To think Nicola Sturgeon should do her day job

[Bilberry]

she seems to spending her whole time campaigning at the moment so people might overlook the fact that her parliament has not been dissolved and she is being paid to run the Scottish Government.

Surely Salmon is up to doing his own campaigning?

[2rebecca]

She is the leader of the SNP as well as first minister of Scotland. There are more prospective SNP MPs than Salmond.

[OOAOML]

Well anyone who has seen me on politics threads will know I am no fan of the SNP, but most (if not all) Scottish politicians are campaigning at the moment, and next year during the Holyrood elections MPs will be up when they can fit it in around Westminster.

Plus Holyrood has been in recess for a couple of weeks for the Easter holidays.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Oh no. Let her carry on digging

[CrystalCove]

I'm sure Alec Salmond will be campaigning locally in the area he is standing in, which is Gordon I believe. Why should he be campaign nationally?

[CrystalCove]

Im not sure why you are singling AS out to be honest.

[OOAOML]

Alec Salmond has to fit the campaign in around his book tour

[OatcakeCravings]

Alex Salmond has been out campaigning locally, he is standing in my constituency and he has been out campaigning daily.

You do grasp that Nicola is the leader of the SNP, what else is she going to be doing but campaigning for a general election?

[Bilberry]

Ok, I had forgotten Easter recess but the SNP do seem have spent an awful lot of their attention campaigning since being elected to Holyrood. I also think NS and SNP are getting a disproportionate amount of coverage in the UK news at the moment (but ok for Scottish news). Actually, I'm a bit fed up with all the campaigning; all the parties (without exception) seem so false. i suppose the SNP and NS are irritating more than most as the focus on them is all about game-playing.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

It is quite confusing though, as NS is not standing for Westminster and as such should have no power. I can foresee that if there is a Labour/SNP deal there will be a huge outcry for an English parliament.

[fairgame]

I'm very confused about the snp at the moment. I thought that we couldn't vote for them in England yet there was an article in the DM stating that there could be an snp/labour coalition. How can there be a coalition with the snp in an English parliament if nobody in England can vote snp?
Do Scottish people vote in the English general election? I really don't understand it.

[growl3th]

How can there be a coalition with the snp in an English parliament if nobody in England can vote snp?
Do Scottish people vote in the English general election? I really don't understand it.

Where is this English parliament?

[OOAOML]

Fairgame it is a UK general election.

[chocoluvva]

The election is for the UK people in England, Scotland, N'Ireland and Wales vote for mps to represent their constituency in Westminster.

Then there are the members of the Scottish parliament - voted for by Scottish voters

And members of the European parliament - larger regions than the individual constituencies

And local councillors who represent you in your local area.

[Pyjamaschocolateandwine]

As an English voter the thought of her having so much control over English affairs in a hung parliament is annoying.

Ed couldn't stand up to her could he. He's weak.

However I think she's a bloody class act and I wish to god she was English.

On devolution I hope the scots go really as I sure we will all do better without this daft old alliance.

Can't stand Samond. He's not fit to wipe Nicolas boots.

[QueQuesto]

Do Scottish people vote in the English general election?

It's the British government. They wanted Scotland to stay in the union and we have.

[winsomewitch]

I quite like her

Whats wrong with her?

Disclaimer, I do live in the SW and only heard of her when the Scottish referendum was happening!

[Fluffyears]

It is a UK general election not an English one therefore Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be voting too. Westminster is not the 'english' parliament it is the UK Parliament. There are 4 countries in the UK big just England!

[scarlettsmummy2]

Personally I think she is a breath of fresh air, hope they do get a landslide as no one else seems able to stand up to Mr Potato Head and his cronies.

[noddyholder]

But Westminster have been having so much control over them for years and campaigned aggressively to stop independence so its fair game really. FWIW I think there will be a Lab SNP govt of sorts

[Fluffyears]

Nicola has a backbone no doubt. I like her as she stands up to Westminster.

[SlaggyIsland]

English parliament? That one must have passed me by!
Here's me thinking it's a UK-wide general election.

[HirplesWithHaggis]

Fairgame, there is no English General Election, it's UK-wide, and people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all vote. No party stands in all parts of the UK. The SNP only stands in Scotland, and Plaid Cymru only stands in Wales; similarly the Democratic Unionist Party stands only in Northern Ireland, as does Sinn Fein.

All of these parties send Members of Parliament to Westminster (well, except SF, but that's besides the point) and these MPs represent their constituents. Supposedly each MP has the same voice as any other MP, so an SNP MP has as much say as a Labour, Tory or LibDem MP. It's just that, historically, there have been many more Labour/Tory MPs, so other voices haven't had much influence.

This time round, neither Labour nor Tory look like they'll have enough MPs to form a majority government, so both must look to the smaller parties for help. The SNP are expected to return an unusually high number of MPs; the last Parliament they had only 6, but polls are predicting that they might have as many as 40-50 (out of 59) so they may form a significant group.

The SNP have stated that they will not support a Tory gvt, but are willing to work with Labour on a case-by-case basis. Neither SNP nor Labour have expressed a desire for a formal coalition, such as that between Tory and LibDems last time round.

[Khaleejikat]

She's a witch, intent on wrecking not only Scotland but the whole of the uk. We went through hell here in Scotland during the referendum.
Many of us are now advocating tactical voting.
This woman and her party do NOT believe in democracy and we only need to look to the second world war to see just exactly what their party was all about. They out and out supported the Nazis and their exclusionary, hate filled nationalism continues to this day.
If they continue to get more power I will leave Scotland -as will many. Then they can figure out how to balance their £7 billion deficit.

[scarlettsmummy2]

Khalee- in what way has she been 'undemocratic'?

[Iggi999]

Khaleejikat you are an embarrassment, and fortunately not representative of the people of Scotland.