A pro-independence blog by James Kelly - one of Scotland's three most-read political blogs.
Friday, May 8, 2026
The rumour mill and the art of the possible
As we await the initial results and as the first strong rumours start to come through, could I just make a gentle suggestion to all SNP supporters. Just completely stop talking about an SNP overall majority for the rest of the day, and start talking excitedly about an unprecedented pro-independence supermajority that will take this country closer to self-determination. If it's true that the Greens are taking two or three constituency seats, the path to 65 for the SNP is now so narrow as to be almost closed off, notwithstanding the very interesting rumours about Shetland. But the combination of a strong Green performance with Labour saying they've had a disaster in Glasgow (which is likely to be replicated elsewhere) could still mean by the end of the day there will be a really, really sizeable SNP-Green majority after list seats are taken into account. Let's start talking the significance of that up.
It was a terrible mistake to stake a second referendum on winning a single party overall majority.
ReplyDeleteCorrect. But will the person responsible do the decent thing and resign?
DeleteThe purpose of a system is what it does.
DeleteSo the person responsible for the SNP winning is to resign? Weird logic!!!
DeleteAch there's always the Alliance to Liberate Scotland !
DeleteVery wise advice which this SNP activist has thought for months.
ReplyDeleteYet many of the cultists said they weren’t going to vote. They can suck on their dummies while the rest of us get on with living.
DeleteBreaking: "Senior SNP figure" hints that Rear-Admiral Angus Robertson may have been lost to a rocket fired from an unrecycled bottle.
ReplyDeleteFrom somewhere in Gaza.
DeleteSNP down over 12% in Dundee West and Orkney. Beginning of a pattern?
ReplyDeleteThat's bang in line with several opinion polls, their baseline result from five years ago was an all-time high of 48%.
DeleteA reduction on most parties % of votes excepting those who haven't stood before or had a lower base
DeleteCole-Scuttle claims Edinburgh Northern ahead of count.
ReplyDeleteSaves him talking about Shetland
DeleteFor balance: SNP gain Shetland from LibDems.
ReplyDeleteGethin holds Robison's old seat with 49% vote share but down 10% from 2021. No surprise that Gethin did not mention independence in his acceptance speech.
ReplyDeleteRejoice! John The Redactor has secured Perthshire North and turnout has only dropped by 12%.
ReplyDeleteWestern isles lost due to ‘Alliance’ splitting the vote!
ReplyDeleteSNP continue in minority government, Libs support them on the budget after getting all the policy concessions they want, including the unspoken moratorium on independence.
ReplyDeleteGreens pout in lonely opposition. Yessers slowly cotton on that there's something amiss.
There goes my seat (Edinburgh Northern) to the Brits, as I've expected all along. Oh well, thanks for the compensation, Shetland!
ReplyDeleteSNP + Greens = 42% here. Just not enough nationalists to beat the bourgeoise Brits that define this No city.
Shug no more. He's in third!
ReplyDeleteSNP 2 seats down at this stage.
ReplyDeleteOne being a 'notional'
SNP majority now very slim chance.
3.8% for ATLAS's Eva Comrie in Clackmannan & Dunblane.
ReplyDeleteAlways found her the best of the Prismers.
Only someone like Swinney can actually win an election but also provide the Britnats with the ammo to declare that he has failed.
ReplyDeleteGreens win Edinburgh Central. Glad to see a strong independence focused party winning that knows independence is connected to other fundamental changes needed.
ReplyDeleteWell done to the Greens taking two constituency seats
ReplyDeleteIfS will be wearing a black armband.
ReplyDeleteI see that Declan Skier is angry because ATLAS could (theoretically) have helped Labour win the Western Isles.
ReplyDeleteNow Dr Jim will be raging because The Party lost Strathkelvin & Bearsden.
What's not to like?
Atlas lol
DeleteProjected result of 63 for SNP and 16 for the Greens. A stonking Indy majority. Oh wait. Green votes/seats don’t count. Now that Flynn is here hopefully Swinney and the idiot sheep who voted for disastrous SNP only policy will have the good grace to apologise.
ReplyDeleteSo Jackie Baillie and I'm probably the only Indy supporter to say this, I'm glad to see re-elected for the 7th time as like it or no, she's a strong voice and Scotland needs strong voices.
ReplyDeleteShe blames Labour in the other place for the poor performance in Scotland and we all know the answer to that. It's not for her or Sarwar to resign, it is at least for SLAB to go its own way and become a party in its own right rather than cling to the filthy apron strings of English Labour.
Do it, or Labour completely die in Scotland. And at least think about coming out for Indy ...
great result for the SNP
ReplyDelete- now for the list seats to put them over the top
YASS!
Possible recount in Inverness & Nairn. (I know not the candidates involved.)
ReplyDeleteThe unionist press and the BBC have already started to refer to Swinney’s SNP only policy, and pointing out that it means there is no mandate to pursue Independence. Swinney needs to go. Step forward Mr Flynn.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the SNP have struggled a bit to get their vote out. Nothing like as bad as 2024 but enough SNP voter apathy to have ruled out any chance of a majority.
ReplyDeleteSwinney set the bar so high, will he see this result as failure? Very doubtful. If there's an Indy majority will he ask for a referendum? Not sure.