For a Tory Free Scotland
The phrase a ‘Tory Free Scotland’ has been about for ages.
It’s not controversial.
Everyone knows what it means.
It means to annihilate the Conservative Party at an election.
Duh.
It’s happened several times in my lifetime. In fact the Tories haven’t been elected here since 1955.
We know all this.
The phrase – or the aim of a ‘Tory Free Scotland’ isn’t remotely controversial.
I mean, it’s a bit shit in a way precisely because we’ve seen it before, and it doesn’t change that much. Because, as you’ll have noticed if our southern neighbours vote Conservative in large numbers, that’s the government we get.
The point is to change things so fundamentally that we get the government we elect. That’s not very radical – but the idea is to never have Conservatives ruling us again. This is not to say there wouldn’t be remnant rump of Tories in a Scottish democracy. There would be. Scotland has a Conservative element that would remain.
But the media – in this case our public broadcaster – is shocking, puerile and outrageous, Here it is:
🗣️’Is this Humza’s “final solution”?’
Listen as Kaye Adams reads out a text comparing the SNP’s ‘Tory-free Scotland’ campaign slogan and the Holocaust ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rturWLx3gQ
— The National (@ScotNational) March 18, 2024
How do we endure this as our public broadcaster?
See here for complaints:
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No surprise there from Kaye Adams or BBC Scotland.
In the 1990s no Conservative was elected for a seat in Scotland. Ironically despite opposing the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and any form of proportional voting, it was the proportional system for the Scottish Parliament that got them seats. In. GE, there is a chance under FPTP that they might not get any seats. However, since tactical voting by unionists has since 2015 denied the SNP some seats, it is possible that tactical voting by Labour in some constituencies could give the Tories seats – in the Borders area and in the NE.
I remember the term Tory Free Scotland being used freely by Labour, Lib Democrats and SNP before 1997 election clearly meaning that no Tory MP’s being elected in Scotland. There were a few complaints from Tories at time but this encouraged some tactical voting and there were zero Tory MPs elected.
The tactic is due to GE being held under FPTP conditions and as Tories support FPTP it is a bit rich of them to complain when it is used against them.
For BBC to suddenly get their knickers in a twist about this term says more about BBC in Scotland and Kaye Adams than anything else.
For SNP to use Tory Free as a slogan in upcoming election where Labour is going to be main opposition and they are as strongly opposed to independence and a second independence referendum as Tories seems odd. It rather smacks of SNP lacking confidence and accepting they will lose seats to Labour and trying to compensate by picking up some of existing Tory seats. It does not fill you with confidence that the SNP have a bold strategy focused on benefits of independence for upcoming GE.
Technically it wasnt “the Tory Party” that won in Scotland in 1955. It was the separate Unionist Party, which the Scottish Tories folded into in 1912 alongside the Liberal Unionist opponents of Irish independence caused by the Liberal split over Irish Home Rule. For some years leading Unionist Party candidates emphasised their connection with the Liberal rather than the Tory Party from whom they were organisationally independent. They won 30 of the 71 Scottish seats in 1955. Six more seats were taken by the National Liberal Party, another schism from liberalism formed in 1931 over trade policy. Both parties took the Tory whip at Westminster and together had a one seat majority in Scotland over Labour and the actual Liberal Party, but were organisationally separate. The (Scottish) Unionist Party eventually merged with the Conservative Party (of England & Wales) in 1965 following their fall to 24 seats (and Labour’s rise to 43) and the new party took its current name “Conservative & Unionist Party”. The National Liberal Party lost its last seat in Scotland in 1964, fell to three English seats in the 1966 election and dissolved in 1968 into the Conservative & Unionist Party. The Ulster (sic) Unionist Party also took the Tory whip after partition and remains a separate party today, but started to lose its Unionist monopoly in the six counties with the election of Ian Paisley in 1970.
Humza Yousaf has made a rather ham-fisted presentation for the election by seemingly prioritising getting rid of Tory MPs when everyone knows it is Labour who are the biggest threat to SNP seats and equally opposed to independence. But it does serve as a reminder that of the 57 new seats at Westminster, a majority, 29 in fact, are notionally SNP-Tory or SNP-LibDem marginals where Labour start in fourth place in 15 and third place in 14. Labour’s emphasis on attacking the SNP rather than the Tories means that they are reduced to prioritising appealing to a minority of voters in a minority of seats mostly in the Central Belt, rather than a genuine national campaign.
To campaign for a ” Tory Free” Scotland is completely counter productive to increasing support and securing Independence as the settled will of the citizens of Scotland.
It is so far away from how and what we need communicate as to beggar belief..
I hope the time comes soon when the need for a rebrand, relaunch, new focus on what our communities want is recognised .
Only when people are engaged and believe that everyone can play a part in making an even better country will change be possible- an even better Scotland for everyone, shaped by everyone
“How do we endure this as our public broadcaster?” … Just don’t listen to their News output.
That doesn’t stop it being pumped out. WE deserve better than this.
If you want an independent Scotland there is no point listening to Kaye Adams in Mornings. It is a program designed to pump out negative stories about negative events and negative stories about the management and governance of Scotland.
When the 2014 referendum was announced she was one of the three nodding donkeys that were put up on the BBC in Scotland to explain how the referendum would work and why it was such a bad idea; propaganda from start to finish.
The complaint should be about him saying such a stupid thing (stupid on several different levels) not that it is reported and members’ of the public’s annoyed comments read out.
Which Tory do I get for free? I would like Rees-Mog so he can read Wodehouse to me when I am bathing. But if it is Braverman, I would prefer not to have a free Tory.