OUT canvassing on a quiet street in Craigentinny, the polite lady at the door was just telling me that hers was an SNP household when her baseball-capped 30-something son appeared on her shoulder. “You Tories should get back tae England where you belong,” he rasped.
“I’m as Scottish as you are, mate,” I replied rather presumptuously. How could I know if his grandparents were all Scottish like mine? Perhaps he was more Scottish because all of his great-grandparents were from north of the Border, compared to my seven-eighths? No matter; it was clear he hadn’t come to the door to discuss genealogy.
Barging past his mum, he bellowed: “I lost my f****** house because of you f****** Tories, wi your f****** universal credits, so f*** off out of here.” Having found out all I needed to know for the canvass return, I took his advice and headed down the street, with what sounded like a much-put-upon mum remonstrating that “It’s no’ him that’s to blame”.
The contrast with the next house couldn’t have been more stark, a retired couple joshing about who was responsible for the politics but seriously concerned about their street being used as a rat-run for speeding drivers to beat an awkward junction, which it is. Top of their agenda was independence and the second referendum, to which they were vehemently opposed.
While the reaction of the chap in the cap was by no means typical of the response of those opposed to the Scottish Conservatives (most will politely but firmly say they will not vote Tory but many still thank me for taking the trouble to call anyway), the gulf between the two sides in what is becoming an increasingly febrile atmosphere is growing wider.
Although May 4 is a council election, setting aside constitutional issues for local concerns is impossible and, with little prompting, conversations promptly come round to independence and Brexit.
As a bellwether for how people react to events unfolding across the country, the Craigentinny and Duddingston ward in East Edinburgh is as good as any; in most parts comfortable without being too upmarket, next to less affluent districts where deprivation is an issue. Most pro-SNP voters don’t spend much time speaking to the likes of me but many who do are clear that Brexit has changed everything and that their pro-Europe identity is vital to their outlook.
But discomfort about the EU within SNP ranks is not going away, as evidenced by interventions from eurosceptics like Sir George Matthewson. “I hate Brussels more than I hate the English,” said one very respectable looking gent with a chuckle the other week. I suspect he was only half joking.
Real, too, is the number of SNP voters who will still support their party while rejecting another independence ballot; just as a vote for Remain cannot be regarded as a proxy for independence, neither can a vote for the SNP. Conversely, I have yet to come across anyone intending to vote Conservative, and that’s more than a few, who want a referendum. For all the talk of mandates and the Scottish Parliament motion, how that is reflected in the May poll might produce some surprises. Will all those in leafy Craiglockhart and Morningside who previously voted for those nice, helpful Greens still vote for a party more immediately intent on the break-up of Britain than saving the planet?
If there is a local issue it’s still Edinburgh’s contentious blanket 20mph speed limit. Having been extended across half of the city for a month, there is no shortage of anecdotes about dangerous driving borne out of frustration, confusion about signs and awareness of the scrapping of a similar policy in Manchester this month. Unlike the referendum, at least the SNP can still perform a U-turn on this one.
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