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| The Quiraing, Skye |
He says: "We’re very excited about the prospect of a general election whenever it comes."
Among the former Lib Dems Westminster seats he lists as good prospects are Charles Kennedy's old seat of Ross, Skye and Lochaber; Aberdeen South; Argyll and Bute; and North East Fife.
There's more:
The traditional stronghold in the Borders seat of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk – which the party held for decades – is also in play. The Lib Dems are even confident of muscling their way into the Edinburgh North and Leith, the seat held by the SNP’s Deidre Brock.What is most encouraging is Alex's claim that "It’s true to say that the Highlands are rediscovering their liberal traditions."
Viewed from a distance, the Scottish Lib Dems have so far based their welcome recovery on emphasising their unionist credentials. It is good to see them going beyond that.
It's good to hear that the Lib Dems in Scotland are once again bullish about prospects in Scotland. While I am in no position to judge, the key point I would make is that I hope it is based on fact rather than the bravado it has been for so long.
ReplyDeleteWhen we say "We have fought several survival elections where out very existence was in jeopardy," it sounds like a turning point has been reached and perhaps even lessons have been learned from the disaster that was coalition.
However, when we say things like "The traditional stronghold in the Borders seat of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk – which the party held for decades – is also in play," "Alex Cole-Hamilton revealed the party has even set its sights on hitherto no-go areas for the party," and finally "The Lib Dems are even confident of muscling their way into the Edinburgh North and Leith, the seat held by the SNP’s Deidre Brock, despite polling just 2,500 votes two years ago, against the nationalists’ 19,000," I see the same old mistake as we made under Nick Clegg.
We may deserve to grow, we may even be growing significantly, but if we pretend we are going to make a massive breakthrough across Scotland we will simply spread ourselves too thinly like we did in 2010 and fail to gain seats we should. We have to admit that the Borders are gone (we are now in fourth place) - squandered by an unwillingness to face facts during five years of catastrophe.
If Alan regains his (and Ray's) old seat and we get Charlies' old seat back we will have done well alongside what should be a shoe in (but only with the necessary lots of hard work) of North East Fife. Anything more will be a bonus.