i Editor's Letter: Most powerful woman in British politics
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Your support makes all the difference.No one can vote for her. If her troops perform spectacularly, they will still hold only one in every 13 seats in the Commons. And yet Nicola Sturgeon may help to decide who the next Prime Minister is – and shape his actions in office.
To those complaining that this is unfair, it’s democracy. If you don’t want the SNP to be the third-largest bloc at Westminster, with a deciding influence on a minority government, then leave your home and start knocking on doors to lobby for an outright Conservative or Labour majority. (Some diehard Scottish Tories are braced to vote Labour.)
We lead today’s i on Ms Sturgeon’s plea to the peoples of England, Wales and Northern Ireland that they have nothing to fear if the SNP is “in a position of influence”. Some will struggle to square this with her pursuit of Scottish independence and what that would mean for the UK. After defeat in the referendum, Ms Sturgeon has now set her sights on winning control of all Scottish taxation, including North Sea oil revenues. She promises a “better and more progressive politics for everyone” in the UK, adding that “your views do matter to me” (presumably unless you’re a Tory). Her plan simultaneously to abandon austerity and reduce the deficit is possible in theory – if the economy grows more than expected without creating inflationary pressure, if interest rates stay low and extra tax revenues can be raised (and economists are divided on a new 50p top tax rate).
One senior Labour figure I spoke to expressed horror that the party might deal with the SNP, fearing that: 1. any arrangement would be unstable; and 2. the English (and pro-Union Scots) wouldn’t forgive Labour if it were seen to gamble with the future of the UK. His message: don’t bet against a second election this year.
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