Scottish Election Sausage


I should have known better than to post something about the election. People have asked me to explain the British political system (Pamela and Alli, your curiosity is commendable) . That's like being asked to explain cricket. A visual aid is always good, so with the help of the Scottish election sausage, here goes:

The election sausage explains the political landscape in Scotland. The SNP is the Scottish National Party (nickname 'the snips'. Their leader is Alex Salmond, who is nicknamed 'Eck the Fish' - Eck is a Scottish diminutive of Alexander. Their deputy leader is a Nicola Sturgeon, thus pleasingly continuing the fish motif) They are a left-wing/social democratic party committed to Scottish independence from the rest of the UK (we have oil, I think is the basis of the argument). At the last general election they won the most seats in Scotland and now form a minority administration in the Scottish Parliament.

The Liberals are a UK wide social democratic party. They were one of the two main political parties in the UK until the Labour movement in the 1920's, when they were pushed into 3rd position. Recently they have had a resurgence, and are hoping for big gains this election, including in Scotland.

The Conservatives are our right wing party, but without for example a strong base in Christian groups as in the US. In favour of less state intervention, less European Union intervention in national affairs. Think Margaret Thatcher. They have only 1 of the 59 Scottish seats in the UK Parliament.

The Labour party is the current administration, centre left in terms of European definitions of left-wing. Not as left-wing as certain parts of the US media would have us believe.

And the Green Party is a left-wing environmentalist party which doesn't have any members of either the Scottish or UK parliaments (correct me if I'm wrong), but can make a strong local showing. Green politics is much bigger in continental Europe than here. **Edited to say that
Jacqui and Svenske Floyd have pointed out that the Greens have 2 seats in the Scottish Parliament. Which is shameful of me not to know, because I have voted Green in the past.**

Phew. On to parliaments. I'll have to speed up - I'm out of time for blogging! A referendum in 1997 led to the formation of a separate Scottish Parliament with its own members, separte from the United Kingdom Parliament in London. **Edited to say add that Wales has had an equivalent, in the National Assembly for Wales, since 1999.** The Scottish Parliament has certain powers devolved to it- among them agriculture, fisheries, environment, health, education, taxation (to an extent), legal system, economic development, sport, the arts...The UK Parliament has reserved powers which include defence, foreign affairs, social security and monetary stability. The reference to 'devolved cost' in the poster above is an in-joke about the devolution issue. And a 'porkie' is either a lie, or a pork sausage.

Just to stress - we have completely separate education and legal systems from the rest of the UK. Worth several posts in their own right.

That's it. Out of time. Please comment and fill in my woeful gaps.

Comments

  1. Wow - you are brave trying to explain this system. Only comment is that I think the greens do have at least a couple of MSPs - and re fisheries I think it is only domestically. i seem to remember some stushie about the Scottish gvmt not being able to negotiate in Brussels and the Uk minister took control. Getting a bit confused mtself now. Happy election day. xx

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  2. Excellent presentation! The Scottish Green Party has 2 seats in the Scottish Parliament though. I became a fan of Scottish independence after visiting Scotland 3 years ago. As far as a foreigner understands, the SNP is for independence within the Commonwealth.

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  3. Fab job! Not just Scotland but the whole UK. Next time anyone needs to know about politics I will just send them to you!

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  4. wow complicated...thanks for explaining..I may need to read it a few more times to understand...LOL

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  5. You know, you have the right to brag about your children's accomplishments on your own blog. Just saying.

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  6. Your explanation is very interesting. I think the sign is hilarious and clever.

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  7. Very interesting Linda!!! And I love the election sausage poster...very clever of them!!!

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  8. Thank you for taking the time to help explain. I know it's not the same thing, but it sounds kind of like our states vs. federal (national) government. The states have their own laws but if the federal government makes laws they often override the state laws. Does the London Parliament make the majority of the rules for the whole UK then? Does this bother people in Scotland and Wales or is it generally for the best interest of all people? Sorry for so many questions! Thanks again, and what a funny image to go with the post!

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  9. Very interesting. Thanks so much for taking the time to lead me along a bit. One thing I certainly admire about your system... your elections don't allow for four years worth of campaigning, as they do here. Unfortunately for us, as soon as one party is in, the other immediately begins running for the next election, rather than attempting anything worthwhile for the country. It is frustrating and leads, I fear, to serious apathy and no small amount of cynicism.

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  10. Thank you to all who have given quite unmerited compliments about my understanding of the British political system, and to those who have pointed out my gaffes!

    Alli, the UK parliament makes the rules, broadly speaking, for much of UK life, but with separate legal and education systems in Scotland that's two important areas which it doesn't control. As to whether people are happy with that situation, I'm not going to touch that hot potato! It depends on your point of view.

    Pamela, I don't know how you cope with the long-drawn out election campaigns that you have in the US. I'm longing for ours to be over tomorrow.

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  11. Breezy Point Mom, it's very sweet of you to say that, but I've been forbidden in this case!

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  12. As a general rule, I stay out of political conversations. Thank you for the explanation of politics in Scotland, though; it was interesting.

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  13. Scottish election sausage. What a hoot! I'm going to tweet this one.

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  14. Thanks for the Scottish civics lesson. It is a curious thing that in many ways your look similar to ours over here. Our liberal left keeps fluctuating in its middle to left so you never know what your are getting into until it is too late. O no. Thanks for the extra work it took to get this out all because of a poster.

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  15. Same type of parliament as here in Canada but your campaign is sure a lot shorter. Like that!

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  16. Thanks again! You've been so kind to answer our questions. :)

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