itemprop=description content=IT is not fun losing elections and what I felt in the early hours of yesterday morning was just as unpleasant as it used to be in the 80s, the 90s…
IT is not fun losing elections and what I felt in the early hours of yesterday morning was just as unpleasant as it used to be in the 80s, the 90s and the early years of this century – that time before thePoliticians spin like tops when explaining the people’s verdict on them – in by-elections particularly – but voters see through it. It is therefore best to be honest.Of course, no party can deny electoral gravity forever and there were big headwinds pushing the SNP back in this particular poll.
Having lived through even more spectacular by-election victories – for example the SNP win in Govan in 1988 – I can also wryly recall that they are often followed by the return of the seat to the defending party at the next General Election. Fortunately, those issues are also in hand with the governance and transparency review, set up by the NEC in April, due to give its recommendations to the SNP’s Annual National Conference next weekend.
One of the key doorstep messages in Rutherglen was about the need for such reassurance – personal and political. That applies also to our independence strategy which has too often obsessed about process instead of promising a better future. Let’s decide once and for all on our preferred route and move on, working with others and learning from new thinking like the recent Common Weal paper which has some interesting ideas with significant potential.
It has to be met with a reassuring narrative that inspires and energises and that can only come from a party that is itself inspired and energised.
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