This afternoon, the SNP announced the rankings of candidates on the regional list for the approaching Holyrood election in 2011. A quick analysis suggests that several incumbents will not be returning to Holyrood after next May. In the Glasgow list, the exceedingly youthful Humza Yousaf handily overcomes the leader of the SNP group in Glasgow City Council and veteran tribune Sandra White. Incumbent MSP Bill Kidd effectively crashes out of contention with his seventh place ranking, as does Bill Wilson who ended up 8th on a busy list in the Lothians, joined by Christina McKelvie, who came 6th in Central Scotland. Further from Glasgow, in all probability, we can expect to see a new blog entitled Indygal Leaves Holyrood.
Mike Russell's second placing in the Highlands and Islands list only behind Fergus Ewing suggests that the press scuttlebutt claiming that he might be in spot of difficulty has come to nowt. Speaking of Ewings, Fergus' sister Annabelle managed to o'erleap Minister for Skills & Lifelong Learning, Keith Brown to secure fourth place on the mid-Scotland list. I was also surprised to see that one Joan McAlpine has been ranked fourth in the South of Scotland list. I'm reliably informed that this is the blogosphere's own Joan McAlpine, of Go Lassie Go. The SNP picked up five list seats in the South of Scotland in 2007, so there is a decent chance of seeing that flame haired nationalist damsel on Holyrood's benches in 2011. How this will all pan out obviously depends very much on results in constituencies. No doubt there are other many, many other tales hiding in the hierarchies and cunning analyses the psephologically sensitive might perform. Those are just a few of the things which immediately leapt out at me.
Mike Russell's second placing in the Highlands and Islands list only behind Fergus Ewing suggests that the press scuttlebutt claiming that he might be in spot of difficulty has come to nowt. Speaking of Ewings, Fergus' sister Annabelle managed to o'erleap Minister for Skills & Lifelong Learning, Keith Brown to secure fourth place on the mid-Scotland list. I was also surprised to see that one Joan McAlpine has been ranked fourth in the South of Scotland list. I'm reliably informed that this is the blogosphere's own Joan McAlpine, of Go Lassie Go. The SNP picked up five list seats in the South of Scotland in 2007, so there is a decent chance of seeing that flame haired nationalist damsel on Holyrood's benches in 2011. How this will all pan out obviously depends very much on results in constituencies. No doubt there are other many, many other tales hiding in the hierarchies and cunning analyses the psephologically sensitive might perform. Those are just a few of the things which immediately leapt out at me.
CENTRAL SCOTLAND
- Alex Neil
- Michael Matheson
- Jamie Hepburn
- Linda Fabiani
- Richard Lyle
- Christina McKelvie
- Angus MacDonald
- John Wilson
- Clare Adamson
GLASGOW
- Nicola Sturgeon
- Humza Yousaf
- Bob Doris
- Sandra White
- Sid Khan
- James Dornan
- Bill Kidd
- Anne McLaughlin
- Chris Stephens
- Jim McGuigan
- Mags Park
HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS
- Fergus Ewing
- Michael Russell
- Dave Thompson
- Rob Gibson
- John Finnie
- Jean Urquhart
- Mike MacKenzie
- Mhairi Will
- Drew Hendry
- Richard Laird
- Bren Gormley
LOTHIANS
- Kenny MacAskill
- Fiona Hyslop
- Shirley-Anne Somerville
- Angela Constance
- George Kerevan
- Colin Beattie
- Alex Orr
- Bill Wilson
- Gordon MacDonald
- Calum Cashley
- Jim Eadie
- Alasdair Rankin
- Colin Keir
MID SCOTLAND AND FIFE
- John Swinney
- Bruce Crawford
- Roseanna Cunningham
- Annabelle Ewing
- Keith Brown
- Douglas Chapman
- Bill Walker
- Ewan Dow
- John Beare
- Rod Campbell
- Alison Lindsay
- David Torrance
- Douglas Thomson
- Ian Chisholm
- George Kay
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND
- Alex Salmond
- Brian Adam
- Nigel Don
- Maureen Watt
- Mark McDonald
- Christian Allard
- Dennis Robertson
SOUTH OF SCOTLAND
- Christine Grahame
- Aileen Campbell
- Adam Ingram
- Joan McAlpine
- Aileen McLeod
- Paul Wheelhouse
- Chic Brodie
- Dave Berry
- Aileen Orr
WEST OF SCOTLAND
- Stewart Maxwell
- Kenneth Gibson
- Derek MacKay
- Gil Paterson
- Fiona McLeod
- Stuart McMillan
- Osama Saeed
- Andy Doig
- Iain Robertson
- Iain White
- Ronnie McColl
Not too many surprises this time. Looks like all the ministers are reasonably secure, anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe most prominent ministers certainly seem secure. That said, things could get a little more complicated at the fringes, depending on how particular constituency votes go. The joys of the bitch goddess Fortuna and her machinations! Keith Brown, for instance, is given every reason by his ranking in Mid Scotland to try his hardest to retain Ochil.
ReplyDeleteLots of nice councillors filling slots too. Not too many candidates with real life experience however, being a creer councillor or party hack fails to inspire. As Brucie said "new talent from local government, women who will bring valuable experience to Holyrood, and candidates that reflect Scottish society as a whole". Desperate stuff when the SNP need to talk up the importance of adding more councillors to the Holyrood mix.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be a shame tae see Bill Wilson awa. I canna think o monie MSPs that's duin mair for the Scots tung nor him.
ReplyDelete"Not too many candidates with real life experience however, being a creer councillor or party hack fails to inspire."
ReplyDeleteWell let's take a look at some of these ex-councillors.
John Finnie for example - 30 years service in the police force.
Colin Beattie - current councillor having retired from banking.
Angela Constance - former councillor, professional social worker.
Or Keith Brown - former councillor, ex SAS, served in the Falklands.
You should not make the assumption that councillor = no real life experience.
Its an interesting question, actually - what makes a good legislator and parliamentarian? And taking the whole parliament together, what range of interests, skills and knowledge might we like to see represent? A discussion for another day, I think, but in answer to Anonymous, surely it is no bad thing to have some members of parliament with concrete experiences of the workings of local government and an appreciation for how administration functions at that level?
ReplyDeleteI'd also echo Indy's sentiments. I'm not without sympathy for your distaste for the junior politicos who turn into senior politicos, looking to any party for personal advancement. However, we ought to be mindful that this objection attaches most readily - or at least most stingingly - to young politicians, who perhaps inevitably secure nomination to parliament due to their party connections. I like to see a few youthful faces, myself.
Tulloch Gorum,
ReplyDeleteWilson signed off our recent e-mail correspondence on the domestic abuse/breach of the peace issue with "Aefauldlie" - a Scots word I'd never encountered before.
Although proselytisation one person at a time may not be a long term solution, it was certainly a welcome discovery!
My surprise and sadness was that Calum Cashley was only 10th in the Lothians list.
ReplyDeleteI like his writings, especially the recent ones.
Indeed, Bugger.
ReplyDeleteThe Lothians seems like a particularly busy list, though that perception is probably mostly owed to the fact that I've heard of many of the folk vying for position in the top half.
SNP candidate Humza Yousaf has been selected as number 2 for Glasgow.
ReplyDeleteHow does someone who has never done a single day of activism with members of the Pollok branch in the Pollok area get so high a list ranking?
That’s right; Humza Yousaf has never once worked with Pollok branch members in Pollok.
He has held a Pollok membership for several years.
I will be voting SNP in the FPP seat but Alex Salmond has lost my vote on the regional list.
Hmmm... looks like Renfrewshire Council have rid themselves of Derek MacKay. Lets face it, he wasn't going to get to Holyrood through FFTP, as his credibility is not very high here.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, mighty though the Eckmeister may be, he didn't give Mr Yousaf the No 2 spot - the SNP membership of Glasgow did that!
ReplyDeleteSurely Am Firinn makes a fair point, Anonymous - the folk who voted on the subject were SNP membership of Glasgow. That said, that doesn't rebuff your main objection. If you feel sufficiently strongly about one candidate on the list, don't mind diminishing the overall pile of votes in the region, potentially to the disadvantage of other candidates you approve of - then your point about non-participation seems a reasonable reason to stow your vote elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteAm Firinn
ReplyDeleteJust after the Westminster General Election, Muslim SNP members were going signing up muslims.
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/news/SNP-rocked-by-suspected-voterigging.6399409.jp
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/snp-moves-on-infiltration-fears-1.1039217
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics-news/2010/07/05/snp-bosses-forced-to-change-election-rules-after-vote-rigging-row-86908-22383042/
These stories focused on Bearsden and Strathkelvin were Osama Saeed was standing as a candidate.
What wasn’t covered or investigated was what was happening in branches in the Glasgow area.
One Asian member wanted to pay for the memberships of several dozens Asians to join a branch in the North of the city.
At other branches similar activities were happening.
There is a lot of anger by SNP Activists who are now questioning why they should go out and work for the party.
Alex Salmond isn’t just losing the votes of the Scottish electorate; he is losing the support of SNP activists.
The Few is about to become fewer.
Seems they have registered Alex Salmond for First Minister again, oh dear.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteYou are presumably an adherent to the view that we should exclude sloganising from our ballot papers? In 2007, I believe the order ran:
SNP thistle symbol - Alex Salmond for First Minister - SNP
This time around, I understand the ballot should read:
SNP thistle symbol - SNP - Alex Salmond for First Minister
Changed, changed utterly?
Oh my mistake, completely different, now I'm off to the Scottish Socialist Party site, or is that the Socialist Party Scotland one, getting confused in my old age, its the one that is putting up candidates, or are they.
ReplyDeleteHa! All richly merited dry sarcasm appreciated, Jim.
ReplyDelete