The June 2017 general election will be remembered as an occasion where the political map of the UK was dramatically and unexpectedly redrawn. This was the case no more than in Scotland where the outcome indicates the birth of a three-party system. The major headline was the SNP losing its hegemonic status, going from 56 to ‘only’ 35 — still a majority of Scotland’s 59 seats. These setbacks were compounded by the loss of nearly 500,000 votes, with the SNP total vote falling from over 1.45 million to under 980,000. This is partly explained by a decline in turnout, from 71% to 66%. Major losses sustained by the SNP to both Conservatives and Labour will have profound long-term significance. The Tories gained over 320,000 votes and increased their number of seats from 1 to 13. On the other hand, the number of votes for the Labour Party only increased by around 10,000 to a total of 717,000, but this secured an additional 6 seats. These results majorly alter perceptions of the 2015 result as a generational shift, revealing the fluid nature of Scottish politics and that the forward march of political nationalism in recent decades could in fact be halting.[1] Continue reading →