it was, still exists. In other words, there are passionate supporters of independence who vote for unionist parties, while a small minority of Brit Nats vote for the SNP or the Greens.

2) Although people who indulge in cross-voting (such as Cat Boyd voting Labour) may imagine that their vote for a particular party has nothing whatever to do with their views on the constitution, the reality is that it significantly affects the prospects for independence. Every vote for Labour or the Tories makes an independence referendum less likely to happen, and every vote for the SNP or the Greens makes it more likely to happen. It’s no exaggeration to say that anti-independence voters changed the course of Scottish history in 2011 by helping to elect a majority SNP government committed to holding a referendum. Whether the constitutional issue was at the forefront of those voters’ minds is essentially irrelevant.