Did That Actually Just Happen?

It's been election week and the result is something I am actually finding hard to comprehend. In fact it's been an odd sort of week on the world stage, starting with Bin Laden finally getting his comeuppance. I suppose as some sort of woolly minded liberal I should have been hoping for him to face justice in the form of a fair trial with legal representation rather than being bumped off and dumped in the ocean like some kind of gangland hit. But ultimately I don't care - he was a hateful mass murderer that has caused great harm to the world: not least, to ordinary Muslim people that he may have claimed to support. Somehow, the method of his dispatch seemed quite fitting. I just hope that this is a signal for American foreign policy to allow the Islamic world to sort out their own problems in peace.

Anyway, back to the election. I almost didn't get to vote at all. The cut-off for electoral registration was just two days after we moved house so I had to get the forms in at the very last minute. In fact, I had to go down to the main Post Office in Falkirk to make sure they made the last collection. I received the acknowledgement letter back from the registrar but it didn't actually indicate where the polling station was. As it turned out, it was in the same place that I went to last time I lived in Stenhousemuir. That seemed to be sorted until my erstwhile employers decided to send me down to London for the day. I ended up as the first person to vote, banging on the door at 7am to stick my X on the various voting forms (conveniently colour coded to confound the chromatically disadvantaged) before making great haste towards the railway station.

A few months ago it looked like the Labour Party would be getting back into power. It was a close run thing in 2007 with only the narrowest of margins allowing the SNP to form a minority government. This is an interesting arrangement whereby legislation can only be allowed through by horse-trading with other parties. Thus, we get a few extra police to appease the Conservatives or the Edinburgh tramway to keep the Labour party happy (at least I think it was them - no one seems to want responsibility for that mess now). I think it actually worked quite well and the SNP have shown that they are quite competent in government - at least when they have others with a hand on the reins. I wasn't particularly looking forward to another Labour administration. In the eight years that they controlled the Scottish parliament they achieved little that did not appear to have been rubber stamped from London. It really did lead one to wonder what the point of a devolved parliament was. So I was hoping that the SNP could remain the largest party. What I didn't expect was that they would take full control.

It's interesting to see what has actually happened. Despite the high number of seats lost, the Labour vote has actually held quite steady. The Conservative vote has dropped slightly. I must admit I was quite surprised that Annabel Goldie, who is quite popular by herself, invited David Cameron up to campaign. Still, I suspect their remaining support are pretty much dyed in wool blue. The Lib Dems have pretty much imploded: I think they are now regarded as little more than Quislings. It seems a long time since the popularity that Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy brought them. However, it appears that where any votes have been lost they have all gone to the SNP. The parliament's elaborate voting system was meant to prevent a majority government - but that is now what it has produced.

So, where from here? In the first instance, I can't see that much changing. The horse-trading will, no doubt, subside but it also means that those SNP policies which had been blocked can now be re-introduced: most notably, the referendum on independence. At the moment, I don't think that would get a Yes vote. However, after the shenanigans that have gone on during the AV referendum I can't see any vote having a reasoned debate. With the AV vote, both sides have made some dubious claims, but I think the "No" campaign, in particular, have just been telling bare faced lies. I expect politicians to have differences of opinion but they should express those differences in reasoned debate. However, some of the claims can't even be explained by logical fallacy - they are just lies, plain and simple.

This leaves the problem of just how any Scottish independence referendum would be organised. AV is a pretty simple choice. Independence is a much bigger question. What status would an independent Scotland have? Would it remain in the Commonwealth, EU, NATO etc? Would the pound remain or would we have a separate currency or even join the Euro. Even down to simple matters such as whether the country would run everything or would they still use UK based services like the DVLA and so on. I can't see our current politicians having the moral capability to discuss this sensibly. The pro-Union parties would publish all end of nonsense about what independence would mean whilst the pro-Independence campaigners are going to be tempted to simply stick a giant poster of Margaret Thatcher on every available billboard and schedule Braveheart on TV for the night before the vote.

I suppose that is what the attraction of the SNP is right now. I don't think everyone who voted for them actually wants independence but the party has kept itself at arms length from the disrepute that the other political entities have become embroiled in. I just hope that they treat their overall majority with respect: with great power comes great responsibility.