Who do you want to see as new First Minister?

[Rememberal]

And who do you think it'll be if they are different?

Not seen any threads on this yet!

My two cents -

I voted SNP when I was very young (Salmond) and under the impression they were a kinda catch-all working man's party who didn't do much to offend the left or right, but I stopped voting for them ages ago and recently started to actively despise them.

Normally I'm the polar opposite of the Reddit consensus and they seem to want Robertson but only, it seems, because they can't have Mhari Black (which is one MP I DO know and absolutely cannot stand). I feel like Forbes is the only one who'd bring them back to the centre and increase membership as she might attract everyone who left back.

So I suppose I'm a toss-up between Forbes who might pull them away from their more (imho) farcical policies and Black who might finally start to kill them dead in the water.

I do believe Sturgeon resigned because the recent polling data (where ALL age demographics agreed with the WM overturn including a large amount of SNP membership) showed that people vote SNP despite their progressive policies and not because of them. I reckon they knew it would really hurt them at the next election, and since she can't U-turn, the only thing left to do was step aside and let a new leader shift their direction.

I'm interested to know what people on here think though.

Maybe she rather naively thought the consultation was actually a consultation, and the committee process would actually listen the evidence? Or perhaps she listened to the evidence and changed her mind? After all isn’t that what the parliamentary process is about?

In any case all three candidates are in the same position regarding endorsing the stage 1 process.

Amen (😁) to that @Workerbeep

Talking about independence means you don’t have to address the real issues but assume their PR teams have said that’s what the supporters want to hear .

I found them squirmingly embarrassing to listen to . Immature with no real plan and very good point about Ruth Davidson , they simply don’t have her statesmanship or depth . Lots of errs and umms. Not well briefed and people like Nick Robinson and Andrew Neil would hang them all out to dry .

Im still with Humza and hopefully a destruction of SNP .

Would love an insight into the SNP bunker at Bute house . Wings had someone who commented on the internal goings on but he/she seems to have slipped off the radar.

I can see serious trouble ahead for any of these choices really.

That would be quite hard to substantiate

It would be hard to substantiate - but I don’t recall remaining in the EU to be among the top arguments for independence in the media or on SM at the time.

I agree none of the choices are good. None have sufficient experience really, all lack non-politics/real world experience, they've all got ideological issues... and a decent opposition politician could use them as a mop with ease.

Which opposition MSP would you like to see FM?

Not one of them. It’s a sorry state of affairs.

Jackie Baillie is best of a bad bunch, maybe Joanna Cherry if she wasn't pro independence, don't like any of the Conservative MSPs although I do feel they as a party are stronger on women's rights than the other parties.

I lost a bit of respect for Jacqui Baillie when she voted for the GRR, I was quite liking her. Apart from her obvious support for women over the GRR I'm otherwise not a fan of Cherry. To be fair I'm not overly impressed with anyone that I'm aware off. Most seem to have obvious flaws, but I'm seeing a bit of potential in Russell Findlay for the tories. Had time for Johann Lamont in her day.

Douglas Ross in a rather understated way made Sturgeon look a complete fool over the Adam Graham fiasco.

I've no time for Cherry.

As a supposedly brilliant legal mind her reaction to the section 35 challenge was pitiful- "Westminster shouldn't have intervened, it's for Scotland to sort out"

I've appreciated Russell Findlay and Murdo Fraser in recent months. This has been a surprise to me, as a leftie.

Murdo Fraser has been great.

Anas Sarwar has been noticeably silent. Whipping the Labour party was a mistake.

Labour have been a crashing disappointment. Especially thinking back to Johann Lamont and other brave measured arguments over the Forensic Examiner's Bill a year or two ago.

Most of those women have now left parliament, I think.

Sorry, I've missed out a ' women's' in the post above!

Another one disappointed with Anas - still time for him to redeem himself...uk labour on the whole have made some good decisions.

Yep, I have time for Murdo as well, he takes some pounding on Social Media but his tweets etc do tend to be pretty measured and I was quite impressed with Douglas Ross's take down of Humza but he's not a strong enough leader and I'm another disappointed with Anas but then Labour do seem to have swallowed a lot of the kool aid.

They would all do better to focus on the things that are important to the majority of voters rather than seeing who can be most woke. Obviously deal with unfairness and ensuring people aren't discriminated against but sort things for everyone and put taxes to good use.

Our trade with Europe despite unfettered access prior to Brexit was always 18% so you are right , majority of Scots didn’t care about Europe and indeed 38 pc voted to leave .

Hmmm 🤔🤔

Didn’t see that coming!
oh wait….
that is the tip of the whole rotten iceberg

Have a read of the fairytale recently penned by effie deans.

Well no, wasn't it mostly the reverse, that we were told independence would mean having to leave the EU - and then it happened anyway, though not because of Scottish votes.

I just don’t remember it being A Thing in the run up to the Indy vote - and then when the Brexit shitshow happened the independence movement suddenly remembered that if only everyone had voted for them we’d have been back in the EU pretty much overnight (despite there being no guarantees from them).

No surprises there @BigBoysDontCry - a fish rots from the head