Showing posts with label ed miliband. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ed miliband. Show all posts

Saturday, 12 September 2015

Labour takes a jump to the left with Corbyn landslide

LABOUR LEADERSHIP RESULT
Jeremy CORBYN251,41759.5%
Andy BURNHAM80,46219%
Yvette COOPER71,92817%
Liz KENDALL18,8574.5%
Turnout422,66476.3%

LABOUR made its most radical shift in decades as the landslide election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader marked the end of the New Labour era.

Mr Corbyn enjoyed an overwhelming victory in the first round of the ballot, taking 251,417 votes (59.5%) to finish well ahead of early favourite Andy Burnham (19%) and another former government minister, Yvette Cooper (17%).

The Blairite candidate Liz Kendall limped home in last place with just 18,857 votes (4.5%).

Already, though, Mr Corbyn has faced some internal opposition.

Within minutes of the result, shadow Health Secretary Jamie Reed had resigned, while - only a little later - Ms Cooper, former leader Ed Miliband and another shadow minister Rachel Reeves all confirmed they would not serve in a Corbyn Cabinet.

Of course, none of this is an unexpected turn of events or even a complete disaster for the new leader - bemused former Deputy PM Lord Prescott even pondered "who?" when asked about Mr Reed live on the BBC.

Nevertheless, even these minor enough ructions demonstrate amply the extent of the work which Mr Corbyn faces to keep his party united.

In fairness to the 66-year-old Islington North MP, he did offer a few olive branches in his opening speech to those on other wings of the party to himself and his many grassroots supporters.

He joked amicably about his differences of opinion with fellow candidate Ms Kendall and their sharing of late-night trains heading home from hustings meetings.

There was also a conspicuous absence of any mention of his views on the UK membership of NATO or the renewal of the nuclear deterrent Trident.

He did, however, attack the media directly, describing parts of it as "abusive" and "intrusive".

Notably, his newly-elected deputy, Tom Watson, is perhaps best remembered for taking on the News of the World over phone-hacking allegations in the last Parliament.

It is fair to say then that neither Mr Corbyn nor Mr Watson will be doing any Blair-style cosying-up to the likes of Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper or Paul Dacre's Daily Mail.

This will undoubtedly work against Mr Corbyn - he will be seen as fair game by the right-wing media which will dig for dirt and shriek hysterically at every perceived misstep.

But, at the same time, this is something which Mr Corbyn appears willing to accept as he moves Labour in an entirely different direction.

Indeed, he is aware that far greater damage will come opposition on his own side as he shifts Labour away from so-called austerity-lite policies and towards the renationalisation of the railways and major utilities.

Additionally, the road to national electoral success is mathematically difficult anyway, to say the least.

For, even if an anti-austerity Corbyn-led party won back the votes of every supporter of the Scottish Nationalists, the rump Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, there would still be a Conservative majority.

Boundary changes, due in this Parliament, will also favour the Tories - and so, while it is an uncomfortable proposition, Labour simply must do better against the Conservatives in Middle England to win.

Yes, there are the many - mainly younger - non-voters who could be swept up by Mr Corbyn before the next general election.

All the available evidence suggests, though, that the Conservative-dominated over-65s demographic will continue to out-vote their younger counterparts.

The worry then is that Labour has thrown a Corbyn-shaped comfort blanket around itself, and will do no better in 2020 than it did in May this year.

Perhaps a more pertinent worry for democracy generally, though, is that Mr Corbyn may not even be afforded the opportunity to make his case if the internal party disputes force him out.

This would be despite his huge mandate in having won almost 60% of the total vote, and having won in each of the three sections - comprising of party members, registered supporters and affiliated supporters.

Rightly, right now, there is scepticism over whether Mr Corbyn has a widespread enough appeal to win an election against the Conservatives.

But at least the election of Mr Corbyn will decisively end a previously accepted view that the two main parties were just the same.

Mr Corbyn is ready to give British politics a shake - indeed, it might never be quite the same again.

Friday, 8 May 2015

Election 2015: Tories take control as Nationalists sweep Scotland

GENERAL ELECTION 2015 RESULT
CON36.9% (+0.8%)331 (+24)
LAB30.5% (+1.4%)232 (-26)
SNP4.8% (+3.1%)56 (+50)
LD7.8% (-15.1%)8 (-49)
UKIP12.6% (+9.5%)1 (+1)
GRN3.8% (+2.8%)1 (nc)
PC0.6% (nc)3 (nc)
Others3%18 (nc)
CON majority of 12 seats - Turnout 66.1%

DAVID CAMERON returned to Downing Street for a second term after the Conservatives won a sensational, and largely unforeseen, first majority since 1992.

The Tories won 331 of the 650 seats on a devastating night for Labour - and it was also one which just about completely wiped out the Liberal Democrats.

Unsurprisingly, given the outcome, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg both resigned as party leaders - and Nigel Farage joined them after he failed to win a House of Commons seat for UKIP for a seventh time. 

Meanwhile, in Scotland, the Nationalists' revolution - which began last September during the independence referendum - continued unremittingly.

Nicola Stugeon's party took 56 of the 59 seats available to them with some absolutely stunning victories, and so became easily the third biggest party at Westminster.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander was beaten by 20-year-old student Mhairi Black, while Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy also lost his seat. In Gordon, former SNP leader Alec Salmond returned to Westminster after a five-year absence.

And, eventually, only Edinburgh South for Labour, Orkney & Shetland for the Lib Dems and Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale for the Conservatives escaped the SNP's clutches.

Elsewhere, it was a night of truly historic swings north of the border with Glasgow North East taken on a swing of 39.3%, and Gordon Brown's former seat - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath - also falling on a swing far in excess of 30%.

But the worst thing about this election for Labour was that the defeats were not confined solely to Scotland. In England and Wales too, Labour fared poorly.

Straight away, a sense of shock filled their camp as the exit poll, released at 10pm on BBC, ITV and Sky, showed the Tories were just short of a majority.

It was totally out of line with the stalemate in the polls throughout the campaign - and was dismissed by several commentators in the election studios.

As time went on, though, it became clear the research had actually underestimated Conservative support and Mr Cameron was set for a majority.

Ultimately, Mr Miliband's party made just 10 direct gains from the Tories, and all-but-one of these were rebuffed by the Tories surprisingly taking Labour seats back in response. It was a hideously depressing night for the left.

The biggest of these shocks was in the Leeds suburb of Morley and Outwood where, as dawn broke, the undoubted Portillo moment of the 2015 election took place.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, so long the right-hand man of Mr Miliband, was defeated by Andrea Jenkyns. The Tories had another unexpected seat on the board.

By then, though, the result only simply served to cap a huge Labour failure which had already become apparent much earlier in the night.

Nuneaton was on Labour's target list and North Warwickshire was the closest Tory-Labour marginal of all. They both again returned a Conservative MP.

Remarkably then, Mr Cameron became the first Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher in 1983 to increase his party's representation following a period of governance.

The same cannot be said for junior coalition partners, the shattered Lib Dems, who lost 49 of their 57 seats after totally collapsing to the Conservatives, Labour and the SNP.

Of course, Mr Clegg's decision to form a coalition with the Conservatives in 2010 can still be considered an eminently sensible and responsible one, given the arithmetic at the time.

But his party's failure thereafter to adhere to high-profile promises on tuition fees and VAT cost them dearly - and a moribund, identity-less campaign was always going to leave a ragtag bunch facing oblivion.

Mr Clegg himself held onto his seat in Sheffield Hallam, after rumours he would not, but other high-profile figures such as Danny Alexander, Vince Cable, Simon Hughes, and Charles Kennedy all lost out.

In fact, their final representation of just eight MPs is the lowest return by a Liberal party since the 1956 - and it will be a long road back to respectability, if indeed it ever happens at all.

For now, though, a country effectively divided in three parts can only watch on as Mr Cameron sets the agenda.

The reshuffle so far has been nothing of the sort. George Osborne, Theresa May and Philip Hammond all kept their positions of Chancellor, Home Secretary, and Foreign Secretary respectively - and Mr Hammond, in particular, has an interesting few months ahead.

With a relatively small majority, Tory backbenchers will ensure the promised referendum on Europe happens sooner rather than later - and any stalling would spell trouble for Mr Cameron.

Remember, the last Conservative Prime Minister to win a majority, John Major, saw his premiership dominated and ruined by rebellions over Europe and the Maastricht Treaty. Remember too, Mr Major had a majority of 21, nine more than Mr Cameron.

But, while it may not all be plain sailing for the Prime Minister, his remarkable win has now given him clear blue water. Will the good ship Great Britain sink or sail?

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Election 2015: The full results

CON36.9% (+0.8%)331 (+24)
LAB30.5% (+1.4%)232 (-26)
SNP4.8% (+3.1%)56 (+50)
LD7.8% (-15.1%)8 (-49)
UKIP12.6% (+9.5%)1 (+1)
GRN3.8% (+2.8%)1 (nc)
PC0.6% (nc)3 (nc)
Others3%18 (nc)
CON majority of 12 - Turnout tbc

EXIT POLL CON short of a majority by 10.
CON 316 LAB 239 SNP 58 LD 10 PC 4 UKIP 2 GRN 2 OTH 19

HEADLINES
* First Conservative majority government since 1992.
* Scottish National Party win all-but-three Scottish seats.
* Miliband resigns after devastating defeat.
* Clegg resigns after making his party an irrelevance.
* Farage resigns after failing in South Thanet for UKIP.
 

REGION-BY-REGION AS IT STANDS
NORTH EAST ENGLAND
Conservative
Berwick-upon-Tweed - Hexham - Stockton South
Labour
Bishop Auckland - Blaydon - Blyth Valley - Darlington - City of Durham - North Durham - North West Durham - Easington - Gateshead - Hartlepool - Houghton & Sunderland South - Jarrow - Middlesbrough - Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland - Newcastle upon Tyne Central - Newcastle upon Tyne East - Newcastle upon Tyne North - Sedgefield - South Shields - Stockton North - Sunderland Central - Tynemouth - North Tyneside - Redcar - Wansbeck - Washington & Sunderland West

NORTH WEST ENGLAND
Conservative
Altrincham & Sale West - Blackpool North & Cleveleys - Bolton West - Bury North - Carlisle - Cheadle - Congleton - Crewe & Nantwich - Eddisbury - Fylde - Hazel Grove - Macclesfield - Morecambe & Lunesdale - Pendle - Penrith & The Border - Ribble Valley - Rossendale & Darwen - South Ribble - Tatton - Warrington South - Weaver Vale - Wyre & Preston North
Labour
Ashton Under Lyne - Barrow & Furness - Birkenhead - Blackburn - Blackley & Broughton - Blackpool South - Bolton North East - Bolton South East - Bootle - Burnley - Bury South - City of Chester - Chorley - Copeland - Denton & Reddish - Ellesmere Port & Neston - Garston & Halewood - Halton - Heywood & Middleton - Hyndburn - Knowsley - Lancashire West - Lancaster & Fleetwood - Leigh - Liverpool Riverside - Liverpool Walton - Liverpool Wavertree - Liverpool West Derby - Makerfield - Manchester Central - Manchester Gorton - Manchester Withington - Oldham East & Saddleworth - Oldham West & Royton - Preston - Rochdale - St Helens North - St Helens South & Whiston - Salford & Eccles - Sefton Central - Stalybridge & Hyde - Stockport - Stretford & Urmston - Wallasey - Warrington North - Wigan - Wirral South - Wirral West - Workington - Worsley & Eccles South - Wythenshawe & Sale East
Liberal Democrats
Southport - Westmorland & Lonsdale

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER
Conservative
Beverley & Holderness - Brigg & Goole - Calder Valley - Cleethorpes - Colne Valley - Elmet & Rothwell - Haltemprice & Howden - Harrogate & Knaresborough - Keighley - Morley & Outwood - Pudsey - Richmond - Scarborough & Whitby - Selby & Ainsty - Shipley - Skipton & Ripon - Thirsk & Malton - York Outer - East Yorkshire
Labour
Barnsley Central - Barnsley East - Batley & Spen - Bradford East - Bradford South - Bradford West - Dewsbury - Don Valley - Doncaster Central - Doncaster North - Great Grimsby - Halifax - Hemsworth - Huddersfield - Kingston-upon-Hull East - Kingston-upon-Hull North - Kingston-upon-Hull West & Hessle - Leeds Central - Leeds East - Leeds North East - Leeds West - Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford - Penistone & Stocksbrige - Rother Valley - Rotherham - Scunthorpe - Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough - Sheffield Central - Sheffield Heeley - Sheffield South East - Wakefield - Wentworth & Dearne - York Central
Liberal Democrats
Leeds North West - Sheffield Hallam

EAST MIDLANDS
Conservative
Amber Valley - Boston & Skegness - Bosworth - Broxtowe - Charnwood - Corby - Daventry - Derby North - Derbyshire Dales - Mid Derbyshire - South Derbyshire - Erewash - Gainsborough - Grantham & Stamford - Harborough - High Peak - Kettering - North West Leicestershire - South Leicestershire - Lincoln - Loughborough - Louth & Horncastle - Newark - Northampton North - Northampton South - South Northamptonshire - Rushcliffe - Rutland & Melton - Sherwood - Sleaford & North Hykeham - South Holland & The Deepings - Wellingborough
Labour
Ashfield - Bassetlaw - Bolsover - Chesterfield - Derby South - North East Derbyshire - Gedling - Leicester East - Leicester South - Leicester West - Mansfield - Nottingham East - Nottingham North - Nottingham South

WEST MIDLANDS
Conservative
Aldridge-Brownhills - Bromsgrove - Burton - Cannock Chase - Dudley South - Halesowen & Rowley Regis - Hereford & South Herefordshire - North Herefordshire - Kenilworth & Southam - Lichfield - Ludlow - Meriden - Nuneaton - Redditch - Rugby - Shrewsbury & Atcham - North Shropshire - Solihull - Stafford - Staffordshire Moorlands - South Staffordshire - Stone - Stourbridge - Stratford-on-Avon - Sutton Coldfield - Tamworth - Telford - Warwick & Leamington - North Warwickshire - Worcester - Mid Worcestershire 
Labour
Birmingham Edgbaston - Birmingham Erdington - Birmingham Hall Green - Birmingham Hodge Hill - Birmingham Ladywood - Birmingham Northfield - Birmingham Perry Barr - Birmingham Selly Oak - Birmingham Yardley - Coventry North East - Coventry North West - Coventry South - Dudley North - Newcastle-under-Lyme - Stoke-on-Trent Central - Stoke-on-Trent North - Stoke-on-Trent South - Walsall North - Walsall South - Warley - West Bromwich East - West Bromwich West - Wolverhampton North East - Wolverhampton South East - Wolverhampton South West
 
EAST ENGLAND
Conservative
Basildon & Billericay - South Basildon & East Thurrock - Bedford - Mid Bedfordshire - North East Bedfordshire - South West Bedfordshire - Braintree - Brentwood & Ongar - Broadland - Broxbourne - Bury St Edmunds - North East Cambridgeshire - North West Cambridgeshire - South Cambridgeshire - South East Cambridgeshire - Castle Point - Chelmsford - Colchester - Epping Forest - Great Yarmouth - Harlow - Harwich & North Essex - Hemel Hempstead - Hertford & Stortford - North East Hertfordshire - South West Hertfordshire - Hertsmere - Hitchin & Harpenden - Huntingdon - Ipswich - Maldon - Mid Norfolk - North West Norfolk - South Norfolk - South West Norfolk - Norwich North - Peterborough - Rayleigh & Wickford - Rochford & Southend East - Saffron Walden - St Albans - Southend West - Stevenage - Central Suffolk & Ipswich North - Suffolk Coastal - South Suffolk - West Suffolk - Thurrock - Watford - Waveney - Welwyn Hatfield - Witham
Labour
Cambridge - Luton North - Luton South - Norwich South
Liberal Democrats 
North Norfolk
UKIP
Clacton

SOUTH EAST ENGLAND
Conservative
Aldershot - Arundel & South Downs - Ashford - Aylesbury - Banbury - Basingstoke - Beaconsfield - Bexhill & Battle - Bognor Regis & Littlehampton - Bracknell - Brighton Kemptown - Canterbury - Chatham & Aylesford - Chesham & Amersham - Chichester - Crawley - Dartford - Dover - Eastbourne - Eastleigh - Epsom & Ewell - Esher & Walton - Fareham - Faversham & Mid Kent - Folkestone & Hythe - Gillingham & Rainham - Gosport - Gravesham - Guildford - East Hampshire - North East Hampshire - North West Hampshire - Hastings & Rye - Havant - Henley - Horsham - Isle of Wight - Lewes - Maidenhead - Maidstone & The Weald - Meon Valley - Milton Keynes North - Milton Keynes South - Mole Valley - New Forest East - New Forest West - Newbury - Oxford West & Abingdon - Portsmouth North - Portsmouth South - Reading East - Reading West - Reigate - Rochester & Strood - Romsey & Southampton North - Runnymede & Weybridge - Sevenoaks - Sittingbourne & Sheppey - Southampton Itchen - Spelthorne - East Surrey - Surrey Heath - South West Surrey - Mid Sussex - North Thanet - South Thanet - Tonbridge & Malling - Tunbridge Wells - Wantage - Wealden - Winchester - Windsor - Witney - Woking - Wokingham - Worthing East & Shoreham - Worthing West - Wycombe
Labour
Hove - Oxford East - Slough - Southampton Test
Green
Brighton Pavilion
Other (speaker)
Buckinghamshire

LONDON
Conservative
Battersea - Beckenham - Bexleyheath & Crayford - Bromley & Chislehurst - Chelsea & Fulham - Chingford & Woodford Green - Chipping Barnet - Cities of London & Westminster - Croydon Central - Croydon South - Enfield Southgate - Finchley & Golders Green - Harrow East - Hendon - Hornchurch & Upminster - Kensington - Kingston & Surbiton - Old Bexley & Sidcup - Orpington - Putney - Richmond Park - Romford - Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner - Sutton & Cheam - Twickenham - Uxbridge & Ruislip South - Wimbledon
Labour
Barking - Bermondsey & Old Southwark - Bethnal Green & Bow - Brentford & Isleworth - Brent Central - Brent North - Camberwell & Peckham - Croydon North - Dagenham & Rainham - Dulwich & West Norwood - Ealing Central & Acton - Ealing North - Ealing Southall - East Ham - Edmonton - Eltham - Enfield North - Erith & Thamesmead - Feltham & Heston - Greenwich & Woolwich - Hackney North & Stoke Newington - Hackney South & Shoreditch - Hammersmith - Hampstead & Kilburn - Harrow West - Hayes & Harlington - Holborn & St Pancras - Hornsey & Wood Green - Ilford North - Ilford South - Islington North - Islington South & Finsbury - Lewisham Deptford - Lewisham East - Lewisham West & Penge - Leyton & Wantstead - Mitcham & Morden - Poplar & Limehouse - Streatham - Tooting - Tottenham - Vauxhall - Walthamstow - West Ham - Westminster North 
Liberal Democrats
Carshalton & Wallington

SOUTH WEST ENGLAND
Conservative
Bath - Bournemouth East - Bournemouth West - Bridgwater & Somerset West - Bristol North West - Camborne & Redruth - Cheltenham - Chippenham - Christchurch - North Cornwall - South East Cornwall - The Cotswolds - Devizes - Central Devon - East Devon - North Devon - South West Devon - West Devon and Torridge - Mid Dorset and North Poole - North Dorset - South Dorset - West Dorset - Filton & Bradley Stoke - Forest of Dean - Gloucester - Kingswood - Newton Abbot - Plymouth Moor View - Plymouth Sutton & Devonport - Poole - St Austell & Newquay - St Ives - Salisbury - North Somerset - North East Somerset - Somerton & Frome - Stroud - North Swindon - South Swindon - Taunton Deane - Tewkesbury - Thornbury & Yate - Tiverton & Honiton - Torbay - Totnes - Truro & Falmouth - Wells - Weston-Super-Mare - North Wiltshire - South West Wiltshire - Yeovil  
Labour
Bristol East - Bristol South - Bristol West - Exeter

SCOTLAND
Conservative
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale
Labour
Edinburgh South
Scottish National Party
Aberdeen North - Aberdeen South - Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine - Airdree & Shotts - Angus - Argyll & Bute - Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock - Ayrshire Central - Ayrshire North & Arran - Banff & Buchan - Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk - Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross - Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East - Dumfries & Galloway - East Dunbartonshire - West Dunbartonshire - Dundee East - Dundee West - Dunfermline & West Fife - East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow - East Lothian - Edinburgh East - Edinburgh North & Leith - Edinburgh South West - Edinburgh West - Falkirk - North East Fife - Glasgow Central - Glasgow East - Glasgow North - Glasgow North East - Glasgow North West - Glasgow South - Glasgow South West - Glenrothes - Gordon - Inverclyde - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey - Kilmarnock & Loudoun - Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath - Lanark & Hamilton East - Linlithgow & Falkirk East - Livingston - Midlothian - Moray - Motherwell & Wishaw - Na h-Eileanan an lar - Ochil & South Perthshire - Paisley & Renfrewshire North - Paisley & Renfrewshire South - Perth & North Perthshire - East Renfewshire - Ross, Sky & Lochaber - Rutherglen & Hamilton West - Stirling 
Liberal Democrats
Orkney & Shetland

WALES
Conservative
Aberconwy - Brecon & Radnorshire - Cardiff North - Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire - Clwyd West - Gower - Monmouth - Montgomeryshire - Preseli Pembrokeshire - Vale of Clwyd - Vale of Glamorgan
Labour
Aberavon - Alyn & Deeside - Blaenau Gwent - Bridgend - Caerphilly - Cardiff Central - Cardiff South & Penarth - Cardiff West - Clwyd South - Cynon Valley - Delyn - Islwyn - Llanelli - Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney - Neath - Newport East - Newport West - Ogmore - Pontypridd - Rhondda - Swansea East - Swansea West - Torfaen - Wrexham - Ynys Mon
Liberal Democrats
Ceredigion
Plaid Cymru
Arfon - Carmarthen East & Dinefwr - Dwyfor Meirionnydd  

NORTHERN IRELAND
Democratic Unionist
Belfast East - Belfast North - East Antrim - East Londonderry - Lagan Valley - North Antrim - Strangford - Upper Bann
Ulster Unionist
Fermanagh & South Tyrone - South Antrim
Sinn Fein
Belfast West - Mid Ulster - Newry & Armagh - West Tyrone
Social Democratic and Labour Party
Belfast South - Foyle - South Down
Independent
North Down

Seats in bold changed hands

Election 2015: Tangled up in news

STILL not decided who you are going to vote for when the polls open? Don't bother listening to the national press - which seems altogether pretty confused.

In fairness to the newspapers, this is a General Election in which the result and the aftermath are going to be much more fascinating than a largely uneventful campaign.

There has been no Gillian Duffy moment, no John Prescott punches and certainly no incidents of party leaders falling into the sea.

Green leader Natalie Bennett has had an unfortunate frog in the throat in an "excruciating" interview - while UKIP has had inevitable problems with a candidate or two.

The three main Westminster parties, however, have run sickeningly dull, stage-managed campaigns in which journalists have been restricted in how many questions they could ask - and even in their access.

Of course, there were always going to be the broadcasters' set piece events: first, David Cameron and Ed Miliband were quizzed by Jeremy Paxman before being questioned by the audience on Sky and Channel 4 in the Battle for Number 10.

A couple of weeks later, there was a seven-way leaders' debate on ITV - and then, two weeks after that, an opposition leaders' debate followed on BBC.

Finally, last week, the usual Question Time panel format was replaced by questions from the audience to Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg separately.

Unfortunately, none of it has been particularly enterprising or even stopped me - a self-confessed political geek - from watching football during the Battle for Number 10, going to a football pub quiz during the leaders' debate and a gig during the opposition leaders' debate.

Of course, I did the best I could to catch-up on such events by watching the news headlines and then full re-runs where time allowed.

But at no stage did it feel, at the time, as if I had missed out on anything particularly major - and the complete stalemate in the polls would suggest this to be true.

As such, perhaps it is no surprise to have seen national newspapers over the last few weeks ramp up the rhetoric in an attempt to get something - anything - extraordinary to happen.

Instead, all they seem to have achieved is a bunch of, often contradictory, headlines which make them look rather silly indeed.

For instance, after the seven-way leaders' debate, the headline on the front page of the Guardian was "Labour buoyed as Miliband edges Cameron in snap poll".

By contrast, the Telegraph went with "Miliband flops as outsiders shine" and the Sun produced a dreadful double-entendre next to a photograph of Mr Miliband.

In fact, an average of the four polls held after the debate made it difficult to tell who had 'won' - with Mr Cameron on 22%, Mr Miliband on 21.5%, UKIP leader Nigel Farage on 21% and Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon on 20%.

Ever since, of course, Ms Sturgeon's reputation has grown and she has emerged as one of the principle figures of the campaign - even though she is not standing for Parliament herself.

The Scottish Sun has even backed her party in a complete contradiction to its own national edition which has backed the Conservatives to "stop the SNP from running the country" under a minority Labour administration.

The Daily Mail has also taken to a demonisation of Ms Sturgeon - even referring to her as the "most dangerous woman in Britain". Funnily enough, that again did not quite make it into its Scottish edition.

It also appeared rather confused again yesterday when top half of its front page ranted against a potential Labour government and the bottom half despaired at a basic public service, waiting times for GPs.

Elsewhere, the Telegraph seems to have become obsessed with offering the whole of its front page to letters from business people backing Mr Cameron's government.

Shortly after the Budget, it published a "key" list of supporters - and then, in a separate list, the solicited responses of 5,000 small business owners were plastered across the paper just over a week ago.

Except the impressive number of 5,000 was rather less than that - some of the names were duplicates, others no longer had current business, and at least one signatory even asked to be removed.

Daily Express readers will no doubt be disappointed when it slowly dawns on them that, under the First Past the Post electoral system, UKIP's relative popularity will not translate into dozens of seats.

Meanwhile, the Independent must also be bracing itself for disappointment having stuck by the Lib Dems.

The Guardian, which backed the Lib Dems in 2010, has switched its allegiance to Labour - but it, too, was caught out when it prematurely predicted a surge for Mr Miliband's party on the back of just three half decent polls in a row.

Instead, the polls, averaged week-on-week, have remained obstinately level.

However, this does, of course, leave the election wide open with claims to post-election legitimacy perhaps even extending to the total number of votes overall as much as total number of seats.

It is important then for everyone to use their vote, and for everyone to vote on the strength of their own views - not those of anyone or anything else, least of all the newspapers.

Polling stations are open from 7am-10pm.

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Budget 2015: Osborne serves up pre-election Budget

CHANCELLOR George Osborne today delivered his sixth Budget in the last major event of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition ahead of the general election on 7 May.

There are now exactly 50 days to go until polling day, something you could definitely tell from an hour-long speech which was dripping in politics.

For a start, Mr Osborne has craftily adjusted his accounts so that he now forecasts there will only be a £7bn surplus to the government in 2019-20.

This projection is down sharply on the £23bn figure mentioned in the Autumn Statement as recently as December - and it is a move which directly quells Labour's oft-repeated clam that public spending under the Tories would return to levels not seen since the 1930s.

Instead, Mr Osborne can point out that the public spending under his stewardship would be no lower than it was in 2000 when Labour's Gordon Brown was in charge.

Another highly political manouevre came in the reduction of the Lifetime Allowance for pension savings from £1.25m to £1m.

Labour had proposed the same cut as a way of funding a decrease in tuition fees from £9,000-a-year to £6,000 - but now Ed Miliband looks rather cornered by both coalition parties.

Liberal Democrats had already criticised the fee cut as one which would, in reality, only benefit graduates who go on to be wealthy enough anyway.

And now the Tories can ask again where the money for it will come from if Labour is intent on balancing the books.

Elsewhere in his report, Mr Osborne identified policies clearly aimed at key voters ahead of the election.

In her biggest giveaway, first-time buyers could benefit from a Help-to-Buy ISA in which aspiring homeowners who save up to £200-a-month receive a £50 bonus from the government.

Meanwhile, self employed workers will not weep at the the thought of no longer having to pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions - nor, for that matter, lament the death of the dreaded self assessment tax return.

Savers will have been pleased to see the introduction of an annual personal savings allowance of £1,000, something which will take 95% of people out of paying any tax on their investments.

And even the announcement of £7bn-worth of funding in public transport in the south west was all geared towards the Conservatives gaining ground in a crucial election battleground against the Lib Dems.

Of course, there were the usual sweeteners - a penny off the price of a pint, a 2% cut in the duty on cider and Scottish whisky, and another fuel duty freeze.

But, for Labour, it was all about what was not in the Budget - namely the lack of any mention of investment in the NHS or other major public services.

That omission feeds neatly into the narrative that Prime Minister David Cameron is avoiding debate on the big issues ahead of the election - quite literally in some cases.

Mr Miliband also attacked the Chancellor on his idea that the growth in the economy was part of a national recovery, pointing out that there are more people with zero-hour contracts than the populations of Leeds, Glasgow and Cardiff combined.

This claim feeds into Labour's other major argument - that the government simply cannot be trusted to tell the truth having broken its promises on clearing the deficit and reducing immigration.

Labour's big problem on this front, however, is that polls show Mr Miliband and his Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls are themselves still not as trusted on the big issue of the economy as Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne.

Consequently, it can be summed up that we have an unpopular government and a still untrusted opposition. No wonder there is stalemate in the polls.

Of course, stalemate skewers the debate in that it allows both main parties to cherry-pick the most favourable statistics backing up their cause.

Conservatives will point towards the national polls and various election prediction websites which predict they will have the most seats.

And, against that, Labour will understandably make a great deal of Lord Ashcroft's latest poll of the vital marginal seats which shows them making several comfortable gains.

However, any Labour progress looks certain to be undermined by big losses in their former heartland north of the border to the Scottish Nationalists.

Indeed, just this week Mr Miliband was forced to rule out the prospect of a formal coalition between Labour and the SNP.

Still, despite plentiful bluster over the Budget from both the Conservatives and Labour, neither looks any closer to securing a majority.

Instead, the election has already turned into a debate over which main party can hold the greater mandate by having more votes and/or seats.

With the Lib Dems still collapsing and increased support of UKIP and the Greens likely far too thinly spread, a minority government looks like being the likeliest outcome.

Ultimately then, there was not enough in this Budget to make it a game-changer - and so, after 7 May, the SNP could yet still hold considerable influence even in a confidence and supply arrangement.

As such, the next weeks - and the few weeks after that - could be a very bumpy ride indeed. Strap yourselves in.

2015 BUDGET DETAILS AT-A-GLANCE
State of the economy
*OBR confirms 2.6% growth in 2014, and forecasts growth will be 2.5% in 2015, 2.3% in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and 2.4% in 2019.
*National debt will fall from 80.4% of GDP to 80.2% in 2015-16, 79.8% in 2016-17, 77.8% in 2017-18, 74.8% in 2018-19 and 71.6% in 2019-20 - due to a sale of bank shares (£9bn Lloyds shares to be sold) and reduction in interest payments
*Borrowing in 2014-15 will be £90bn, falling to £75.3bn in 2015-16, £39.4bn in 2016-17, and £12.8bn in 2017-18. There is forecast to be a £5.2bn surplus in 2018-19 and £7bn in 2019-20 (cf. £23bn figure in the autumn statement).
*OBR forecast for inflation in 2015 is 0.2%.

Cuts in the next Parliament (£30bn to be saved by 2017-18)
*£13bn from government departments
*£12bn from the welfare budget
*£5bn from tax avoidance/evasion.

Taxation
*Personal tax-free allowance rises from £10600 in 2015-16 to £10800 in 2016-17 and £11000 in 2017-18. Above-inflation increase in the higher rate.
*Abolition of requirement to complete annual self-assessment tax return, to be replaced by digital accounts
*Abolition of Class 2 NICs for self employed people altogether in next parliament
*New personal savings allowance of £1000 to take 95% of savers out of tax on investments altogether
*Abolition of employers' NI for employing under-21s and, from next April, for employing apprentices
*Rate of new transferable married couples' allowance to be increased to £1100
*Corporation tax set at 20%
*Regional devolution: Manchester and Cambridge allowed to keep 100% of additional growth in business rates
*Small business rate relief extended until March 2016
*Bank levy raised to 0.21%, raising an additional £900m per year
*Charities will be able to claim automatic Gift Aid on first £8,000 of small donations, up from £5,000
*Petroleum Revenue Tax cut from 50% to 35% to help North Sea Oil industry

Levies
*Alcohol: Cut for the third year in a row with another penny off a pint, Scotch whisky and cider duty cut by 2%, wine duty frozen
*Cigarettes: No changes to those already announced
*Fuel: Increase scheduled for September cancelled

Investment
*£25m fund to help veterans, including nuclear test veterans
*Church repair fund trebled
*New investment for London transport projects
*£7bn transport investment for the south west region

Miscellaneous
*Design of a new 12-sided £1 coin to be released in 2017
*New help-to-buy ISA for first-time buyers
*Osborne cuts the maximum size of large pension pots from £1.25m to £1m
*Toll rates reduced for Severn Crossing from 2018

Earlier Budget reports from Mr Osborne 2011 2012 2013 2014

Saturday, 22 November 2014

Rise of UKIP continues unabated

ROCHESTER AND STROODUKIP gain

Mark Reckless UKIP16,86742.1%(+42.1%)
Kelly Tolhurst Conservatives13,94734.8% (-14.4%)
Naushabah Khan Labour6,71316.8%(-11.7%)
Clive Gregory Green1,6924.2%(+2.7%)
Geoff Juby Lib Dems3490.8%(-15.4%)
Others4971.2%(-3.3%)
Total votes: 40,065 Turnout: 50.7% Majority: 2,920

UKIP gained its second MP in just over a month after Mark Reckless easily won back the Rochester and Strood seat which he had previously held for the Conservatives.

Mr Reckless polled 16,867 votes (42.1%) for a majority of almost 3,000 over the Tories' replacement candidate Kelly Tolhurst.

Labour, meanwhile, finished down in third having achieved the seemingly impossible by becoming the main story on a night Prime Minister David Cameron's party lost again to the insurgent UKIP. 

For, just as the polls closed in the Kent constituency, shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry was forced to resign at the behest of her leader Ed Miliband.

Earlier in the day, Ms Thornberry had tweeted a picture of a modern terraced house adorned with St George's flags in the window.  A white Ford Transit van was parked outside.

Her caption simply read - "Image from Rochester" - and, at first, the Labour press office and Islington South MP saw fit to defend the photograph.

But that line of thinking did not last long.

Mr Miliband, whose leadership has come under serious scrutiny in recent weeks, was clearly terrified at the prospect of snobbish inferences being drawn from the photo. Indeed, his assessment today of the picture was that it "conveyed a sense of disrespect".

He added: "I was angry because I thought her tweet gave a misleading impression, when she photographed the house in which the family lived, that somehow Labour had the wrong view of that family."

The damage, though, was already done. The Sun newspaper had picked up on the tweet and headlined today's front page: "Here for the Sneers".

It was a monumental Labour own goal but the Conservatives hardly had anything to crow about either.

Following Douglas Carswell's defection and subsequent re-election as a UKIP MP in Clacton last month, Conservative Central Office made it clear the party was going to do everything it could to prevent a repeat.

Mr Cameron himself visited the constituency on five separate occasions, and he ordered each of his MPs to make at least three separate trips.

But the feeling is that, whatever the Prime Minister tried, it would not have worked due to the prevailing political weather.

First, the European Union sent Britain a bill of £1.7billion after growth in the UK economy had been recalculated to take into account prostitution and drugs.

Then, a couple of days later, there was chaos in the House of Commons when the motion for a debate intended to be about the European Arrest Warrant made no mention of it at all.

Instead, MPs were offered a vote on just 11 of 35 European justice measures which did not include the arrest warrant. It was as if UKIP was writing the news agenda themselves.

Nevertheless, at target seat number 270, this was still a seriously impressive victory for Nigel Farage's party and, unsurprisingly, the UKIP leader was in a bullish mood, predicting more gains in the general election next May.

There, Mr Farage hopes his party will hold the balance of power - and he has said he will do a "deal with the devil" for an in-out EU referendum.

For now, though, it remains unclear with exactly whom that deal will be.

The electoral maths are generally unfavourable for the Conservatives - but Mr Miliband has recently recorded the worst personal rating of any leader since records began, and the Labour poll lead has just about vanished.

Adding an extra layer of unpredictability ahead of the general election is the continuing collapse of the Liberal Democrats.

In Rochester, there were even rumours of the party being beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party and humiliated by dominatrix Charlotte Rose who was standing as an independent.

But, while those rumours proved false, the Lib Dem candidate Geoff Juby finished comfortably behind the Greens on just 0.8% of the vote.

It all means that, unless the Lib Dems retain a core support in just about all of the areas where they still hold seats in 2015, then a coalition of Nick Clegg's party plus either the Conservatives or Labour may not be mathematically viable.

Yes, indeed - our glorious First Past the Post system, which is meant to produce strong majority governments, could instead end up delivering a three-party coalition.

And so, for now, the only thing which is certain is uncertainty.

Saturday, 27 September 2014

Back to Iraq

BRITAIN will take part in air strikes over Iraq after MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining the ongoing military action against ISIS.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the country had a "duty to take part" and that there was "no option to walk on by".

He added: "This is not the stuff of fantasy. It is happening in front of us and we need to face up to it."

Earlier this week, Mr Cameron had returned from his trip to the United Nations headquarters in New York to recall Parliament and raise a motion in favour of the strikes.

And, following a seven-hour debate in the House of Commons yesterday, the proposal was backed by the massive margin of 524 to 43.

That result stands in stark contrast to a similar vote just over a year ago. Back then, Mr Cameron embarrassingly lost in the Commons after proposing to take action against Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria.

This time, though, the mood in Westminster has been rather different. Assurances have been sought that Britain would not commit itself to ground troops or involve itself in the bombing of Syria - which, unlike Iraq, has not appealed for outside help.

And, with the wording of the motion confirming action was being restricted to air strikes over Iraq only, the outcome of the division was pretty obvious from the outset.

Of course, this decision to back military action comes after weeks and weeks of unremittingly grim news from the Middle East with ISIS having taken control of vast areas of Iraq and Syria.

More recently, the group has struck much closer to home, releasing a video this month of the beheading of British aid worker David Haines.

Another volunteer aid worker, Alan Henning from Eccles in Salford, remains in its clutches, his family this week having received an audio file of him pleading for his life.

Unsurprisingly then, it is not just the politicians who are in support of the strikes.

Recent polling shows that the British public are also now far more in favour of action against ISIS than they were of an intervention against Syria last year.

Yet, even these numbers show there is a fair proportion of people who remain war weary from the previous large-scale conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the campaign in Libya in 2011.

Dissenting MPs raised concerns in the debate and questioned the worryingly open-ended length of time which has been committed towards the campaign.

Mr Cameron admitted that the mission "will take not just months, but years" - while some of his other statements further seemed to raise the prospect of mission creep.

After all - if it had been up to the Conservative leader, then British forces would now be preparing to bomb Syria too. It was only a lack of consensus in the Commons which prevented this.

Remarkably then, for the third time in less than 24 years, it is Iraq which is the focus of a bombing campaign including British forces. 

Yes, of course, this is somewhat different to the 2003 invasion in terms of its legality and even in terms of its morality.

But that still does not mean the air strikes will necessarily actually work.

ISIS may now control large swathes of northern Iraq - however, it remains more of an idea and a belief system than a geographical area.

Arguably, the group has been borne out of a hatred of western intervention in Iraq and the wider Middle East.

And so, in this context, yet more air strikes can surely only be considered counter-productive in the long term.

Therefore, as sad and frustrating as it would have been, this was a time which Britain should have engaged in regrettable isolationism.

The engagement of Special Forces with highly specific missions to free trapped British hostages is surely something nobody reasonable would oppose.

But yet another general bombing campaign seems to be a depressingly simplistic fall-back option to a hideously complex problem.

Philosopher George Santayana once said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

It feels, at the moment, as if we seem condemned to repeat it to fade.

THE MOTION
"That this House:
- Condemns the barbaric acts of ISIL against the peoples of Iraq including the Sunni, Shia, Kurds, Christians and Yazidi and the humanitarian crisis this is causing;
- Recognizes the clear threat ISIL pose to the territorial integrity of Iraq and the request from the Government of Iraq for military support from the international community and the specific request to the UK Government for such support;
- Further recognizes the threat ISIL poses to wider international security and the UK directly through its sponsorship of terrorist attacks and its murder of a British hostage;
- Acknowledges the broad coalition contributing to military support of the Government of Iraq, including countries throughout the Middle East;
- Further acknowledges the request of the Government of Iraq for international support to defend itself against the threat ISIL poses to Iraq and its citizens, and the clear legal basis that this provides for action in Iraq;
- Notes that this motion does not endorse UK air strikes in Syria as part of this campaign, and any proposal to do so would be subject to a separate vote in Parliament;
- Accordingly supports Her Majesty’s Government, working with allies, in supporting the Government of Iraq in protecting civilians and restoring its territorial integrity, including the use of UK air strikes to support Iraqi, including Kurdish, security forces’ efforts against ISIL in Iraq;
- Notes that Her Majesty’s Government will not deploy UK troops in ground combat operations;
- Offers its wholehearted support to the men and women of Her Majesty’s armed forces."
VOTING AGAINST THE MOTION
Labour (23)
Diane Abbott, Graham Allen, Anne Begg, Ronnie Campbell, Martin Caton, Katy Clark, Ian Davidson, Paul Flynn, Stephen Hepburn, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, Sian James, Mark Lazraowicz, John Mc Donnell, Iain McKenzie, Austin Mitchell, Grahame Morris, George Mudie, Linda Riordan, Barry Sheerman, Dennis Skinner, Graham Stringer, Mike Wood, Jeremy Corbyn (Teller).
Conservatives (6)
Richard Bacon, John Baron, Gordon Henderson, Adam Holloway, Nigel Mills, Mark Reckless
Lib Dems (1)
Julian Huppert
Scottish Nationalists (6)
Stewart Hosie, Angus Roberton, Mike Weir, Eilidh Whiteford, Angus Brendan McNeill, Pete Wishart (Teller) 
Others (7)
Mark Durkan, Alasdair McDonnell, Margaret Ritchie, Jonathan Edwards, Hywel Williams, George Galloway, Caroline Lucas

Friday, 19 September 2014

Salmond steps down as Scotland says Naw - for now

Should Scotland be an independent country?
AYE
NAW
44.7%
55.3%
National turnout: 84.6%

ALEC SALMOND resigned as First Minister after Scotland rejected independence and voted to remain part of the United Kingdom in a historic referendum last night.

National turnout was almost 85% as the Better Together campaign topped two million votes, and eventually finished ahead of Yes Scotland by 383,937 ballots.

The pattern of the night's results from the 32 council areas became quickly established with reports of disappointed Yes campaigners knowing they had not done as well as the final polls suggested.

In fact, the first seven local authorities - including the islands of Orkney and Shetland - all voted in favour of Naw to varying extents with the tightest race of the whole poll coming in Inverclyde.

There, Better Together beat Yes Scotland by just 86 votes and it would have been quite amazing if the overall race had been so close.

Dundee became the first area to vote Aye, swiftly followed by West Dunbartonshire - and, for a brief few moments, the overall running totals tightened up.

However, a whole slew of results - in Midlothian, East Lothian, Stirling, Falkirk, Angus, Dumfries, East Renfewshire, East Dunbartonshire, and Aberdeen - then came in for Naw. 

It meant that, even with Scotland's biggest city Glasgow voting 53-47 to leave the Union, the Yes campaign was still behind.

Then, Scotland's former and present capitals both swung behind Better Together. Perth and Kinross went Naw by a 60-40 margin while Edinburgh was just as decisive with its 61-39 breakdown. 


By the time of the Edinburgh result, the BBC had already called the election in favour of Better Together, doing so at 5.14am with six councils left to report. 

Fife officially took Naw over the winning line shortly afterwards with the penultimate result in Moray and the last result from Highland also both voting to reject independence. 

Ultimately, only four local authority areas - Glasgow, Dundee, West Dunbartonshire and North Lanarkshire - voted Aye in deep contrast to the state of the political map in 2011. 

Back then, just over three years ago, Mr Salmond's Scottish National Party swept the Central Belt and gained an unexpected majority in the devolved Scottish Parliament in Holyrood. 

Indeed, it was this overwhelming mandate which rather forced Mr Salmond's hand. 

His party, set up in 1934 with the stated aim of breaking away from the Union, had a majority in a system which was not even supposed to produce such results. 

And so, if Mr Salmond had not offered a referendum after his 2011 result, he would have been accused by his opponents of running scared. 

The caution at holding a vote came from the fact that, while his Scottish Nationalists were a popular alternative to the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in elections, actual support for independence hung at around just over a third. 

Nevertheless, this campaign soon changed that. Sometimes feisty and always passionate, the last few weeks have seen an independence movement growing in confidence, belief and numbers on the ground. 

Aye supporters even gained a whole load of concessions from the three Westminster leaders in the closing days before the ballot. 

In truth, the Westminster establishment was running scared after a single, probably rogue, opinion poll put Yes Scotland ahead for the first time with less than two weeks to go. 

Business as usual in the House of Commons was postponed as Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband all hastily hopped on a train. 

Former Prime Minister and Labour leader Gordon Brown also became influential in the process, setting out a tight timetable for further devolution which Mr Cameron is now almost obliged to follow. 

It means that, while Mr Cameron may not have overseen the break-up of the Union, the coming constitutional changes will cause him a major headache ahead of a general election less than eight months away.

What also became clear is that the cry of an overhaul of British politics was not just coming from Scotland. 

The long-standing West Lothian question - where Scottish MPs in Westminster can vote on English-only matters - must surely now be properly addressed. 

Similarly, the Barnett formula - devised in the 1970s with the aim of sharing public spending fairly - has become massively outdated with Wales and some English regions now badly losing out to Scotland. 

Despite the Westminster leaders' vow to keep it, this is an imbalance which needs a review, even to the admission of the creator of the original formula, Joel Barnett. 

And this is especially the case with the Scottish Parliament effectively getting Home Rule with further powers over tax, spending and welfare arrangements. 

Some of the more embittered Aye campaigners have considered last night's result to be the very definition of fear triumphing over hope - but this is far too simplistic a view. 

Concerns over currency and the economy in general still remained as legitimate as ever, no matter how many times Mr Salmond blindly and falsely accused his opponents of scaremongering. 

With his dream of an independent Scotland over, Mr Salmond said this afternoon he would quit as First Minister in November.

But, despite his decision, his dream of an independent Scotland is not over altogether. Opinion polls showed the younger generation to be much more enthusiastic about independence than older folk. 

Aye led in every age-group except for the over-60s and it looks as if the overwhelming 'small-c' conservatism of the 'grey vote' was the decisive factor in keeping Scotland in the Union. 

The direction of travel is undeniable - and, while Mr Salmond will now not be the leader to achieve it, he made a point in his concession speech of stating Scotland had rejected independence "at this stage".

Should auld acquaintance be forgot? Not until the next time at least.

FULL RESULTS
SCOTLANDAYE
NAW
Local authority area (turnout)44.7%
55.3%
Aberdeen city (82%)59,390 (41.4%)84,094 (58.6%)
Aberdeenshire (87%)71,337 (39.6%)108,606 (60.4%)
Angus (86%)35,044 (43.7%)45,192 (56.3%)
Argyll and Bute (88%)26,324 (41.5%)37,143 (58.5%)
Clackmannanshire (89%)16,350 (46.2%)19,036 (53.8%)
Dumfries and Galloway (88%)36,614 (34.3%)70,039 (65.7%)
Dundee city (79%)53,620 (57.4%)39,880 (42.6%)
East Ayrshire (85%)39,762 (47.2%)44,442 (52.8%)
East Dunbartonshire (91%)30,624 (38.8%)48,314 (61.2%)
East Lothian (88%)27,467 (38.3%)44,283 (61.7%)
East Renfrewshire (90%)24,287 (36.8%)41,690 (63.2%)
City of Edinburgh (84%)123,927 (38.9%)194,638 (61.1%)
Falkirk (89%)50,489 (46.5%)58,030 (53.5%)
Fife (84%)114,148 (45.0%)139,788 (55.0%)
Glasgow City (75%)194,739 (53.5%)169,347 (46.5%)
Highland (4am)78,069 (47.1%)87,739 (52.9%)
Inverclyde (87%)27,243 (49.9%)27,329 (50.1%)
Midlothian (87%)26,370 (43.7%)33,972 (56.3%)
Moray (85%)27,232 (42.5%)36,935 (57.5%)
North Ayrshire (84%)47,072 (49.0%)49,016 (51.0%)
North Lanarkshire (84%)115,783 (51.1%)110,922 (48.9%)
Perth and Kinross (87%)41,475 (39.8%)62,714 (60.2%)
Renfrewshire (87%)55,466 (47.2%)62,067 (52.8%)
Scottish Borders (87%)27,906 (33.4%)55,553 (66.6%)
South Ayrshire (86%)34,402 (42.1%)47,247 (57.9%)
South Lanarkshire (85%)100,990 (45.3%)121,800 (54.7%)
Stirling (90%)25,010 (40.2%)37,153 (59.8%)
West Dunbartonshire (88%)33,720 (54.0%)28,776 (46.0%)
West Lothian (86%)53,342 (44.8%)65,682 (55.2%)
Na h-Eileanan Siar (86%)9,195 (46.6%)10,544 (53.4%)
Orkney Islands (84%)4,883 (32.8%)10,004 (67.2%)
Shetland Islands (84%)5,669 (36.3%)9,951 (63.7%)
Totals (popular vote):1,617,989
2,001,926