A search is under way in Donald Dewar’s old fiefdom, for the seven men and women that delivered a resounding punch on the nose to the hallowed ground from which the Nu-Labour project was accidentally born.

Anniesland, the Glasgow constituency once held by Dewar himself, whose untimely death opened the door to Blair, should have been a safe Labour seat. It was a safe Labour seat. Boundary changes were predicted to increase their majority to over 5,000. Bill Butler, the Labour candidate, was a ‘safe pair of hands’, he’d been a Labour MSP since 2,000. He stood for the deputy leadership of the party, he was heavily supported by the Trade Unions, he’s married to another Labour stalwart. It would take more than a 10% swing to unseat him – what could possibly go wrong?

Yet, yet – eight solid Labour voters stayed home and watched Jeremy Kyle, confident that the national teat would still be there when they awoke. When they got up this morning they discovered that Bill Kidd, the SNP candidate ‘who didn’t stand a chance’ had unaccountably taken the constituency by a meagre seven votes.

There will be reams of blogs written today on the referendum and the yawn inducing AV voting system, many more on the other local election results, but none will hurt Labour pride as much as the loss of Anniesland right in the heart of the Glasgow political sewer.

A cracking win for the SNP – all credit to them.

Mr Thomas
Boyd May 16, 2011 at 13:15

I am pleased SNP won Glasgow Anniesland. Labour Have raken
thw voter of
Glasgow for granted. The SNP won this first past
the oost seat by 7 v0tes.
Labour have dreadful record in
Glasgow. The Labour are rotten after 13
years as British
government. SNP power to their elbow in beating
Labour
in Glasgow Anniesland.

Big Fat Trucker
May 9, 2011 at 10:03

I’m not a unionist, and the country in which I have felt most foreign has
always been Scotland.

They can go if they like, but they won’t be back begging for more subsidies
anytime soon. National pride will see to that. They will probably wind up with
a joint defence agreement, and constitutionally it would make sense to keep
the Act of Settlement, to retain access to all those shiny baubles in
Holyrood, and to stop Tommy Sheridan or his ilk becoming President.

Then perhaps we can make progress on the reformation of the English
Constitution. Keep it flexible (written ones cause civil wars, as the
Americans found out), but a much reduced Parliament would be a start. I’d like
to see a citizenship qualification for starters: it would need to have a low
threshold (minimum NI payment/public service/reaching majority without a
criminal record), but it would remove the “useless mouths” from civic life
unless they got off their backsides and contributed.

2Mac May 9, 2011 at 00:27

alba.org.uk/scotching/greatdeception.html

Have a read at the creative accounting of the treasury.

A Scottish Forensic Accountants report including all data tables, source
documents.

Then take a drive through southern England and compare to Scotland.
Spending on BEHALF of Scotland is very.different to spending IN Scotland.

Engineer May 7, 2011 at 16:31

If the Scots get independence, does the UK become the Untied Kingdom?

Bob May 7, 2011 at 16:11

Can we have Berwick back now?

robbiethered
May 7, 2011 at 09:40

I hope you are right.
I’d love to see the shower calling themselves Nu
Labour ousted from any serious power in the UK forever. Never thought of this
as a way to help.
I cannot forgive what those shysters have done to the UK,
in many ways.

By the way my nickname was never meant to imply socialism. It’s rather an
allusion to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_the_Devil

DavidB May 6, 2011 at 22:35

Aw for goodness sake. Independence has naff all to do with this result. The
SNP got re-elected for 3 good reasons.

They have run a competent minority administration which has been
characterised by a lack of internal party bickering and a lack of overt
corruption.

The Labour leader in Scotland had zero charisma. And ( for Adenoidal Ed’s
benefit ) I heard people on a vox pop by those bastions of impartiality the
Beeb complain that they didn’t like his voice.

The LibDems have been gloriously set up as fall guys by Cameron ( playing a
blinder ), and are being brutally bashed by the voters. On that form Cameron
will win an election called any time in the next year.

We are not stupid here. We know how to use the various voting systems to
get what we want and get rid of what we don’t want. And we know we will get a
referendum on Independence which if I was a betting man I’d put a large wager
on being voted against. But we will elect the SNP as long as Mr Salmond is
leading it.

Kingbingo May 6, 2011 at 23:17

Neither is Mr Salmond stupid. With him leading the Yes vote against an
English old Etonian regularly demonised on the beeb leading the No vote,
there is a decent chance Mr Salmond could once again surprise us all with a
victory.

At least that is what I am praying for.

DavidB May 7, 2011 at 07:18

My heart will be ruling my head when the day comes too. And I’ll be
voting for the divorce. So we are in agreement on something which is a
start.

Kingbingo May 6, 2011 at 20:58

Forgive me for getting all in a flap, but this is the most exciting
political event of my life, and will be on tenterhooks until the results of
the inevitable independence vote comes in.

Sure conventional wisdom is that only a third of scots want independence,
but conventional wisdom also said that an outright majority was impossible in
Holyrood, much less for the SNP who it was biased against yet they achieved it
anyway.

If Scotland break off from England taking their socialism with them, my
country will finally be free of that fat soviet leach on our northern border.
It is unlikely that Labour will ever win many elections in the remains of the
UK again. We will not end up paying out for a country that hates us.

I don’t give a damn the terms. Take ALL the oil field with you. Take NONE
of the debt the Scottish banks have left us with, but please please please
just GO. It will cost us plenty short term, but long term it will be easily
the best thing to ever happen to England and will finally kill of Labour,
probably north and south of the boarder.

plantman May 6, 2011 at 18:35

The best bit of England (Northumberland – or most of it) is North of
Hadrian’s Wall.

Are you seriously proposing that we abandon that to the Scotchers Mr Gildas
– or are you just a f**kw*t

Derek M May 6, 2011 at 14:24

Don’t forget, folks, that the only reason the SNP want independance, is
that they want all the oil revenue to squander in their own particular way.
When that is gone, they will be back, saying that it was all a
misunderstanding, and that England owes them a large subsidy again.

Ed P May 6, 2011 at 14:09

Fantastic results for all those opposed to the Spendthrift Party, sorry,
Labour. I hope Salmond achieves his aim of devolution, as my tax bill should
be reduced when we are no longer forced to subsidise the feckless &
workshy scots (& I’m a quarter scots – my leg won’t work anymore).

Captain
Ranty May 6, 2011 at 10:39

The Scots would be independent for roughly one yoctosecond.

As I have said before (and been roundly castigated for saying) before the
very first champagne cork lands, the newly independent nation will be on the
horn to Von Rumpouy begging for entry into the Stupid Club.

An “independent” Scotland?

It will never be so. Mark my words now.

CR.

Clarissa May 6,
2011 at 13:35

Don’t see why you should be condemned CR, I wouldn’t expect them to do
anything else. Scotland gets a lot of money out of the EU taxpayer so its
politicians won’t want to lose the income.

backwoodsman
May 6, 2011 at 13:59

Interesting point. Does the existing EU membership simply get split ,
or would Scotland have to go through the whole accession process again
?
For so many years the malign influence of Scotish labour party MP’s
at Westminster, has been so corrosive that it has unfairly damaged
Scotlands’ image south of the border. Well, OK, so has Barnett!

Goodnight Vienna May 6, 2011 at 14:54

As I understand it, since the UK as a whole is signed up to the EU,
the accession treaties would become null and void. Scotland would have
to renegotiate terms if she were ever to become truly independent of the
Union. The same would apply to England in that the UK would no longer
exist! That’s the theory at least but they’ll never let it happen.

Dave H
May 6, 2011 at 17:39

If we did it right, Scotland could have its independence and with a
quick sleight of hand, all the UK’s EU rights and obligations would stay
with Scotland in the EU and England would get out. We’d take the Welsh
if they want to come with us.

ukFred
May 7, 2011 at 08:34

Great idea, Dave H. I’d vote for it.

Akvavitix May 7, 2011 at 10:58

Let’s not bother with the Welsh eh! Labour can stay over there and
rule them. That’s what they want. As somebody tweeted yesterday “Wales
= Labour Voting Chimps”

Captain Ranty May 7, 2011 at 14:10

I took a swing at the subject here:

http://captainranty.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-next-for-alba.html

Am I obsessing on the EU angle? Quite possibly.

CR.

SadButMadLad May 7, 2011 at 15:11

Well someone has to obsess about the EU.

Captain Ranty May 7, 2011 at 17:31

I’m taking that as support, Saddy, and not a hint that I should
seek counselling.

CR.

Jeremy Poynton
May 6, 2011 at 10:37

Gildas,

Indeed. Though we should ensure that there are no import duties for fine
Malts. Most importantly, no more Scottish Labour MPs to rule over England and
fuck us up just because they can.

Whatever answers the West Lothian question is fine by me. Clearly, Scotland
has had it with Labour as well as England. That leaves just Wales – time,
therefore, for them to be devolved. Labour in England will hence be restricted
to the welfare-dependent &/or immigrant constituencies (they pretty much
are already – see here – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/region/48.stm)
and will in effect be history in England.

Please.

Gildas theMonk
May 6, 2011 at 11:28

I have always been an ardent unionist, but I have to say that i think
there is a real constitution issue here. There is over representation of
Scotland (don’t know about Wales) and without Scotland’s “block vote” Labour
would be a busted flush. Maybe Hadrian had it right after all…

Clarissa May
6, 2011 at 13:33

At the next General Election the boundary changes as a result of having
more equal size consistences will result in 19 fewer MPs in total from
Scotland, Wales and NI. That should address the over-representation in
Westminster by MPs from those countries.

England however will lose 31. As an educated guess most of those will
be from the cities, which will probably affect Labour more than it does
anyone else.

Gildas theMonk
May 6, 2011 at 09:36

I am more and more attracted to the idea of Scottish independence. And
rebuilding Hadrian’s Wall.

Lerxst May 7, 2011 at 00:13

Rebuild the wall by all means, but make sure it’s further north. No
reason in giving them the beauty that is Northumbria.

ukFred May 7, 2011 at 08:30

As an expatriate Scot living in England, I agree, so long as I can stay
on the English side of the wall.

berenike May 6,
2011 at 09:36

what tangentreality said.

tangentreality May
6, 2011 at 09:29

Far be it for me to bemoan the demise of the Labour Party in Scotland
(which I’m actually quite pleased about – where’s your fightback now, Red
Ed?), but it does seem that the Scots have simply replaced one bunch of
socialists with another bunch of socialists.

Credit where credit is due to the SNP – they’ve come a long way. But their
policies are still problematic. Their public spending is heavily subsidised by
England, and are campaigning to reform Barnett to make them even more
subsidised, their micro-economy is heavily reliant on financial services, most
of which involves doing business south of the border, and their hallmark
policy is a referendum on independence!

I’m all for the Scots being independent, if that’s what they want. But if
they go down that route, surely they must realise that their continued subsidy
from England must end? Which means the end of their mini-soviet public
services, which will be rendered completely unaffordable by the pitiful tax
take north of the border, and the collapse of their economy as the major
financial services firms move south in a hurry to where their customers
are.

Scotsfox May 7, 2011 at 15:41

One of the reason the Scots want out of the sick UK is demonstrated here.
Your ignorance of the actual situation is predictable and sad. Scotland is
NOT subsidised by England. What are you going to do when we reclaim our
natural resources? The only reason the UK clings on to Scotland is that it
would have been bankrupt a long time ago without Scottish oil. Now we also
have the prospect of being World leaders in renewable energy as well. Can I
suggest you get an education with regards to the Culture, politics and
economy of Scotland.

Engineer
May 7, 2011 at 16:25

Be careful with the oil argument. Revenues from the North Sea are
diminishing, and reserves are becoming harder (and more expensive) to
exploit. It’s unlikely that this source of tax revenue will remain
substantial beyond the next decade or so.

Ian May 7, 2011 at 17:15

Scottish oil?. I would welcome Scottish independence, but lets get an
international ruling on the anomalous north sea border between English
and Scottish waters. The standard is that this be drawn as a tangent
from where the land border meets the coast. This would leave a large
chunk of probably the best acreage properly in English waters. And of
course Rockall is probably rightfully Irish, so bang goes that oil and
fishing. I realise the Scots feel that they have worked hard making
those oil fields, and this has swollen a nurtured sense of entitlment
beyond what is reasonable.

dak May 8, 2011 at 03:01

That’s right, let’s put the maritime border back where it should
be, at Berwick-on-Tweed, and not near Carnoustie, to where that nice
Mr Blair moved it some years ago.

Now, why would he have done that?

TomM May 6, 2011 at 09:01

I think you will find that it was the death of John Smith that led to the
emergence of Blair as Labour leeder. Donald Dewer died whilst he was the first
Scottish First Minister in a Scottish Parliament. The devolution bill was a
Labour government bill when Blair was PM. If you are going to comment on
Scottish politics please get you facts right.

Anna
Raccoon May 6, 2011 at 09:21

You are quite right TomM, my bad, lack of sleep……still a stunning victory
for a party which wishes to relinquish its hold on the national teat –
something of great interest to the English. The devotion bill was a watered
down version of the SNP proposed referendum on Scottish nationalism. As for
‘if you’re going to comment on Scottish politics’ – jasus, you lot have been
down in Westminster for years commenting on English politics. We just return
the compliment. We’d be quite happy to return all the Scottish politicians
too –

Snowolf May 6,
2011 at 08:26

The ungrateful swine. Don’t they know it is their duty to vote Labour? How
dare they? They should string a couple of them up, as an example to others
unless they agree to sign over their postal votes like all good pliant Labour
(and some non-Labour) voters should.