The SNP wins three out of 6 seats within the EU Parliament, after this years EU elections, with Alyn Smith, Aileen McLeod, and Christian Allard as SNP MEPs. After the collective Scottish council results were counted, the support for the SNP has risen from 29% in the 2014 EU elections to a whopping 37.7% this year.
This would be the party’s largest victory ever, with every council area except Orkney and the Shetland Islands having a majority vote in favour of the SNP. Noted that these two have been fans of the Liberal-Democrats party for a while.
Scotland’s Labour party, on the other hand, has lost the two seats they
initially held, due to no solid stance on the Brexit crisis. Falling from 26%
in 2014 to a measly 10%. Whereas the Brexit party, Liberal-Democrats and Conservatives each respectively attained a seat each.
It is important to point out that the turnout for this election in Scotland was only 40%, however not all votes were truly counted, many EU citizens within the UK were denied the opportunity to vote, an outrage as a present EU nation.
Another point of interest is that this EU election has shown us that the classic two-party choices (Labour and the Conservatives) have been chucked out and people are starting to truly polarize when it comes to politics. Either by going to more pro-EU, left-leaning parties like the SNP, or being drawn to more anti-EU, right-leaning parties like the Brexit party. This also brings forth the possibility of more proportional representative politics in governance, giving the people more options in voting.
These results depict Scotland as Pro-EU in comparison to the victory the Brexit party achieved in England, with the Liberal-Democrats coming in second place, with Labour and the Conservative party falling behind badly. With Scotland being more for remaining in the European Union, and England being more pro-Brexit, this election has divided the two nations politically, and perhaps even literally with time.
Brexit is a closing door for the UK, with the EU being on one side, and Scotland is keeping their foot in the door, thanks to the SNP’s Pro-EU stance. With the SNP receiving a majority of the vote, Scotland shows us yet again that Brexit is not for them, with the first showing of this being the 62% remain vote in the 2016 EU Referendum.
Additionally, with a majority of Scotland’s Government being pro-independence and holding the most seats in the EU parliament, a second independence referendum may not seem too far away. Especially if a no-deal Brexit/hard Brexit comes to be, which will solidify the idea that the UK Government do not respect Scotland’s wishes. The percentage for a YES vote for independence would need to be above 50% however, which could very well be the case if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
For now, at least, Scotland has shown it is for Europe.
