WELL……Who Saw This Coming?
In a complete U Turn which nobody was expecting..Theresa May decided to call for a Snap Election after all, after repeatedly saying that is what she would not do.
But Why? And Why Now?
Surely NOW IS NOT THE TIME for a divisive General Election? Not if you follow her reasoning for saying exactly the same thing in denying a Scottish Independence referendum in 18 months time.
So Why? and this does not even wait for 18 months…. We have barely 2 months to prepare for it.
The Scottish Council elections take place on May 4th… and Now we have a General Election for June 8th…. It is Madness… Or is it?
The Tories and to a lesser extent Labour, have been using the Council elections as a platform for opposing a Scottish Independence Referendum instead of caring about Local matters. The Tories have even gone as far as threatening a boycott of the Scottish Parliament should the Scottish Government carry out another referendum without Westminsters express permission. And Yet….this surprise announcement trumps it all… It takes us into a completely different stratosphere politically.
What we have now is not only a snap General Election, but in effect a Scottish Independence Referendum too. All within the space of 2 months… It is Scotland v the Tories!
Has the Prime Minister gone Insane? Or is she committing Hari Kari?
Neither I would suggest, at least not from her perspective.
What she has concluded is Now is the time to form an effective political dictatorship over the British Isles.
In recent political times we have seen the madness of Brexit, we have seen hatred and animosity stirred up by her government and the tame State Media against foreigners, refugees, and anyone that doesn’t support the type of Isolationism which they want.
The Separatists as they called us, has actually turned out to be them. They are the ones who are sowing division and discord, nobody else.
She has taken her own brand of xenophobia and is trying to Inflict it on us all.
And what she has looked at is the results of English attitudes in particular which she feels is right with her. She has seen how Trump has operated across the Atlantic, running roughshod over the American constitution and signing presidential executive orders like they were confetti. She has looked at the rise of the far right not only in her own party which has taken all of UKIPs clothes, but also the far right push in Europe with the likes of Le Penn in France being taken seriously. She has seen Turkey being turned into a dictatorship and she wants some of that for herself. She has already tried to circumvent parliament in Westminster by denying debate on Brexit, only to be overruled by the Supreme Court…yet that didn’t stop her rushing the whole Brexit bill through both Houses of Parliament with barely a murmur being allowed to be raised against her.
But more than anything she has seen an opportunity in the polls….
With the polls now showing the Torys 21% ahead of a Labour party in disarray in England, she sees this as an Ideal opportunity to strengthen Tory rule over All.
Not just for the next 5 Years, but long into the future.
With a Tory win by a much larger majority in Westminster, followed by another Labour leadership contest, she has things just how she likes and wants them… and if she gets her way… there will be damn all that anyone can do about it.
A huge majority, will also mean that she can plonk Scotland in her back pocket and deny every effort to oppose her. She can even scrap huge chunks of devolution by grabbing more and more power back to Westminster.
And finally…. It gives her, her own personal Mandate as Prime Minister.
So it is not Madness from her perspective, but it is a Huge calculated political risk.
It is the political equivalent of putting All her money on Black No.10 on the spin of a roulette wheel… If It comes up…. She gets the whole pot and shooting match.
The risks are massive…. She is banking on a Huge Majority of Support in England to see her safely back in power and with a huge mandate to do as she likes.
The Polls tell her that she will get that.
But the major risk is that Scotland uses this opportunity as a de facto Independence referendum and breaks up her precious Union.
So given that possibility, again….Why Now?
Well she knows full well that Scotland will go ahead with another Independence referendum, and she knows full well that there is very little she can do to prevent that.
So by choosing this course of action now…. she preempts the build up to one, and before people fully realise the real effects and implications of Brexit. Before even more Scots move from NO to Yes..
She figures that the Scots opinion polls are marginally on her side at the moment, but she knows full well they wont stay that way. By calling this Election now, she hopes to prevent a further massive increase in Independence support like what happened over the 1st Indyref campaign.
But lets show her just how wrong she is. Lets really get motoring and Kick every single last Unionist politician out of Scotland, Including that useless Tory oaf Mundell.
It is time to take our Country back…. It is time to get rid of toxic Tory policies against the Poor, the disabled, the workers, our NHS staff, and get rid of policies like the Rape Clause, The Bedroom Tax, Sanctions, and disgraceful ill treatment of the elderly , the ill and the disabled…
Mrs May….Your Time is UP!
For Now is Our Time, and this Is Our Hour to take our Country Back.
Auld Acquaintance 
Aye Rod all of us wondering about this gamble and we need to be all singing from the same hymn sheet.Can the SNP hold onto all 56 seats? I’m wary about that,I can hope for a clean sweep as many will also hope for.The fear is we lose a few of the seats even a couple of them will do us damage and stimulate the Tories into doing us down further than they have done,time to become a keyboard warrior and do what I can,being daft I’m on the same level as most of the electorate.I just hope most of us give up being daft and realise what the Tories have done and will do to us.
Much as I’d love to see an SNP clean sweep, unfortunately, I can see us losing quite a few of the 56 seats to unionist party tactical voting.
There will still be a strong SNP majority of seats but i t think the more important thing to achieve would be to win 50+% of the popular vote. That way, regardless of what the actual seat count is, you can argue the result as a Yes/No one.
Personally when it comes to first past the post voting….I think they may end up cutting each others throats….
Apart from the political geeks….the vast majority of ordinary voters will vote with their preference…
The main thing is for Westminster….All Indy Supporters need to get right behind the SNP..
It would be good if Nicola and Patrick got their heads together to discuss strategy
Reblogged this on charlesobrien08 and commented:
Aye Rod all of us wondering about this gamble and we need to be all singing from the same hymn sheet.Can the SNP hold onto all 56 seats? I’m wary about that,I can hope for a clean sweep as many will also hope for.The fear is we lose a few of the seats even a couple of them will do us damage and stimulate the Tories into doing us down further than they have done,time to become a keyboard warrior and do what I can,being daft I’m on the same level as most of the electorate.I just hope most of us give up being daft and realise what the Tories have done and will do to us.
Most of what you say is on the mark. Where we differ is in the conclusion. Because this snap election is primarily aimed at resolving May’s Scottish ‘problem’ I would argue that the best posture for the Independence movement is to take it head-on and hold the referendum NOW, on June 8th, in parallel with the General Election.
Spot on Auld Acquaintance! Must share….
Thanks Morag
A good result in May will give us a ‘starter for 10’ to take on this Tory bunch… We have to ‘take out” Fluffy, Carmichael & Murray for starters,,,
Yup!!