{"id":86132,"date":"2025-09-24T09:43:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=86132"},"modified":"2025-09-24T09:43:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:43:44","slug":"scotland-is-another-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/09\/24\/scotland-is-another-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland is another country"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I often say, Scotland is another country. Polling data released by The National newspaper<\/a> (for whom I write) reveals this.<\/p>\n

This is the current Westminster polling intention in Scotland:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Translating that to seats wipes out most of what Labour hold:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note that if the swing to Reform is uniform (and that seems fair), then it gets no seats, which is surprising.<\/p>\n

Then questions were asked about voting intentions in the 2026 Holyrood elections, where there is both a constituency and a party list vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The left-hand column is the constituency choice, and the right-hand is the list choice: people in Scotland have learned how to use this system, not voting for the leading party in the list, as it is biased against in the list because of its position in the constituency vote, which is why the SNP vote disperses, in part.<\/p>\n

The Holyrood result would then be:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PR pays for Reform, but the clear message is that pro-independence parties would take the majority of the seats in Holyrood.<\/p>\n

Scotland is, then, another country. The story there is so utterly different from the rest of the UK that it can hardly be considered a part of it.<\/p>\n

It is time Scotland was independent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I often say, Scotland is another country. Polling data released by The National newspaper (for whom I write) reveals this. This is the current
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