The road to Holyrood starts today, with Scotland’s political parties kicking-off their campaigns for the upcoming election on May 5th. We sat down with the SNP’s James Dornan, incumbent MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, to chat about post referendum Scotland, the upcoming election, taxation and refugees.
Post-Referendum
Today would have been Independence Day had the country voted ‘yes’ in the September 2014 referendum. For many SNP members and supporters, James Dornan included, it is a day that marks a “missed opportunity”. The party believes that support for a new referendum and independence is only growing, although they are hesitant to postulate a date for a fresh vote. With polls showing increasing support in England for a ‘Brexit’ from Europe, and the majority of Scottish constituents indicating they do not support the move, Dornan believes if such an exit does eventuate, it will considerably strengthen the SNP position at the negotiating table. Dornan describes the devolutionary powers over taxation that are currently being delivered to the Scottish Parliament as “devo better”, but not the “devo max” promised by the Better Together campaign in the days leading up to the historic vote.
Upcoming Election
If the polls and last year’s Westminster election are anything to go by, the SNP are due to win a considerable majority in May. Dornan is understandably wary of the polls, and complacency within the party, but says he has not seen any signs of it thus far.
He is confident that the party will win the predicted majority, and is looking forward to the “enjoyable” process of door-knocking, speaking to his constituents, and being on the campaign trail.
Dornan and the SNP only won the Holyrood seat of Glasgow Cathcart for the first time in 2011, and the Westminster seat in 2015, both from Labour. While he is confident he will retain his seat, he is wary of the party’s dominance causing voters to split their vote. He called for people thinking of doing that to vote 2 ways for the SNP, warning that splitting the vote could deliver unknown candidates and make the process of governing more difficult for the nationalists.
SNP Policies
With the Institute for Fiscal Studies today releasing figures showing that Scotland’s budget is over £10b in the black, a number of voices are saying that the SNP, and the country, may have “dodged a bullet” by voting to stay in the UK. Dornan however is quick to remind us though that the current financial position has come about under the Tories, saying that “this deficit has come under the union”.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the party will not deliver the Tories’ proposed tax cut for higher-income earners. Dornan said today that the party is more interested in “building 50,000 new affordable homes” and working towards a sustainable and just society in their next term, should they win it.
Dornan was quick to criticise the proposed tax cut, and lamented the inability for the Scottish parliament to effectively manage taxation, due largely to the restrictions over which areas of tax they control and administer.
Dornan is also passionate about the plight of refugees, and delivered a somewhat damning appraisal of the way Europe (with the exception of Angela Merkel) has managed the current refugee crisis. He finished the interview with anecdotes about a number of refugees he had met when he visited refugee camps in Serbia over the winter.
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