A rotten election

SNP leader John Swinney pictured holding everything Scotland’s cause might stand to gain from an SNP majority.

As I write, we are about 24 hours away from polls opening for the 2026 Scottish general election. It is at this point in proceedings that the parties make their final bid for our votes. That bid is customarily a broth of boasts, promises, and threats. Party leaders resort to moral suasion—trading on past successes and cashing in on past favours. Then there are the bribes—promises of future payment for our votes. This is seasoned with a bit of menace—warnings of catastrophe if we get it wrong.

Finally, we get the lie. No politician’s statement would be complete without at least a soupçon of dishonesty. John Swinney’s open letter published in The National today is a fine example of the genre.

It should come as no surprise that I focus on the lie. (emphasis added)

That majority ensures that we can support people with the cost of living, it locks Nigel Farage out of power in Scotland, and it delivers the fresh start of independence.

If Nigel Farage serves no other purpose—off the top of my head, I can’t think of one—then he at least provides the others with a bogeyman they can use to scare the voters while offering protection.

But it is the part of the statement highlighted above which ignites my ire. The bit where Swinney claims that an SNP majority delivers “the fresh start of independence”. That is a lie!

In terms of the constitutional issue, an SNP majority delivers nothing! Arguably, less than nothing. If Swinney is as good as his word (a phrase to be uttered with a tone implying heavy sarcasm), then an SNP majority will deliver a blow to Scotland’s cause which could set it back years, if not decades.

The chances of any of the other goodies being delivered are hard to estimate. I suspect the price cap on food items might bite the dust early when the supermarket chains send in their top gunslingers. They will argue that competition is an effective regulator which works without what they will claim is the huge administrative cost of implementing a price cap. That one looks ripe for a fudge of some kind.

While there is a possibility and in some cases a probability that the benefits will be delivered, it is a certainty that independence won’t be delivered. Judging by below-the-line comments in The National and elsewhere, a great many people are falling for lies of the sort being highlighted here. There are a lot of people out there who are totally convinced they are voting for independence when they vote for the SNP. Add to that number all the ones who imagine they’re voting for independence when they vote for the Alliance to Liberate Scotland (AtLS), and you’ve got a sizeable chunk of the electorate voting in glorious ignorance. That is not as it should be.

We have all, I’m sure, seen or heard complaints that our electoral system and/or that our entire political system is broken. It’s hard to disagree. But while most fuss is made about the voting system in Scottish general elections, I would contend that far worse breaks are to be found elsewhere. I maintain that what is most broken about the system is the electorate. The electorate is broken because where it is not disengaged entirely, it is woefully ill-informed and appallingly misinformed. There is almost no chance of individual electors making informed choices because they are immersed in an ocean of dishonesty, prevarication, and obfuscation.

The product of elections is the aggregate of a profusion of falsehood, misdirection, and deceit. See above for an example courtesy of our First Minister.

It is not just the SNP, of course. As I’ve already mentioned, the AtLS is no more honest with voters than the SNP. And it should go without saying that the campaigns mounted by the British parties are carved from a solid chunk of unscrupulousness. But the SNP is the dominant force in Scottish politics and will continue to be the dominant force after the election. When Swinney lies, it matters more than when Anas Sarwar lies. And when Swinney lies about the most important issue in Scottish politics, it matters a lot.

Usually, the lies told by politicians are artful. They are contrived so as to maintain deniability. Just as we get 'not-quite promises', so we get ‘not-quite lies’. Straight up flat out bare-faced lies such as the claim that an SNP majority will deliver independence are relatively rare. Should the SNP achieve that majority, it is going to be very difficult for Swinney to deny that he had linked that achievement to independence. He is telling us that independence will ensue from an SNP majority. It won’t.

The only thing that will ensue from an SNP majority is a request from Swinney to Starmer (or his successor) for a Section 30 order. That request will all but certainly be refused. In fact, it has already been refused, just not formally. It hardly matters. Even if the request was granted, that SNP majority still doesn’t connect to a proper constitutional referendum and the possibility of independence. You cannot draw a line connecting an SNP majority to independence. The line gets blocked or diverted and just never gets to where you are trying to take it.

I’ll be at the polling place tomorrow afternoon despite, for the first time in my life, experiencing a powerful urge to stay away. I’ve already decided I have no choice but to repurpose my constituency ballot as a vote to #EndTheUnion since there is no candidate worthy of my endorsement. My options on the regional ballot are no better. Yesterday, I pared it down to a toss-up between the Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Socialist Party. Frankly, neither of them appeals to me. It could be another repurposed ballot.

One thing is certain: I’ll be obliged to go for a couple of beers after voting in an effort to wash the revolting taste of this obscenely dishonest election campaign out of my mouth.