Irresponsible Dundee University students

[Taintedice]

Latest poll out today shows 52% for indy, that breaks rros's sequence of 4575 polls in a row showing Scots wanting 'unity', bad day for the opposition who let's not forget are part of a government who break the ministerial code on a daily basis by constantly lying. Get rid of the SNP by all means, but don't offer the tories up in exchange.

[BCram]

Latest poll out today shows 52% for indy, that breaks rros's sequence of 4575 polls in a row showing Scots wanting 'unity', bad day for the opposition who let's not forget are part of a government who break the ministerial code on a daily basis by constantly lying. Get rid of the SNP by all means, but don't offer the tories up in exchange.

Sorry Taintedice but you have got this completely mixed up. The SNP and the Greens are the government in Scotland. It is the SNP who have done everything they could to frustrate the Salmond Inquiry. It was only the threats of votes of no confidence which produced any movement at all. I would not dream of suggesting any party as an alternative. That’s for the people of Scotland to decide. My advice would be to avoid giving the SNP an overall majority at this time. There is a clear difficulty with the way our parliament has been organised. Read any non SNP thinker and the message is consistent - there is something wrong that the law is led by a member of the government. I also don't think the economic situation is favourable. These are my problems, but I think if anyone wants to change my mind they should be able to persuade me.

[Taintedice]

The opposition leader in Scotland, if you can call them that, is Douglas Ross, who is an MP, his party are the UK government and break the ministerial code quite often. Quite a lot of people are recognising the hypocrisy there and not all are SNP supporters. The Holyrood inquiry was always going to be party political, the Hamilton inquiry was not.

[BCram]

The opposition leader in Scotland, if you can call them that, is Douglas Ross, who is an MP, his party are the UK government and break the ministerial code quite often. Quite a lot of people are recognising the hypocrisy there and not all are SNP supporters. The Holyrood inquiry was always going to be party political, the Hamilton inquiry was not.

The point has been made time and time again that Scotland would be different. I think trying to compare the SNP performance which is poor IMO with the performance of the Conservative party in Westminster which IMO is also poor is just reinforcing the need for change through the ballot box. The expression two wrongs don't make a right seems to me to be a convincing case for change rather than a
justification for the behaviour of the SNP in Holyrood or the Conservatives in Westminster.

[islaydarkblue]

Sorry Taintedice but you have got this completely mixed up. The SNP and the Greens are the government in Scotland. It is the SNP who have done everything they could to frustrate the Salmond Inquiry. It was only the threats of votes of no confidence which produced any movement at all. I would not dream of suggesting any party as an alternative. That’s for the people of Scotland to decide. My advice would be to avoid giving the SNP an overall majority at this time. There is a clear difficulty with the way our parliament has been organised. Read any non SNP thinker and the message is consistent - there is something wrong that the law is led by a member of the government. I also don't think the economic situation is favourable. These are my problems, but I think if anyone wants to change my mind they should be able to persuade me.

In my opinion people should also avoid giving their second vote to the Greens as they will always vote in favour of SNP policies no matter how hopeless they are. Parties should only be permitted to put forward candidates for the list (second ) vote if the have also put forward candidates for every constituency seat throughout Scotland for the first vote on the ballot paper.

[BCram]

In my opinion people should also avoid giving their second vote to the Greens as they will always vote in favour of SNP policies no matter how hopeless they are. Parties should only be permitted to put forward candidates for the list (second ) vote if the have also put forward candidates for every constituency seat throughout Scotland for the first vote on the ballot paper.

Sorry Islay disagree. Snp would never have got off the ground if that had been the rules, same with Greens. It is our voting system that helps small parties. I don't think anyone really wants to have a first past the post system in Scotland.

[islaydarkblue]

Sorry Islay disagree. Snp would never have got off the ground if that had been the rules, same with Greens. It is our voting system that helps small parties. I don't think anyone really wants to have a first past the post system in Scotland.

The Greens currently hold the balance of power at Holyrood but they are effectively the SNP’s poodles as they vote with the SNP at every opportunity.
At the first Scottish Government elections in 1999 voters were encouraged to cast their second vote in favour of one of the ‘rag, tag and bobtail’ minor political parties to get a better debate and balance of government.
However this was a disaster and at the next elections all these minor parties failed to win a list seat.
In my opinion I would get rid of the list MSPs, reduce the number of constituencies to 65 and elect the two candidates from each constituency who finish in first and second place based on the number of votes they receive.
This would be first and second past the post.