THE LEAST WORST OPTION
I would like to see an end to SNP government. The party has been in power for too long, and is now looking and sounding stale, with too many stories of corruption and incompetence surfacing. But. If there was an election tomorrow I'd still be voting for them. Why?
Two main reasons. The first is obvious. If, as I do, you believe in the benefits of Scotland becoming independent from the UK, and the increasing urgency of doing so, then the SNP are still the only really credible electoral show in town. I might prefer to vote Green, but doing so might just lose a constituency seat to a unionist, so it isn't worth the risk. They can have my list vote, my local authority vote, but for seats in either parliament there are bigger stakes. (Of course if we had the much fairer Single Transferable Vote system in place for parliamentary seats, as we do at council level, it would be a different story, making it much easier to vote for exactly who you want.) Alba have yet to show any real campaigning strength, so they can't be considered yet.
The second reason concerns those bigger stakes. For more than four decades I have despised the Tories and what they do to ordinary people, and have always voted tactically to try to keep them out. In the constituencies I lived in down south that meant Lib Dem. Here we have other options. But is there a realistic option to the SNP?
No party is perfect, no party has policies with which anyone, even party members, agrees 100%. So we vote for the best fit for our priorities. Often that means voting for the least worst option, rather than the best. And this is what it comes down to. The SNP might not be the party it once was, but is there a better option?
I've asked unionists on Twitter (that well know source of rational opinion...) what the credible alternative Scottish Government is. Answers, if given, tend to be vague, coy. These are mostly right wingers, Outside of the right wing bubble, the Tories remain what they've been since Thatcher's time - the most divisive and disliked party in the country. The branch manager, and the Borders MP who is allegedly Secretary of State for Scotland, are ciphers, devoid of any bite or ideas. And hamstrung by the failure, nepotism and general malfeasance of their masters. Labour might have their best national leader in some time (they've been through enough of them in the past few years), but are also hamstrung by their London bosses. What sort of Labour Party is it than can contemplate expelling the great Ken Loach? As for the Lib Dems... choosing a vile misogynist who seems to be trying out-evil the Tories seems like a route to oblivion.
The SNP commitment to Indy can reasonably called into doubt, but for now they remain the most likely vehicle. But even if that major issue were discounted, I can't see who would actually do a better job. The least worst option remains the only choice.
