To wonder why people keep voting SNP?

I think Labour would need to drastically reform in order to dislodge the SNP. They are a unionist party and that's been to their detriment in a period where people have been focused on the future of Scotland. They could help themselves by developing a clear, positive vision for Scotland rather than focusing on the pitfalls of independence. I don't think they've got a realistic prospect of doing so at the 2026 Scottish parliamentary election and will be further hindered by the lack of popularity of the current Westminster Labour Government. I think Scotland like the rest of the UK is seeing a rise in popularity of right wing politics as a result of decades of austerity, and I think that Reform will get a good showing at the 2026 election. My prediction is that SNP will continue to be the main party but will not have enough seats to form a majority, Labour will lose seats and Reform will gain perhaps to the extent that they become as big as Labour in Scotland. The Greens and/or the Liberal Democrats will hold the balance of power either by forming a coalition government with the SNP or by supporting them on a vote by vote basis to get legislation passed.

Why - because there is only so much SNP whining the rest of the UK can take!

Why? The Scottish public vote overwhelmingly for unionist parties. The SNP benefit from the fact that the unionist vote is split.

I used to get newsletters from my SNP MP, and when he sent one decrying the Westminster decision I wrote back and said why it was a relief to have Westminster protecting us from the anti-women agenda of the SNP, with a long list of examples, and a conclusion that I'd never vote SNP again!

If the Scots elect the SNP again there should be another referendum.

I think Labour have blown it again unfortunately. At one point after Labour took power the polls showed them winning in Scotland too but Keir Starmer fucked that up.

All of these lying teachers 🤣🤣.

More reported doesn’t mean more occurred. It means more reported.

There’s some big differences at the core of how English and Scottish school systems work.

One of the big ones when it comes to behaviour and exclusions is that English schools applications are parental choice. Parents by choosing the school opt in to the school rules and schools then have more powers. They still have to work within the equalities act, obviously, but they can and do exclude more pupils than Scottish schools. It’s also why they can exclude pupils for things like uniform violations.

Scottish schools don’t work like that, most children go to their catchment area school, there are some pretty big pros to that, but one of the cons is that it’s harder to exclude pupils… especially permanently.

I'm a bit late to this thread, and haven't read all the posts but the main reason why SNP have been so popular in Scotland is a combination of support for Scottish independence (but that alone isn't enough) and the fact that they are seen as the main credible centre-left party following Labour's demise in the 2010 General Election and the turmoil that dogged the party in Scotland thereafter. Scotland has a history of supporting social democratic parties, with one party dominating, and before 2007 that was Labour. We used to joke that if you stuck a red rosette on a monkey it would get elected, but now that's true of yellow rosettes instead. Labour's enduring long-term popularity and lack of competition in Scotland for many decades also meant that they did not modernise in a way that they were forced to do in the rest of the UK which led to them struggling to seem like a credible opposition once the SNP had managed to form a government. The independence referendum was polarising too and further entrenched SNP's position because those who favoured independence (and that included some traditional labour voters) switched allegiance to SNP following the referendum bolstering their supporter base, whilst the unionist vote was split between the various unionist parties

It is but I think it might affect both equally? I know that in my last year of working (2023), most of my days were spent doing FOIs for opposition parties and the media on violence in schools, so it could be that it isn’t as widely reported in other nations? That violence also included verbal incidents as we have a fairly robust system of recording any incident up here.

It wasn’t devolved in the 90s when these schools were closed, there was no devolved powers as there was no parliament to devolve them to.

Which type of schools have they closed?There was an amalgamation of schools during the PFI disaster but that was Labour.

Children who can’t be excluded due to SG policy.

But the SNP continued the trend. They have been in power for 19 years and have closed approximately 250 schools. Education is a devolved matter so the Tories were never in charge of it. It was Labour who started it. Why did the SNP continue… no doubt to save money.

Who are in these behavioural schools then, when virtually no child is ever permanently excluded? Do people go there voluntarily? I mean it’s probably the very best outcome for the child.

I agree with you broadly here. Two points though.

1. The ASN schools were closed before we had a parliament, so by the Tories - not by a Scottish party.
2. We do still have referral units. They’re now called “behavioural schools” ( I worked in one)

Just following the tribunal tweets on this. Counsel for For Women Scotland is struggling to combat the Scottish governments case on this as the Scottish government’s case is such abject nonsense it’s hard to take it seriously.

When this violent man was approved for transfer to the female estate after risk assessment by SPS then we don’t believe them. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64438457.amp

I would suggest at this point that other readers just google it.

Scottish government policy. They believe in ‘inclusion’ which means all kids in mainstream. So you have kids who for whatever reason are exceedingly violent in a mainstream classroom who cannot help but try to beat up kids, teachers, the head. They trash classrooms and schools work. One of my sons has a classmate who rips up everyone’s work regularly. He’s not a bad kid, just has ASD meltdowns, Broughton usually by being asked to sit in a classroom and listen, and this isn’t something he can do.

But the Scottish government can’t go back now as they’ve closed the special schools and happily banked the cash. There are some special schools, but they need 3 x more. Most importantly of all they need to reopen pupil referral units and ship the naughty kids there. 95% of kids simply want to go to school to learn in a calm, safe, environment and they don’t have this currently, and educational standards are plummeting and pupil anxiety is soaring.

schools need to be allowed - encouraged even - to exclude dangerous pupils from mainstream classrooms in order to effectively safeguard pupils.

This isn’t tricky stuff. Any member if the public could say that closing pupil referral units would endanger pupils and teachers. But we have the SNP and thinking seems to be a real issue for them.