I want to spark some serious discussion here, so no stupid propaganda this time, ok? ;)

But, you may know us Scots are having elections in 14 days, so I wanted to voice a few predictions, and give some (relatively unbiased, I try) information on the most popular parties.

Who's running?

Candidate       - Party           - Opinion polls

Nicola Sturgeon - SNP             - 43%-51%
Kezia Dugdale   - Labour          - 16%-19%
Ruth Davidson   - Tory & Unionist - 13%-19%
Patrick Harvey  - Green           - 6%
Willie Rennie   - Lib-Dem         - 5%-6%
David Coburn    - UKIP            - 3%

Obviously, these aren't all the candidates, but these are the 6 main ones. There's a clear split opposition: Tories, a third party, are trying to take over the "opposition" role, from Scottish Labour, who have a bad reputation and a weaker leader. If this was EUIV here are basic stats for you to play around with (this part is obviously highly personal and opinionated) -out of 6-

Competence/Delivery-Debate/Policy

Sturgeon: 5/6/4
Dugdale: 3/3/4
Davidson: 4/5/1
Harvey: 3/4/5
Rennie: 1/2/3
Coburn: 1/4/1

In conclusion: Sturgeon is generally the strongest leader and debater (she is very popular here even if you don't like SNP), Dugdale is in a better party but a weaker overall leader than Davidson. Harvey is a very good leader and is letting the Greens rise very quickly, but he's inexperienced. Willie Rennie is an absolute joke in almost all ways (his main campaign was him playing at a children's playpark), and Coburn is like Farage: weak leader, dumb policies, but a very convincing debater.

Sum up the parties?

SNP: Double childcare; implement 50p tax for highest earners; abolish trident; Keep universities free
Labour: Increase childcare; implement 50p tax for highest earners, shift the 40p tax up a bit higher and replace those currently on the 40p tax to 30p tax; abolish trident; Keep universities free
Tories: Keep childcare as is; lower taxes for all; consolidate trident; tuition fees will cost £1.5k per year
Green: Double childcare; implement 60p tax for highest earners; abolish trident; keep universities free
Lib-Dem: Increase childcare; keep taxes as is; keep but don't consolidate trident; keep universities free
UKIP: Keep childcare as is; lower taxes for all and abolish minimum wage; consolidate trident; keep universities free

Obviously I didn't even scratch the surface but that is really basic stuff. On a political spectrum this is kind of how the parties would stack up. (Really crappy img btw)



My prediction is that SNP will win by an outright majority, Tories will no longer be a 3rd party, but instead the main opposition party, Labour and Lib-Dems will lose loads of money they spent in getting votes, Greens will get a few seats (not exactly sure, but plenty more than last time), and UKIP will have a small increase.

Who would you support if you lived in our great realm?

Why would the rich care about a 50 pence tax?

PE, I hope you understand that "50p tax" = "50p for every pound they earn". Not just "50p" for their entire earnings ^^

edit: and Semice, it could be a politician, but it could also be Willie Rennie.

Edited 4/21/2016 18:31:20

Wut? -_-

Im glad you added the political graph. I would have been lost had you not.

An union of SNP-which in my very Scot-friendly opinon will win-and the greens is favourable and surely be about to happen. I´d vote SNP if I were to be to take part in this kind of elections if I were to live where you live at.

"A couple predictions about The Election"

There's only one: SNG will take everything but the south brinks, and maybe Edinburgh and Glasgow they'll miss, too. As for the ones that they miss, some mid-left or middle group will fill the void, I think it's called the Work Group?

i would vote for green if i lived in scotland

Edited 4/22/2016 03:42:19

@Juq What you're looking for is Labour. Also, Edinburgh is pretty much clear. Labour might get 1 seat in the south, and Lib-Dem in the west, but chances are it's all SNP. Glasgow is pretty heavy on Labour though.

And DON'T FORGET orkney-shetland who are obsessed with Lib-Dems!

">> And DON'T FORGET orkney-shetland who are obsessed with Lib-Dems! <<"

Won´t.