RUTH DAVIDSON has claimed the Tories are being “put on probation” in Scotland following her party’s stunning Holyrood election result.
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A new opposition, led by Tory Ruth Davidson after she relegated Labour to third place in the Scottish Parliament.
Davidson called on Sturgeon to categorically rule out an independence referendum in the new parliament.
“I think one of the reasons that it is important that we don’t have majority government is we have seen in the last five years that majority government in Scotland in that instance has passed bad laws”, she claimed following the result.
He lost out to the SNP in the Cunninghame North constituency seat in Ayrshire – despite increasing his party’s vote by 11 per cent – but got in on the West of Scotland regional list.
Sturgeon will have little difficulty leading a minority government, but the setback is the first sign of frailty shown by the SNP since the Scottish independence referendum two years ago.
The government that I lead will be inclusive.
Kezia Dugdale said today marked a “fresh start” for Scottish Labour ahead of new MSPs arriving at Holyrood, saying the party will continue to take on the Nationalists despite not being the official opposition.
In the 124 councils up for elections in part or whole, Labour has lost seats but gained in vote percentage from the last elections.
“Parents and professionals across Scotland have very acute concerns about this intrusive and unnecessary legislation, so for Nicola Sturgeon to say these are “unfounded” is quite incredible”.
“I’ll keep fighting for our values”.
Speaking on the steps of Bute House, Ms Sturgeon said: “We won a clear and unequivocal mandate, and I secured the personal mandate I sought to implement the bold and ambitious programme for government that I asked the country to vote for”. The relative strengths of the opposition parties have changed.
Scottish Labour won 24 seats on Thursday’s elections, a drop of 13. We became the first party in the devolution era to poll more than one milion votes in constituencies across the country.
The Tories said there is now a “natural majority” against the proposals at the Scottish Parliament as Labour want it suspended and the Liberal Democrats, who previously supported the scheme, last night warned that any intrusion into family life would be “unacceptable”. But the Greens are expected to insist the SNP introduces tougher taxes on higher earners in return for its backing, something Sturgeon is likely to resist to avoid alienating centre-ground voters.
The Scottish Greens, who propped up the last SNP minority in 2007, said it intends to push the SNP “beyond its comfort zone”.
The Greens, who worked with the SNP during the independence referendum, would have enough votes to deliver a parliamentary majority in all circumstances if the two parties managed to find common ground. “The case for progressive taxation is strong, and they’re going to require support to get their budget through”, he said.
Davidson focused relentlessly on the constitution during the campaign. “That is what has happened and that is what is so extraordinary for our party”, he said.
Corbyn said Dugdale had fought with “determination”, but acknowledged that the Scottish party faced a great deal of rebuilding.
Ms Smith added: “The first big test of this will be what she does with named person, and we will be pushing her all the way to scrap it”.
Despite the scale of Dugdale’s defeat, there was no sign of open rebellion against her leadership.
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A self-described “John Major Conservative”, she said: “That is always what Conservatism was about for me, it’s about clearing obstacles away from people, empowering people and using education as a means of bettering themselves”.
