I lived in England, in the North East for 18 years of my life. I was married to a tory voter and her family likewise voted tory. At that time I wasn’t very politically aware but knew instinctively that what Maggie Thatchers government were doing was morally and ethically repugnant.
I voiced that opinion with the family and was literally laughed at. I was a socialist at heart and couldn’t understand the almost worship of the tories in the face of their actions against the miners and the communities they lived in apart from many other things at the time. The important thing to note here is that the family weren’t wealthy and would be described as working class so what was the attraction to the tory party?
It’s also worth noting that these people had gone through and suffered from the dreadful labour years and lived in a country where either you vote labour or tory or oddly, if you wore socks and sandals you voted liberal. So they voted tory and nothing I could say would change their mind.
I now live in Scotland pretty close to the place I grew up. I went through a rather nasty divorce (is there any other type?) and have been married to my second wife for nearly 14 years. She’s a Nurse and apart from that she actively supports the idea of Scottish independence. Like me, she’s a socialist that believes in the idea of equality for all and that everyone should have the ability to take part in society based on who they are, not how much they possess.
We are both professional people, have a nice home and between us we have a decent income so we would be fair game for the tory party if we lived in southern England (at least we’d fit their target demographic).
We are both SNP members because we support the movement for independence and have witnessed the good governance demonstrated by them. The policies that they’ve brought in over the years have benefited almost everyone in Scotland so supporting the party is for us a no-brainer.
So, why is it in Scotland that anyone except a small “entitled” number of rather rich individuals vote tory? To answer that I would need an entire university full of psychologists to get to the bottom of it. All I can do is look back at my time in England where working class voters were fooled into voting for them, believing that they had the best intentions towards the general public at heart. Just like that time it is straightforward working class folk who are voting tory in Scotland so all I can conclude is that they’re believing the lies and spin that the party in Scotland throw at them. Also, some will be like my ex wife who voted tory because her parents did.
These are people who wear the tory badge like football colours and actively avoid looking at the obvious shortcomings of the tories in Westminster. They jump at the chance to denigrate the SNP and love it when any SNPbad stories are going about.
They won’t be turned against the tories any time soon no matter how many reasons we give them and I can tell you that from bitter experience. All we can hope for in Scotland is that enough of us get behind the SNP in the upcoming election to drown them out. At the moment the tories are busy throwing everything including the kitchen sink into attacking the SNP to diminish their election prospects and thus avoid a referendum on Scottish independence.
Believe me when I tell you that we won’t get any second chances at this and that’s why it’s most important to follow the advice to vote SNP 1 and 2 to recreate the election success in 2011 where just the sheer numbers of voters voting SNP 1 and 2 effectively broke the D’Hondt voting system and produced the clear majority that we witnessed.
Yes the tories hate the SNP and I’m proud to be everything the tories hate. Independence will change Scotland into a more equal, greener, richer and confident, outward looking country where everyone is able to fully take part in our society and benefit from doing so. Your standing in society shouldn’t be dependent on how much you have in the bank, what title you have or how much land you own, no, your personal standing should only depend on what you give back to others and what your contribution is no matter whether you’re a heart surgeon or a street sweeper. Both are needed in droves and both should be respected for their individual roles to benefit society.
Let’s get our independence as fast as possible and build Scotland into the country we always dreamed it could be.
Always yours for Scotland,
David Milligan
A wee Sovereign Scot 