SNP Tactical Voting: Local Factors
It is common for by-elections to involve local factors but it is pretty rare for the main factor in a contest to be locality itself.
The Labour party has built its campaign on it's candidate's local credentials but the campaign has also involved bussing numerous activists and PPCs up from England, unions providing call centres in Edinburgh for phone canvassing and the Prime Minister's wife adding guaranteed press coverage by knocking on a few pre-knocked doors.
These are all non-local elements that the SNP simply cannot match due to not having any activists south of the border, not having unions in their pocket and having a party leader with a spouse who is (probably quite sensibly) seemingly uninterested in getting involved in politics.
Consequently, to consider this by-election as truly local and a dry run for the General Election is not accurate. Only when the 646 constituencies are simultaneously contesting elections can a local contest come into its own with activists (and money) spread more evenly across the country.
In terms of the main story of this by-election so far, it's pretty clear that David Kerr claiming to have been born in Cumbernauld falls into the 'gaffe' box but for it to dominate the remainder of the campaign is surely ridiculous, particularly as it happened almost a decade ago. Sadly, however, that domination seems likely given the continued press coverage and the apparent focus on drawing out the story for as long as possible.
Has there ever been a by-election held during a recession, in a constituency with one of the worst unemployment rates in the UK, that has discussed whether the main challenger should say his place of birth was where the hospital was or where his home was? I very much doubt it.
On the day that the Kelly proposals are announced due to MPs flipping homes, overclaiming thousands for mortgages and generally milking their expenses allowance for all it was worth, it seems alarmingly trivial and not a little hypocritical of Labour to call foul over the wording of a 2000 election leaflet.
Furthermore, it is absurd for a candidate from the party that has represented the constituency for 74 long, fruitless years to deride an opponent for having lived several miles away when that same distance away from Glasgow North East can mean an increase of up to 30 years to one's life expectancy.
This regrettable fact has been curiously absent from Labour's campaign which is surprising given that we are regularly told that the party's main drive is tackling social inequality. The inconsistencies and subterfuge does not end there.
The UK's deficit is staggering, the economy is struggling and the banks are buckling but if Labour had its way this by-election would come down to where a candidate's place of birth was claimed to be nine years ago.
A by-election is an opportunity to lift our gaze beyond the everyday hustle and bustle of parliamentary politics and focus on the big issues with a great debate focussed squarely on the concerns of the constituents.
It is a chance to take a beat and consider which direction our country is heading in, a chance to look at health and unemployment and education and the environment and defence in order to discuss what needs to be done to improve our lot, a chance to fire up constituents rather than let them down and a chance to either hold a Government of twelve years to account or boast about its proud record.
So far, with only a week to go and Labour obsessing with the minutiae of the SNP campaign rather than the important issues of the day, this by-election contest looks likely to be a missed opportunity.
(written by the editor of the SNP Tactical Voting blog)
The Labour party has built its campaign on it's candidate's local credentials but the campaign has also involved bussing numerous activists and PPCs up from England, unions providing call centres in Edinburgh for phone canvassing and the Prime Minister's wife adding guaranteed press coverage by knocking on a few pre-knocked doors.
These are all non-local elements that the SNP simply cannot match due to not having any activists south of the border, not having unions in their pocket and having a party leader with a spouse who is (probably quite sensibly) seemingly uninterested in getting involved in politics.
Consequently, to consider this by-election as truly local and a dry run for the General Election is not accurate. Only when the 646 constituencies are simultaneously contesting elections can a local contest come into its own with activists (and money) spread more evenly across the country.
In terms of the main story of this by-election so far, it's pretty clear that David Kerr claiming to have been born in Cumbernauld falls into the 'gaffe' box but for it to dominate the remainder of the campaign is surely ridiculous, particularly as it happened almost a decade ago. Sadly, however, that domination seems likely given the continued press coverage and the apparent focus on drawing out the story for as long as possible.
Has there ever been a by-election held during a recession, in a constituency with one of the worst unemployment rates in the UK, that has discussed whether the main challenger should say his place of birth was where the hospital was or where his home was? I very much doubt it.
On the day that the Kelly proposals are announced due to MPs flipping homes, overclaiming thousands for mortgages and generally milking their expenses allowance for all it was worth, it seems alarmingly trivial and not a little hypocritical of Labour to call foul over the wording of a 2000 election leaflet.
Furthermore, it is absurd for a candidate from the party that has represented the constituency for 74 long, fruitless years to deride an opponent for having lived several miles away when that same distance away from Glasgow North East can mean an increase of up to 30 years to one's life expectancy.
This regrettable fact has been curiously absent from Labour's campaign which is surprising given that we are regularly told that the party's main drive is tackling social inequality. The inconsistencies and subterfuge does not end there.
The UK's deficit is staggering, the economy is struggling and the banks are buckling but if Labour had its way this by-election would come down to where a candidate's place of birth was claimed to be nine years ago.
A by-election is an opportunity to lift our gaze beyond the everyday hustle and bustle of parliamentary politics and focus on the big issues with a great debate focussed squarely on the concerns of the constituents.
It is a chance to take a beat and consider which direction our country is heading in, a chance to look at health and unemployment and education and the environment and defence in order to discuss what needs to be done to improve our lot, a chance to fire up constituents rather than let them down and a chance to either hold a Government of twelve years to account or boast about its proud record.
So far, with only a week to go and Labour obsessing with the minutiae of the SNP campaign rather than the important issues of the day, this by-election contest looks likely to be a missed opportunity.
(written by the editor of the SNP Tactical Voting blog)
posted by Jeff at
12:44
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