Official launch of the indy referendum is the countdown to the greatest failure of Alex Salmond’s political career, Cameron not bothered about date!

Dear All

David Cameron has come out and said he isn’t fussed when the date of the Scottish independence referendum is.

And why should he be, setting the date so far in the future works to his advantage not the SNP.

So, for two years, the SNP will be forced to try and keep the momentum going to try and generate some excitement in the minds of Scottish voters.

If a week is a long time in politics then two years is a nightmare for the SNP, we will in due course see the Scottish Government launch the referendum, but it will be just another news item.

Can the SNP for two years keep producing exciting developments to capture the voters’ imagination?

No!

Behind Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, there is a startling lack of talent at every level of the Scottish National Party.

A true reflection of the party's state is attending branch meetings, which are generally truly awful in both style and content.

Cameron says that the pro-UK forces can defeat the SNP not only on arguments of the head but also on arguments of the heart.

He said:

"I know there is an enormous well-spring in terms of Scottish pride and Scottish nationhood and Scottish identity but I absolutely believe you can be prouder of your Scottish heritage, identity and all of that than you are of your British identity but still believe in this wonderful construction of the United Kingdom."

In 2014, we will see many high profile events, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and around that time the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles which the SNP will be keen to try and use the goodwill from by turning up and being seen.

But just being there and giving a smile isn’t enough to turn voters, substance turns voters, it gives them a reason to vote.

Despite claiming a win, the SNP saw the yellow map of Scotland turn rainbow with very little outright SNP controlled councils.

Anyway you slice that up, it was a disaster, the Glasgow result was probably the most shocking for the SNP who had Nicola Sturgeon effectively fronting that campaign.

27 seats out of 79 shows that Nicola Sturgeon isn’t the popular figurehead that she probably believes she is, on twitter, the social network, the youth of Scotland are less than kind to her.

Losing Glasgow was a killer blow to the SNP as well as being seen as unable to take the council, the lack of talent of Team Sturgeon was brought very much to the fore.

If the SNP can’t take Glasgow at council level, it is impossible to take it at the independence referendum.

Quite simply Glaswegians rejected the SNP, 45% in the Holyrood vote, 32% in the Council vote, the drop of 13% is staggering, which highlights my previous blogs that Labour’s troubles all stemmed from a weak showing in Holyrood and an exceptional poor leader in Iain Gray.

The tactic of Alex Salmond for First Minister died a death on the doorsteps because the public rejected many of Alex Salmond’s Non Glaswegian outsiders brought in to be candidates. Apparently Glaswegians are seen as being not capable of running their own affairs by the Scottish National Party.

Holyrood 2016 will see some of the current SNP MSPs who hold FPTP seats out.

But politics is funny, things change but we should remember the SNP will go into the Holyrood 2016 election with three crushing defeats under their belts and getting blamed for austerity, the good times are over.

The Scottish National Party won’t win because at the end of the day, they are very good at publicity seeking when the good things are happening and less so when things go pear shaped.

Have a pear Alex, you will be getting a bowl full of them soon enough.

The lack of talent in the party wasn’t a problem while results were mediocre for them in the past, but in order to lift their game they need much better in their ranks.

And it isn’t there.

The official launch of the independence referendum is the countdown to the greatest failure of Alex Salmond’s political career.

A smile, a few balloons and a flag aren’t going to change that.

Stupidity is a poor substitute for intelligence.

A lesson that the SNP is incapable of learning.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University