To wonder why people keep voting SNP?

[Carla786]

I don't know a lot about Scottish politics and I may be missing important things they've done. However, I used to have a lot of respect for Nicola Sturgeon but her handling of gender critical issues has destroyed that. The SNP do not seem very effective at reducing drugs, poverty, or other serious issues.
My understanding was that quite a few people vote SNP not because they want independence (which most Scots appear to not want) but because they think the SNP are more committed to Scotland sorcifically than Tories and Labour. How accurate is this though..?

Since most Scots appear to not want independence, I thought the SNP was probably high achieving in other areas & Tories & Labour seen as poor by comparison. Or is it more often seen as the best of 3 bad options? Or is SNP much more positive than the impression I've got?

There are but the SNP are responsible for every citizen.

Actually free school meals are already targeted based on income for kids in P6 and above.

You realise that any government is not responsible for providing everything for every citizen? They are responsible for making decisions about how to best use the resources available to them and the SNP have decided to go down the road of universality for a lot of these things rather a redistributive approach which would target those most in need.

This doesn't sound ideal..

They also take more tax off the better off to pay for it all.

It could be worst... Some governments will target their resources at protecting their own interests and benefiting the most wealthy in society to the detriment of others. Universality isn't the worst. It's just not the best way to to tackle poverty and inequality, which has always been one of SNP's main objectives.

I have no problem with universal benefits tbh.

You sound like the people in the fancy housing estate near me who argue that because they pay more council tax than others they deserve better services even if that is to the detriment of the other areas who don't generate as much tax...

Fair enough, if you're happy for poverty to continue to exist there is no reason to question universal benefits.

When are they starting that?

Starting what?

I can’t believe you said that to me.

Ok P.

What did you mean when you said: "They also take more tax off the better off to pay for it all."? I took it that you meant that higher rate tax payers deserve benefits like free travel and free prescriptions too because they contribute more in tax. The challenge is that by spending that money on providing those benefits for all it means that there is less money available to tackle poverty. Apologies if that's not what you meant.

Definitely agree on that. There clearly are good points to the SNP...and I understand the other parties don't seem very positive.

It is what I meant.

There was an independence referendum and most people voted 'no', hence why it failed....where do you get the ' most people want independence' from.
Do we just keep voting until the 'yes' voters get the result they want.

No one has been denied, a vote was held, but it didn't go the way some wanted so they spat the dummy out.

We should probably do the same for all elections then. We get one shot at it and the winner governs the country for ever more.

The referendum was 12 years ago. Since then, the electorate has changed by around 640,000.
An aggregate of polls for 2025 found that Yes was on 53% and No on 47%, once don't knows are removed.
So it isn't opinion that most people want independence, it's a fact. But no one under the age of 30 has EVER had a chance to express this, and that is undemocratic.

That is without addressing the fact that people were told that we would have to leave the EU, when in fact EU membership was removed because we were part of the UK, despite Scotland voting to Remain. Why didn't that count at all, if the independence vote must be forever and ever?

How’s that going? The SNP government seem to have concentrated on giving cash handouts to the poor since they got into power, and this as a strategy seems to be failing. The attainment gap is widening. Children living in poverty has reduced because that’s automatically what happens when you give more cash to their parents (the measure of poverty being related to how much income the household has) and yes these children’s lives seem no better.

The SNP seems to be doing a really bad job of getting these people ‘living in poverty’ into well paying jobs, jobs that gives them enough to live off. We seem to me spending endless money on cash handouts while doing very little to motivate these people to improve their lives.

Governmemts are also in charge of raising money to spend. The taxes in this country for the better off are sky high, and yet the SNP keep spending without thinking of how to grow the economy in a meaningful and lasting way.

I can’t see a way out of this if we continue just giving money to people in poverty. Those not on the receiving end of any money are getting frustrated that all public money is being funnelled away from public services that benefit everyone to benefits that benefit the few.

@Lillitut why do you think lifting children out of poverty isn't a successful strategy?
Prior to the UK government's most recent moves to tackle child poverty, a projection showed child poverty in England increasing to 32%, and falling in Scotland to 23%.

Having nearly a third of children grow up in poverty will decimate the future workforce, who will already be paying for larger generations retirement. That is why the UK government are making an effort to change this now, before its too late.

Tackling child poverty is vital for future survival of your society, but you won't see the benefits for many years. Sadly, you also won't see the consequences of inaction until deprived children become adults who don't contribute, because they have slim chance of a good job.

You do understand that all the SNP are have done when they say they have ‘lifted x amount of children out of poverty’ is that they have handed their parent more cash. Have they improved that child’s life, or chances of having a successful future away from a cycle of poverty and benefit reliance? The every widening attainment gap suggests not.

I know it’s hard work and takes effort, but sure start delivered benefits to the country in terms of better lives for kids that were worth 5 x the money spent. Ensuring the child benefits from the money directly. In Scotland kids still seem to be living rubbish lives, it’s just their parents have more benefits money. Handing parents cash doesn’t seem to be the more efficient way of improving kids lives and yet we are cutting all other public service budgets in order to continue to facilitate it. How long is this experiment going to be given to run?

www.universities-scotland.ac.uk/sqa25/

No way!

It’s almost as if that was exactly the point I was making in the post you’re replying to.

Always amazes me how close unionists get to understanding the argument for independence, yet never quite manage to grasp it.

I’ll give you a wee hand. Have a think about how Ireland and Luxembourg became destinations of choice for multinationals (Hint: it has something to do with deliberately designed tax and regulatory regimes that used sovereignty as leverage, not a weakness).

But of course, us Scots are far to stupid and far to small to compete with the likes of mighty Luxembourg.

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