POLITICAL commentators have spent much of this general election campaign telling us it is where you live that matters. In England and Wales, Brexit is the big issue. If you live in Scotland, meanwhile, it is all about whether there should be a second independence referendum. It’s fair to say the SNP manifesto addresses both of these matters.
Launching the document in Perth, its leader Nicola Sturgeon said her party’s offering had “fairness and opportunity at its heart”, describing it as a manifesto for a “country that is welcoming and outward-looking”. And in both of these statements she was setting herself against one common enemy: the Tories.
It was notable that Labour hardly merited a mention from Ms Sturgeon, who repeated her prediction that the Conservatives are on course to win - and win big - when voters go to the polls a week tomorrow. Following the recent council elections and the latest polls, which suggest the Tories could win a number of seats in Scotland, there’s every chance the SNP is indeed feeling the pressure from Ruth Davidson’s party, which appears to be successfully consolidating the pro-Union vote.
On the other hand, this sort of straight fight with the Tories is perhaps what suits Ms Sturgeon best. She was arguably at her strongest yesterday when speaking of how Scotland would be economically and socially damaged by the hard Brexit Theresa May’s government is intent on pursuing, and the importance of Scotland having a say in the forthcoming negotiations.
Interestingly, Ms Sturgeon moved her party’s position on a second independence referendum, conceding that it should now take place after the Brexit process is complete, rather than before, as was previously advocated. She also said the SNP winning a majority of Westminster seats would mean an independence vote “triple lock”, following last year’s Holyrood election, where her party won 63 seats, and the Scottish Parliament’s vote earlier this year to sanction a second referendum; she once more described Conservative promises to block it as “democratically unsustainable”.
What was unclear, however, was what strategy Ms Sturgeon would employ if a determined Mrs May, on re-election, continued to deny a second referendum.
The biggest theme of yesterday’s launch was Tory austerity. Time and time again she took aim at Mrs May over “attacks” on the elderly, landing punches on proposed changes to the winter fuel allowance, social care and the scrapping of the pensions triple lock in England and Wales.
But the moral tone of the rhetoric was not accompanied by the sort of bold moves on tax that many of the SNP’s more left-leaning supporters, particularly in the cities, would have hoped to see. As expected, the manifesto committed the party to a 50p rate for the whole UK. But there was certainly no talk of matching Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s promise to set higher rates for those earning £80-150k.
As Ms Sturgeon knows only too well, however, the commentators are right: it is the constitution that will likely determine the success or otherwise of her party next week.
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