Comments on: Yet more thoughts on the result

By: doctorvee » The Lib Dems just can’t win

doctorvee » The Lib Dems just can’t win — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:43:01 +0000

[...] As I said on Friday, there is no mandate for a referendum. That post provided a reaction from an anonymous commenter: If there’s a majority for it in parliament there is. Simple as that. [...]

By: MatGB

MatGB — Sun, 06 May 2007 13:49:58 +0000

On the minor party vote collapse:
http://rhythmaning.livejournal.com/147778.html

Hopefully will have time to shout that across the place at some point later. Disgraceful, many of the minor parties only campaign for list votes, if you’re a Green or similar, your vote has been discounted completely if you didn’t vote in the constituency. Agh!

By: Will P

Will P — Sat, 05 May 2007 09:53:33 +0000

Can’t argue with that. We still have to get used to this I suppose: Westminster has usually produced results that allow us to use verbs like ‘is’, ‘has’, ‘can’ and ‘will’. Maybe with Holyrood we’re still having to deal with verbs like ‘could’, ‘might’ and ‘should’ instead.

By: bill macvean

bill macvean — Sat, 05 May 2007 06:57:38 +0000

Not every labour voter voted against independence

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Sat, 05 May 2007 00:35:51 +0000

Well, sitting here today, the SNP aren’t in the kind of position where they can force the Lib Dems to concede by saying, “We have a mandate to push for this referendum”. I mean, they can’t say something like, “You cannot possibly oppose a referendum because a majority voted for us”, because that’s not the case.

If the Lib Dems can be persuaded to make a deal, then that is a process of representative democracy and coalition politics. Then a referendum on independence would be fair enough.

By: Will P

Will P — Sat, 05 May 2007 00:21:09 +0000

So if the SNP succeed in pursuading the LibDems to support a referendum as part of a Coalition deal – and given Green support for an independence vote it might be more probable than we think: we don’t really know as yet what the price will be for their backing a government (though admittedly, they’re more likely to focus on environmental issues than the Constitution) – then, just as on every other SNP, LibDem or Green policy that makes it into an agreement, there would surely be a mandate for that referendum. We don’t yet know if there will even be an agreement, let alone what’ll be in it, so isn’t it a bit early to be saying what policies have or don’t have a mandate?

That’s really all I’m saying: you’re the second person I’m aware of mentioning this with specific reference to a referendum today (the other was Iain Smith), and all we really know for sure right now is who is and is not an MSP…

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:33:54 +0000

If they can get a majority of the Parliament to agree, yes. And that has been the case for every piece of legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament (otherwise, by definition, it can’t be passed).

Commenter #1. There is not a majority for it in Parliament. Unless they can do a deal with the Lib Dems, it is not going to happen.

By: Will P

Will P — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:30:01 +0000

“There is no mandate for an independence referendum.”

Given that no party won a majority, is there a mandate for any of the parties’ policies, apart from the usual, “We want more policemen, nurses, teachers, sunny days, etc.”?

By: commenter

commenter — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:16:40 +0000

“There is no mandate for an independence referendum.”

If there’s a majority for it in parliament there is. Simple as that.