{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/f6305856-cfa3-4bf1-af94-394f24d2124a?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Election Fallout","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619570bccb3c660012e3cddb.jpg?height=200","description":"<p>David and Helen are joined by the historian Colin Kidd to try to make sense of last week's elections in England, Scotland and Wales.&nbsp;What do they mean for the future of the UK?&nbsp;What do they mean for the future of the Labour Party?&nbsp;Are either (or both) in terminal trouble?&nbsp;Plus we explore how Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson are going to resolve their standoff over a second Scottish independence referendum.</p><p><br></p><p>Talking Points:</p><p><br></p><p>Gordon Brown says that Scotland is a 30-30-40 nation.</p><ul><li>Scotland is pretty evenly divided on the question of union, but the polls don’t measure the depth or shallowness of commitment.</li><li>In effect, there are now two Scottish Labour parties: the actual Labour party and the social democratic SNP under Sturgeon.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Alex Salmond’s party lost, but it put forward a more coherent vision for an independent Scotland.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Salmond and Sturgeon are now on opposite sides on both the EU question and the currency question.&nbsp;</li><li>You can’t pursue EU membership without a currency that you could in principle put into the exchange rate mechanism.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>There’s a new alliance in Scottish politics between the SNP and the Greens.</p><ul><li>The Scottish Greens are more associated with independence than the environment.</li><li>The Green relationship makes oil a trickier issue. The SNP’s committed to more gradual decarbonisation.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Where is the SNP’s greatest weakness?&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Johnson’s approach to pump more money into Scotland is unlikely to work.&nbsp;</li><li>Currency, the tax, and the border are interrelated challenges. The SNP is brilliant on politics and positioning, but it doesn’t devote enough time to political economy.</li><li>A referendum could be politically risky for both Sturgeon and Johnson. This may mean a long period of shadow-boxing.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>How should Labour think about the basic challenge of reassembling a coalition?&nbsp;</p><ul><li>The basic problem that Labour faces is that its old class coalition doesn’t fit together.</li><li>The Union also causes Labour big problems.</li><li>Is first past the post the only thing keeping Labour alive?&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Mentioned in this Episode:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2021/304-what-is-the-union\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Colin on the Anglo-Scottish Union</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.snp.org/manifesto/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The SNP’s referendum</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/09/scots-independence-union-nationalism\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Gordon Brown on Scotland and the Union</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/05/tony-blair-without-total-change-labour-will-die\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Blair in the <em>New Statesman</em></a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/15/snp-manifesto-nicola-sturgeon-plans-nhs-boost-and-income-tax-freeze\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on the SNP’s manifesto</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n05/colin-kidd/new-unions-for-old\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Colin in the LRB on Scottish independence</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: </strong><a href=\"http://lrb.co.uk/talking\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>lrb.co.uk/talking</strong></a></p>","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}