Abstract
Mark Diffley discusses the 2015 General Election in Scotland by using evidence from opinion polls and focus groups to suggest reasons for the Scottish National Party’s sweeping victory. He argues that there are at least three key reasons: that the Referendum on Independence in 2014 changed everything, breaking the mould of Scottish politics; that Labour has been in decline in Scotland for many years; and that the SNP’s leaders – especially Nicola Sturgeon - had a significantly better public standing than those of the other parties, giving the SNP a clear advantage. The chapter goes on to outline reasons to believe that the SNP’s dominance of Scottish electoral politics is likely to continue in the short-term future.
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References
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Diffley, M. (2017). The Election in Scotland. In: Wring, D., Mortimore, R., Atkinson, S. (eds) Political Communication in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40934-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40934-4_5
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