AN interregnum usually lasts slightly longer than a weekend, but this is Scotland in 2023 and nothing is really normal anymore, is it? So we’ve Saturday and Sunday to bask in a leaderless glow before either Saint Kate, Alba Ash, or Continuity Humza takes the throne.
The Coronation will be at Murrayfield Stadium it appears. Whether Harry Styles or Beyonce will open the golden envelope and announce the new First Minister is as yet unclear. But like I said, nothing is normal anymore so why not stage the declaration in a venue which would hold the entirety of the SNP’s rather dwindled membership?
It’s all been quite comic - in a bleakly absurdist way - and so understandably unionists have had their laughs at the expense of the SNP over the last demented month. ‘Independence thermometers’ anyone?
Read More: Mark Smith: Are we being 'foreignised' by the SNP?
Here’s the thing, though: unionists can sneer all they want. That’s easy. We can all point and laugh. But the unionist parties hold no answers to what ails either Scotland or the rest of the UK. In a way, the joke is on them. Since Nicola Sturgeon resigned, the SNP has been in a state of Keystone Kops style chaos. If unionists couldn’t make ground amid such an utter shambles, when will they ever?
YouGov polling between February 17-20, immediately after Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation, put the SNP on 38% in a Westminster election, Scottish Conservatives on 19%, Scottish Labour on 29%, the LibDems on 6% and Greens on 4%. The last YouGov poll, conducted between March 9-13, had the SNP on 39%, Conservatives on 16%, Labour 29%, LibDems 6% and Greens 6%.
Now clearly, the SNP’s progressive and conservative wings could split the party in two come Monday’s announcement, sending nationalists plummeting in the polls as civil war really takes hold, but what that polling shows is just how incapable unionist parties are of connecting with the Scottish electorate in any meaningful way.
To read the full article from Neil simply subscribe to our Unspun newsletter, delivering the best political comment, insight and analysis straight to your inbox every weeknight at 7pm.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel