The Day that Scotland Changed
The Day that Scotland Changed Gerry Hassan Prospect, December 18th 2015 May 7th 2015 stands out as the day Scotland changed. The House of Cards that was Labour dominance collapsed: a domino effect which witnessed 40 out of 41 Labour seats being won by the SNP. Scotland has seamlessly switched from a nation of Labour supremacy to one of SNP ascendancy, and no one is quite sure why and what it means. The standard explanation is that Labour tied itself to the Tories in the independence referendum, but that is one small part. Much more pronounced is the decline of
What do we do about the British constitution?
What do we do about the British constitution? Gerry Hassan The Conversation, May 22nd 2015 There can be little doubt that Britain is on the move. This can be seen in the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum and forthcoming European Union vote. This is a time of flux and uncertainty. While for some such as the SNP and critics of the British status quo this is a positive, for many elites and experts this produces anxieties and worries. No more is this is so than with benign liberal opinion – which believes that for every problem there should be
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Scotland’s Peaceful Revolution and the End of the Old Britain
Scotland’s Peaceful Revolution and the End of the Old Britain Gerry Hassan The Hindu, May 16th 2015 Britain feels and looks very different now from only a week ago. The general election threw up many surprises - the re-election of a majority Conservative Government, the scale of the Scottish National Party (SNP) landslide, and Scotland and England pointing in completely opposite political directions. The SNP won 56 of Scotland’s 59 constituencies, reducing the dominant Labour Party north of the border from 41 seats at the previous election to a single seat. A whole host of luminaries lost their seats including
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A Tale of Two Nations. And Two Leaders
A Tale of Two Nations. And Two Leaders Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 10th 2015 We awoke on Friday morning to a very different world. A nearly completely yellow Scotland. A bluer England. And a patchwork Wales. The first majority Tory Government elected since 1992 whilst Scotland passed in one night from Labour dominance to an even more impressive SNP strength. These and more things weren’t meant to happen. David Cameron’s re-election as Prime Minister with a majority has taken many people by surprise. No UK Government sitting for a full term has seen its vote rise since Anthony
Scotland embarks on a New Era
Scotland embarks on a New Era Gerry Hassan Irish Times, May 9th 2015 Scotland has had landmark Westminster elections before. There was 1997 when Scotland voted out every Tory MP. Then in October 1974 there was the first ever Scottish-wide Nationalist surge; in 1955 there was the high tide of Tory Unionism when they won over half the votes and seats; and in 1922 Labour broke through for the first time and ‘Red Clydeside’ went to Westminster. This is one of those moments - and more. History has been made by the collective expression of the Scottish people. Records have
A Cut Out and Keep Guide to Understanding the 2015 General Election in Scotland
A Cut Out and Keep Guide to Understanding the 2015 General Election in Scotland Gerry Hassan May 5th 2015 This has been an election campaign like no other in living memory in Scotland. While Westminster commentators have regularly stated that this is the ‘most boring’ and ‘risk free’ election they can ever remember, north of the border nothing like this has ever been seen before. Scotland is on the cusp of huge political change which could see Scottish Labour’s Westminster political establishment vanquished, and a new political dispensation and map of the country created, which will not only have
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Scotland’s Quiet Revolution: How we changed and what it may mean
Scotland’s Quiet Revolution: How we changed and what it may mean Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 3rd 2015 What in the future will people say about the state of our nation today? They will say they saw a Scotland on the cusp of historic change, shifting from an older, predictable order to something new and potentially different. A SNP wave looks certain to wash over Scotland next Thursday, toppling most Labour and Lib Dem strongholds. Cameron has given up on the Scottish Tories - in the pursuit of undermining Scottish Labour and winning back soft English UKIP voters. Ed Miliband
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Can Scottish Labour clear up the mess it has got itself into?
Can Scottish Labour clear up the mess it has got itself into? Gerry Hassan Compass, April 30th 2015 Something amazing is happening in the UK general election in Scotland. Its campaign and mood is so different from the rest of the UK. Voters are animated and engaged: one survey predicting 85% certain to vote, 20% more than the highest figures in England. The old certainties have gone. Whereas once Scotland returned a block of 40-50 MPs to Westminster, and nothing of any real significance happened here, now the entire world has been turned upside down. Instead of a Scottish Labour
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‘Peak SNP’ and how Scotland and the UK are changing
‘Peak SNP’ and how Scotland and the UK are changing Gerry Hassan New Statesman, April 28th 2015 Scotland is everywhere in the news only a few months after the indyref. Scotland and its politics are being widely discussed and portrayed not just north of the border, but by UK media and politicians, as well as getting significant international coverage. Scotland feels different. It is as if something fundamental has shifted in how voters see politics, the consequences of their votes, and themselves. For years a sizeable segment of voters have thought at Westminster elections that the most important issue was
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It’s a Family Affair: the Strange Relationship of Labour and SNP
It’s a Family Affair: the Strange Relationship of Labour and SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, April 26th 2015 The forthcoming general election in Scotland, and to an extent in the UK, is being decided by the battle between Labour and the SNP. There is history and bad blood here which almost amounts to a bitter family feud. Insults such as ‘tartan Tories’ and ‘red Tories’ are exchanged – both phrases pre-exist their current Labour and SNP use, but are now synonymous with the enmity between the two. The past is a distant country in this. The SNP electoral breakthrough
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