UKC

How long will they survive?

I can't see Cameron being pushed before the general election, even though his handling of the referendum was hardly good. Unless he gets an outright majority I can't see him surviving much longer though. Boris must be happy.

Salmond must surely be pushed at some point soon...or will he have the support to develop whatever the next SNP policies are, presumably not including a referendum pledge?

In reply to MG:

I don't think Salmond has come out of the whole thing too badly, to be honest - he can take at least some credit for pushing the Yes campaign from being almost irrelevant to being sufficiently powerful that Westminster had to make a desperate last minute offer to avoid it winning outright.

He can also reasonably say that although he doesn't plan to re-run the referendum, he's got a fairly strong mandate to continue to fight for more self-determination for Scotland, including holding the unionist parties to their word and making sure that the devolution agreement ends up being as good for Scotland as possible.

In reply to MG:

Do you think the SNP support will plummet at the next election given no hope of another referendum, or the now more determined yes voters will still support them?

In reply to RyanOsborne:
everyone kept reminding us that this vote was not about Salmond, but about independence. So maybe you're right and he's more unpopular than we think. He can certainly avoid answering a question like the best of them and without the bread and circuses manifesto, he may look pretty average

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

Yeah, I was just wondering whether Scots will think there's no point voting for him without the referendum pledge, and they'd be better off voting for Labour to keep the Tories out.

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

Why do you think he is unpopular? i am not an SNP voter but i thought, as a politician [a double-edged term i know] he towered over the likes of cameron, clegg, lamont, milliband and darling.

In reply to mac fae stirling:
I'm speculating. Many Yes voters told us that they didn't like Salmond and were voting for independence as it was a common misconception that a Yes vote was a vote for AS and the SNP. It wasn't was it. Ergo, maybe he's not as popular as he would lead you to believe?

In reply to MG:

The future of Salmond and the SNP in the short term depends on how the Scottish Labour recovers. They are a party in disarray at the moment. If the likes of Brown get involved in Scotland (even Jim Murphy) then the SNP will be out next election.

In reply to mac fae stirling:

Agree, I think he is an intelligent and astute politician. He has a habit of grinning/ laughing mockingly when someone else is making a point which I think comes across as smug and condescending to others, even disrespectful. It's possible he doesn't even realise he's doing it.
Despite that, I have warmed to him a bit over the campaign, and respect his abilities as a politician. I think he is still the right man to lead scotland during the difficult negotiations in the upcoming months.

The snp could maybe consider rebranding themselves going forward, a lot of the principles are popular with voters all over the uk, and the snp could emerge as a challenge to the old order and as a party offering something different. Can't see it happening though!!

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

i am not sure he led me, or anyone else, to believe he was popular. how would he do that exactly?

you also said he may look average - compared to who? one could argue that he has been one of the most prominent and successful scottish/uk politicians for a long while now. even tho you may hate the guy, plenty people do.

if the ref wasnt about AS or the SNP [i agree, it wasnt] then why would he then take all the flak/blame for a bad result?

In reply to MG:

Suspect Salmond is now " burnt out" personally.He probably needs to take a long break to chill out and mull over his future roll.

In reply to neilh:

aye, that may be true. jack it in. couldnt blame him.

In reply to mac fae stirling:

I don't hate him at all. Certainly one of the loudest politicians with the least answers (on the minor points of currency/debt and oil) Now Independence has been voted off the table and he lost, what has he got to offer? Maybe a lot?...I don't know

Re flak for the bad result, as the poster boy that comes with the territory i would have thought... how much credit do you think he would have claimed if he had won?

In reply to MG:

Salmond to stand down in November

In reply to Chris the Tall:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29277527

In reply to MG:
I think Cameron did OK.. it may make him think twice about an EU referendum now.

I think Salmond will get pushed soon, within 2 years..

Erm update.. I think he'll be gone by christmas…

In reply to MG:

I'm not an SNP supporter, but given the shift in the % of the vote to 45% voting for independence, as well as that happening in the backdrop of almost all print media being concertedly against independence, and a growing corporate integration with the Westminster parties, I would be surprised if any of his supporters thought he'd done a bad job.. ..quite the reverse. If he steps aside it will be to make way for a new leader, with fresh policy and rationale. My problem is that I'm not at all convinced that Sturgeon is up to the job.

In reply to MG:

I think Salmond dodged a bullet, if Yes had won he would have eventually had to deliver all his promises. As it is, he tried, "Westminster" beat him, thus furthering the cause and deepening the rift.

He's a clever man, came across as a lot more cannae than the others.

In reply to contrariousjim:

I just don't get this press bias.. there was plenty of pro-indy articles.. too many were just frothing at the mouth at any news..

Salmonds gone, his attack on the bank moving leaks was quite simply disgusting, wanting to deny the people credible news about the impacts of independence..

In reply to Ffion Blethyn:

I'm not sure, he looked broken last night.. I think he genuinely thought they were on a wave to victory, as did many.

In reply to IainRUK:

Breaking news - it's a different thread so I'll post the link to keep all the discussions in place.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=598258

In reply to contrariousjim:

I don't know who is who in the SNP but it was said to spoil the ballot papers people will write Sturgeon likes Boaby.

Maybe Boaby would be a good candidate.

In reply to IainRUK:

Just like Kinnock - never recovered. Who can blame them. So much personal sacrifice for a cause, and then its blown away. Not surprise dhe has resigned.

In reply to IainRUK:

Plenty of pro indy articles punctated the generally negative narrative and the concertedly negative front pages. The three main Westminster parties are now much more integrated with the authority of the corporate voice, and it will be so much harder now in the run up to GE2015 for, for example, Labour to assert a divergent agenda. I couldn't disagree more on the press bias, and international press in Europe reported the leak as mainstream news on national TV, which is a damnsight more than can be said for the closed shop in the UK.