Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says Eastleigh by-election proves gulf exists between Scotland and England, Professor John Curtice delivers a politics lesson as he says her claims are“rubbish”

Dear All

If you like me are interested in politics, you may have caught the This Week Easteligh by-election special fronted by Andrew Neil.

As always Andrew delivered an upbeat stewardship as Simon Hughes, Grant Schapps, Paul Nuttall and Chuka Umunna battled it out.

Grant Schapps put up a decent defence despite being shot to shit, Simon Hughes was fatherly and all wise, Chuka Umunna, tried to put a brave face on a 0.2% increase in the Labour vote, Paul Nuttall, not a great speaker even for an MEP, luckily saw a massive vote swing his way.

On the night, the Lib Dems won the by-election because of a strong presence in the local community, at the start of the by-election; the Conservatives had a slight lead. The by-election was called due to the disgrace of Chris Huhne who resigned after being found guilty at Court.

The big story of the night was not that LibDems' Mike Thornton won the seat but that Diane James of UKIP who got a 24% swing of the vote.

As we all know, there is a direction of travel in the UK because in both Scotland and England, people know that the EU doesn’t work properly.

However, it can be fixed.

As the Scottish independence campaign continues to sink under the leadership of Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP are trying to seize anything which they think will make her popular.

So, they have taken the result from the Eastleigh by-election to argue Westminster's politics was becoming increasingly right-wing.

At present in Scotland we have a right wing government, maybe they missed that, the difference in Scotland is that for party political reasons, the SNP spins that they are left wing to get the working class vote which is increasingly refusing to listen to them.

Some say we have a “Tartan Tory” Government lead by Alex Salmond, who said that Scotland didn’t mind Margaret Thatcher.

As part of the “positive message”, the SNP added that the UK Government was Europhobic and alien to Scots voters.

Is there evidence of that since an MP was returned to the coalition government?

David Cameron is 100% behind the European project, so where is the Europhobia?

Nicola Sturgeon, the ‘linchpin’ of the disastrous Yes campaign, said the second-place result for the UK Independence Party would also push the Tories and Labour further to the right in an attempt to stop UKIP eating into their vote.

One sunny day doesn’t make a summer, and where’s the evidence of the Labour Party pandering to the right?

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie in turn accused Sturgeon of trying to "demonise" the English.

Again, its Nicola Sturgeon doing what she does best, acting the part of the ‘angry wee Nat’ fostering grudge, grievance and malcontent. Her voice is effective as a shout on a wet street, who is she trying to gain support from? Playing to the increasingly small number of people who back her?

In a by-election, there are many reasons for which way a vote can be cast, it could be on local issues, it could be on national issues, or a protest vote, or for a personality.

Labour struggled to fourth, they say that the reason for this is that they don’t have the people and network on the ground in this area to win, and ‘booties in the dirt’ is essential in politics.

Ed Miliband's "One Nation" strategy has yet to convince voters in England's southeast or indeed anywhere else.

Tory right-winger Stewart Jackson, MP for Peterborough said:

"Unless things are demonstrably different in terms of public perception by the early summer he will have great difficulty in persuading the electorate we can win a General Election. He is out of touch with the party. Both gay marriage and EU migration feed into a narrative that too much emphasis is going to the liberal metropolitan elite and not enough to the blue-collar working vote Margaret Thatcher had the support of."

Nicola Sturgeon said:

"Eastleigh shows just how far the politics of Westminster has diverged from Scotland, it will boost the siren voices in the Tory Party who want to cut us out of Europe and the single market of half-a-billion people, and those in Labour who want their party also to back a referendum on an EU exit. It reinforces the need for a Yes vote in Scotland's independence referendum, because the decisions of the Westminster system are moving further and further away from the economic and social interests of the people of Scotland. While Ukip is dictating policy south of the Border, it has never moved beyond the far fringes of Scottish politics."

In Scotland, UKIP doesn’t have an effective network which is why they are at the far fringes of Scottish politics.

If they build up their network of activists and start contesting elections, they could possible win; remember Tommy Sheridan and the SSP got 7 seats at Holyrood. If the product is right, people will buy and flock to it.

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie accused the Nationalists of trying to "demonise" England.

He said:

"They're trying to demonise the whole of England as being some kind of right wing conglomerate and that's not my experience having lived there for several years. The English are a very compassionate and outward looking people."

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said:

"Lessons must always be learned from any by-election and the Scottish Conservatives will reflect carefully. This is something I am sure the SNP has not done following the various defeats it has experienced in recent local government by-elections."

Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University has allegedly described the SNP argument as "rubbish".

Remember when I said that there was a genuine lack of talent in the Scottish National Party?

Well, it seems that more people are starting to climb on board with that concept, to try and involve her in English matters in an attempt to garner support for the disastrous Scottish indy campaign that she is leading is rather poor politics.

Ms. Sturgeon and her cronies are in their own private hell screaming like mad men, talent has a new name, and it isn’t any of her crowd.

I need to repeat Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University analysis; the SNP argument is "rubbish".

The only upside for Ms. Sturgeon is that walking on her hands and talking out her arse is saving on shoe leather!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University