Vote SNP, get Tory

[bythestairs]

Nicola Sturgeon has shown herself to be a charismatic politican who, understandably, is drawing a lot of support. But is she really going to get a chance to influence the next government?

The Conservatives are already declaring themselves the winners, if they get the most seats which the current polls are just giving them. The relationship between Cameron and Clegg is seamless. And, perhaps strongest of all, the SNP have the same media backers as the Conservatives. Why would that be?

Is it better to have Nicola Sturgeon as a heckler a long way from Westminster or to change the current government and have a strong representation of the SNP at Scottish level?

Vote SNP and get more intelligent, articulate women in Parliament and that to me is a very good thing. I live in SE England.

1 Lib Dem seat, 1 Tory seat, 1 Labour seat in Scotland....and 52 SNP!

I am delighted by the rout of Labour in Scotland and looks like Cameron may even almost have won out right. A red letter (or rather blue letter) day on all fronts.

Wow a wonderful day when Labour and the Tories have the same support in Scotland as each other.

I was never against Scottish independence as a free market libertarian. Let them loose if they choose but they chose not.

Getting better and better... Ed Balls might lose his seat.

Tories 266 seats, Labour 214 so far....

84 seats still to count. Tories need 323 for overall majority.

The Scots might just have done us all a massive favour by delivering us a Tory Government to the benefit of course to everyone as there is no better course.

275 Tory now...

In my view it is "the women wot won it".... we only want our families to spend the money which they have and we think a country should be won on the same basis.

278 Tory
216 Labour now

The Scots seem to be delivering us a Tory Government and we are most grateful. SNP up 50 on last time. Labour down 25. Tories up 20 so far.....

All to play for still.

Add it up. Even if Labour had the 50 seats they lost inScotland they'd still not have enough for a majority.
It the way the votes were cast south of the border that has determined the government.

Scotland didn't vote Tory, England did, own it

So what does this mean for the union?

304 Tory 222 Labour

Looks pretty certain we get 5 years of Conservative rule.

Stop that England doesn't care about the whinging scots at a guess

brandysnapper - see the article in The Scotsman on 30th April:
*Schools Blitz to tackle pupils' falling literacy levels'.

In the most deprived communities only 41% of S2 pupils were said to be performing well. This drop in standards is seen across the board.

Education Sec Angela Constance conceded the results are "not as good as they should be".

The CforE is dreadful.

The SNP must think they are untouchable.
So must the Tories.

God help us all, frankly

309 224 now....

Although Cameron would have won even without a single Scottish vote by the way so actually the BBC coverage today as ever is a little left wing biased. Nothing can change the fact the nation and of course many women who know about managing money and budgets wants a Tory Government for 5 years.

Now let the work begin.

More people voted against tory

I think it is the death knell for the Union...
Tories and Labour have both said something about respecting Scotland's wishes for more devolution etc. I don't for one second think that is what a lot of people voting for the SNP actually wanted. It seems to be in a lot of case a protest vote against the whole political system, to shake things up a bit ...which if you are anti-independence has turned into a bit of an own goal (all those saying a vote for the SNP in the GE wasn't a vote for independence! - you may well regret that)
I also think (not just because of the SNP but also how well UKIP did) this election has shown that the public are generally dissatisfied with the whole political system - it needs a major overall. Away from career politicians (I would ban degrees in politics!). For example - do we really think a 22 yr old (the new SNP MP) who is just leaving full time education, hasn't lived and worked in the 'real world', has enough life experience to be an MP? I don't. At that age I'd been working and living alone for 5 yrs, had a job with responsibility and looking back I didn't have a clue really.
We need to go back to politicians with principles (whether we agree with them or not), back to plain speaking, more honesty, less spin. So people do feel like they have a choice and their vote counts.

Bitter sweet day for Scotland. Fantastic landslide victory for SNP, but shite that the Tories will get a majority as predicted this morning....

My thoughts to Blow

"It the way the votes were cast south of the border that has determined the government."

Yes, ratspeaker you're right. It has nothing to do with 50% of Scotland voting SNP to give victory to the Tories...what utter shite some people are spouting on this thread. Even if these people have voted Labour, they still would not have made up enough Labour seats to win over the Tories...it made no difference if you voted SNP or Labour in Scotland, Tories would still have won today.

Yes the bottom line is the people have ensured the Tories have most seats. Democracy at its best. A very happy day for many of us. Milliband gone as leader I think. Balls not even in Parliament. Reckless lost his seat even.

Now 315/228

Overall majority will be 323

The Scots by the way voted in the referendum to stay part of the UK. That's what they want. They have already spoken on this issue and also now have decided they do not want Labour either.

It is historic actually because it is back to the time of Parnell and Irish politics that we last had so many regional parties with a fair number of seats.
So we might get England voting to leave the EU (I hope not) and Scotland voting to stay in.

The whole first 18 months of this new Government will be mired in the damage done to the UK by the EU referendum.

I'm pleased for you LotusLight that you got what you wished for. I'm not a sore loser and appreciate people have all sorts of reasons for voting the way they do with conviction.

I think Nicola will give it her all to make sure Scotland does have a say, but I can see it's going to be a challenge for her.....which may lead to an inevitable referendum on independence at some point in the future.

Latest

• David Cameron is back in No 10, expects 329 seats
• Ed Balls loses his seat in final blow for Labour
• Labour on course for worst result since 1987, Kinnock defeat
• Forecast: Tory +22, Labour - 25, SNP +50, LD -49
• Pound in biggest jump in six years on euro
• Cable, Laws, Alexander, Hughes out as Lib Dems capitulate
• SNP take 56/59, Jim Murphy and Douglas Alexander out
• Boris Johnson proposes ‘federal offer’ to Scotland
• Ukip surge in northern England but Farage unlikely to win

I feel utterly sickened in the cold light of day.

Well, it will be a shake up of UK politics, if nothing else.

Sigh.