After the British regional elections, a problem arose for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: how to deal with Scotland. There the national party SNP registered its fourth consecutive electoral victory. Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon immediately announced a second independence referendum until autumn 2023. Johnson has always denied this.
The Prime Minister called to congratulate Sturgeon on his re-election and invited him to speak with him. He wanted to talk about the “common challenges” and “how we can face them in the months and years to come”, the head of the London government told the first Scottish woman, Welsh Labor Prime Minister Mark. Drakeford in similar letters. Which was also explicitly ratified in office written by the same heads of government of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill.
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Of course, she would accept the invitation, Sturgeon immediately announced. In the BBC, the prime minister also referred to his mandate for a new referendum on the dissolution of the union with England. This should happen over the next two years, but requires the approval of the House of Commons in London. Sturgeon argued that whether Johnson should stop the project, as declared, “it will be conclusively proven that the United Kingdom is not a voluntary union of different countries.”
johnson is playing for time
The SNP missed an absolute majority for the same mandate in Edinburgh Parliament, but it could count on the support of the Scottish Greens. All independence parties together won 50.1 percent of the vote and have an absolute majority (72:57). Apparently Johnson and his Scottish cabinet minister Michael Gove are betting on the delay. However, in the interview, both refrained from repeating a statement made by the Prime Minister last year. At the time, Johnson designated the 2040s as the earliest possible date for a fresh vote.
The Labor Party is currently thinking too short-term. Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer, who has been in office for more than a year, took full responsibility for sensitive election slips in the English local elections on Friday. The next day he relieved Angela Renner from her position as campaign manager, thus indirectly blaming the people-selected vice president for the poor results.
Which caused a storm of outrage. Based in Manchester in the north of England, Rainer is known to be eloquent and popular. He is one of a handful of Labor MPs who have made it to the top from a small background – a symbolic figure for the sections the old Labor Party has lost. “Keer ho gaya,” said one party insider, who has always been loyal to the day, to Tagspiegal. Labor Mayor Andrew Burnham, re-elected in Manchester with a two-thirds vote, made public his protest against Rainer’s dismissal.
Conservatives faced a long term
Like Burnham, the Labor mayors of London and Liverpool, Sadiq Khan and Steve Rotheram were confirmed in office. In contrast, Labor lost many town halls and administrative districts, some of which they had held in Tories for 100 years. Labor must win the respective lower house constituencies to maintain a chance of victory in 2024.
Not very realistic. Nicola Sturgeon’s forecast hits: Great Britain has “many years of right-wing Tory government” on the horizon, according to Scottish woman.