THE SNP may have lost target seats because pro-Union groups spent tens of thousands of pounds on digital ads pushing tactical voting, an investigation has revealed. The SNP and Scottish Greens won a total of 72 seats in Holyrood on a record turnout for the Scottish Parliament elections of 63% – 10% higher than the previous average. But an OpenDemocracy report found the party could have lost key seats, which prevented them from achieving an outright majority, due to social media adverts with a lack of transparency over funding. The site found a group called Young Unionists spent more than £20,000 on Facebook ads, including more than £5000 in the final days of the campaign. Tens of thousands of voters were pushed to the VoteUnion tactical voting tool.
DENYING the SNP an overall majority was a “collective effort” by Unionists, according to John Curtice. The polling expert was writing in The Scotsman after the SNP and Scottish Greens won a total of 72 seats in Holyrood on a record turnout for the Scottish Parliament elections of 63% – 10% higher than the previous average. Curtice said the SNP’s lack of an outright majority was because Unionist voters voted for a party in each constituency that had the potential to beat the SNP. He said: “Denying the SNP an overall majority was, indeed, a collective effort – at least on the part of Unionist voters, who on the constituency ballot demonstrated a remarkable willingness to back whichever pro-union party appeared to be best placed locally to defeat the SNP.”
The LibDems’ Alex Cole-Hamilton UNIONIST tactical voting saw the Conservatives, Labour and the LibDems all hold onto seats being challenged by the SNP as voters backed the party they believed had the highest chance of defeating Nicola Sturgeon’s party. Former Tory leader Jackson Carlaw was re-elected in Eastwood after Labour’s vote slumped by a massive 15% from 2016. Carlaw received 17,911 votes beating the SNP’s Colm Merrick who netted15,695. Labour got just 6759, taking third place. In the SNP target seats of Edinburgh Western and Edinburgh Southern unionist supporting voters also swung behind what they regarded as the strongest pro-UK party in the area.
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The result will likely intensify demands for indyref2 with a pro-independence majority secured with the combination of the SNP and the Scottish Greens.
First Minister and SNP party leader Nicola Sturgeon celebrates after retaining her seat for Glasgow Southside at the count for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his impression was Scottish voters had “moved away from the idea of a referendum”.
“I don’t think this is anything like the time to have more constitutional wrangling, to be talking about ripping our country apart, when actually people want to heal our economy and bounce forward together,” he told a national newspaper. “That’s what people want.”
Former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson has welcomed an “emphatic” win in Edinburgh Central – the seat formerly held by ex-Scottish Conservative chief Ruth Davidson.
Mr Robertson overturned the Conservative majority of 810, taking 16,276 votes after record numbers of voters turned out in the Scottish capital.
The Tory candidate, Scott Douglas, won 11,544 votes – giving the SNP a majority of 4,732.
Mr Robertson, who led the SNP at Westminster before losing his Moray seat at the 2017 general election, said: “This result is an emphatic and an unparalleled victory for the SNP in Edinburgh Central.
Liberal Democrat candidate Alex Cole Hamilton reacts as he holds his seat for Edinburgh Western at the Holyrood elections (Lesley Martin/PA)