To wonder why people keep voting SNP?

Exactly. It's disheartening how many are so deeply and utterly obsessed with stupid independence not realising the safety of women and girls is far more important! Fuck independence! I want women and girls to be safe. Literally nothing in life is more important. I think this obsession with 'independence' is simply privilege. Privileged people not seeing the risk that is right in front of their eyes.

It is NOT more important than women having a safe place to change, girls staying home when on their period because the boys go through the sanitary bins in their gender neutral toilets, women restricting fluids during the day so they don't have to go to the unisex toilets risking UTIs (and as someone who has a relative that died from sepsis due to a UTI, I know how dangerous this is), the 5000+ sexual assaults on hospital wards, women avoiding medical tests/operations because males are doing them and/or on their ward, women and girls withdrawing from participating in society. These things affect EVERY woman and girl EVERY DAY. Nothing, absolutely nothing is more vital than womens safety, privacy and dignity. Otherwise women and girls will stay home and withdraw from participating in society, as happened during the Urinary Leash era. And Westminster is desperately needed for OUR PROTECTION.

It's the whole 'wheesht for Indy' thing.

'Ladies! Don't you worry your pretty little heads about women's rights and being locked up with a double rapist! We'll get around to it after Indy.....maybe. You just keep on making the teas, stuffing envelopes and knocking on doors for the cause. Indy! Indy! Indy! (cont)'

Well I'll beg to differ because Scottish independence is of overwhelming importance if we have any chance of a decent society in Scotland.
My fear is the moment has now passed.

There are far more important things than bloddy independence! If Scotland was independent, Westminster would not have been able to stop that GRR bill, which would have hurt women even far worse! It is ONLY being in the union that SAVED women.

The last thing Scotland needs is independence! The very, very, VERY last thing! In fact, I am terrified for women if it ever does become independent. Everyone should vote to insure independence never happens!

Being part of Westminster is a safety and security measure and acts as a check-and-balance against bad, malignant policy, as the GRR bill absolutely and comprehensively proved. If anyone was still for independence before GRR, surely anyone who is compos mentis and sane and able to utilise a modicum of critical thinking would support staying in the union after that.

Every vote of mine is tactical in Scotland - whoever is the closest threat to them in my constituency. Sadly it hasn’t made any difference yet but will never ever vote for them.

I’m not an SNP supporter, but I end up voting for them more often than not because I’m left leaning and pro independence and they’re the best of a bad bunch at most elections.

Saying that, free university fees and a free prescriptions are such a benefit to us through them.

Free university tuition is killing universities in Scotland. Various European countries do have free university tuition but virtually none of them are world class like the Scottish unis - St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow etc It costs money to maintain those standards and that reputation. Universities in Norway, Sweden, Germany - can anyone name one ? No, because they are nowhere near the same league as the big Scottish unis. I can see why it’s such a successful bribe to Scottish voters - but it is completely unsustainable.

I’m Scottish living outside Scotland. No interest in independence, lots of interest in women’s rights and single sex spaces, so I wouldn’t vote for the SNP anyway. Violent men in female prisons ? Girls being made to share toilets and changing rooms with boys? Rape counselling services refusing to provide services to women unless they are willing to be counselled by men? Its unbe-fucking-leivable. Every woman in Scotland who votes for this shit should be ashamed of themselves.

I'm Scottish, living in an area with a significant number (in fact by this point it's almost a majority) of the residents being English. These are not my own views but I know that there is a lot of under-the-radar anti-englishness by many of the local Scots. For some it is historical, mines and industry decimation and poll tax under thatcher (but Ive heard some going back to the clearances and referring to the recent influx from England as the modern highland clearances), for others it's more about feeling like an outsider in the community that they grew up in- I hear a lot of complaints about barely hearing a Scottish accent here now, how local traditions are gradually slipping away as the families that have celebrated them for generations can't compete with the offers on homes being put in by people who have moved up here and have to move away, the change in the make up of community councils and boards, their priorities changing in a way that wouldn't necessarily align with that of the locals. I think that for these individuals there is an underlying resentment however it is not on an individual level and I never see or hear any locals being anything but polite to the English that have moved here, despite what they say about the English in general, which makes me think that it is more that they take issue with the changes that are happening in their community and finding that difficult rather than that they take issue with any individual English person.
There is also very definitely many who take issue with Westminster control. I know very very few Scots who don't want independence, and many of those that I know who want independence do not like the SNP but at present see them as a means to an end.

The 2014 referendum wasn't 'won' or 'lost' by the SNP or any single political party.

The 'Yes' campaign was much broader than just the SNP, and included lots of other political voices/ strands.

It succeeded in getting a lot of people inspired/ interested in the future of the country, participating in political conversations and becoming more cynical about the mainstream media.

Unfortunately I believe the Scottish Govt has squandered a great deal of that energy and goodwill since.

They're very good at making policy pronouncements that sound great, but not at actually implementing things that work in practice.

Sure, Sturgeon did a better job than Johnson during the pandemic, but that was a pretty low bar.

The way they carried out gender recognition reform (and cases like 'Isla Bryson') -and introduced laughably bad 'hate crime'/ 'non-crime' legislation- alienated a lot of people. The Scottish Greens have totally lost their way/ any serious environmental focus/ credibility.

Working class communities have long seen Labour politicians taking the piss & mismanaging local councils, but have now seen that the SNP isn't any better, on an even bigger scale. (And there are still plenty of unanswered questions about Sturgeon, her husband and their camper van..)

And the Scottish Socialists never recovered from the saga of Tommy Sheridan. Alba has its problems. We're all fucked.

The SNP have some policies I strongly support. Some examples:

Free university education - a norm in many euro countries, and it should be in England and Wales too

Higher income tax - though I’d prefer them to go much further on this

Free prescriptions

Baby box - I don’t personally need this so haven’t applied for it for any of my babies, but the principle that no baby should start life without the basics is an important one

Theres a lot I don’t agree with too, a lot they’ve mishandled, and there’s a glaring shortage of talent in the party. But of the available options they’re the best for someone with my politics.

I voted for indy in 2014 but probably wouldn’t now. I think the parallels with how Brexit has played out are too hard to ignore. But this is irrelevant as I don’t see any realistic prospect of independence any time soon.

They can’t hold a referendum unless Westminster allows it. They had their chance and it failed, and the only way that would happen imo would be if the SNP were to achieve 50%+ of the vote in a general election, indicating genuine public clamour for independence.

Personally I’d say that’s unthinkable. In retrospect 2014 was probably the perfect set of circumstances for the pro-independence side – a relatively fresh nationalist government in Scotland, a wet Tory government in London which had no strong unionist bent and no selfish interest in holding onto Scottish votes, still relatively benign economic and geopolitical conditions, and an actual swell of enthusiasm among the young.

All that and they still couldn’t even breach 45%. Brexit briefly put the idea back on the table but very feebly which shows nobody’s really actually that serious about it anymore. There’s no way this happens again I would say.

Hahaha, look at all the absolute bullshit stories people fall for on this website and you say they are thinkers. What an echo chamber this is. SNP are going to win the next election because scottish people vote for them

I don't vote for the SNP because they're pish. Embarrassed at the absolute dog's dinner they've made of governing the country. They're not interested nor would they be capable of running Scotland as an independent country. Currently, they can fuck up absolutely everything and somehow find a way to blame someone else. If it was just on them, they'd be fucked. And if we started listing their failings, we'd be here to the end of next week.

That said, there's not much to be said for the other parties. Greens - batshit radge, Lib Dems - smug Tory lites, Labour - don't have the courage of their own convictions, Tory - smug actual Tory, Reform - eh, no. Like many Scottish women, I am politically homeless.

I want Scotland to be an independent country.

I am voting SNP or Green because that is how to achieve independence.

Once Scotland has independence that does not mean to say the best interests of women in particular, and the population in general will be necessarily be served by having an SNP government.

And having one party perpetually in power is good for no one.

Once we have independence then who knows how the political parties will change and develop and who knows how people will vote and what policies we will be able to vote for.

I don’t know. If the SNP got 70% of the vote I don’t think Westminster would have an option. But they won’t.

That is not true. But the reality is there is nothing they can do about it. Even if 90% of the Scottish population voted in favour they are powerless unless the Westminster government agrees to it and there is zero chance of that happening any longer.

Scotland had it's one chance and will likely never get another. Unless it goes down the more traditional route, raises an army and marches on Carlisle.

This reflects my thinking too. Most people I know vote SNP because they like their MSPs, MPs and many of their policies. They have done many good things alongside a few mistakes. John Swinney feels like a safe pair of hands.