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A solid SNP performance at the 2017 election secured it 35 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats, but it was widely seen as a big setback because the party had won 56 constituencies in an extraordinary landslide victory in 2015.
Now many SNP supporters are hoping that this month’s election will deliver a similar scale victory to 2015, with the party taking seats off the Conservatives and Labour, and possibly the Liberal Democrats. That would give the SNP a platform to push for a second referendum on Scottish independence.
Asked about his expectations for the December poll at an SNP election campaign event in Edinburgh’s port suburb of Leith on Friday, local party member Ian Dick aimed high: “59 out of 59!”
Mr Dick said the first few days of the campaign reminded him much more of the run-up to the 2015 election than the poll two years ago.
The SNP has been boosted by the August departure of Ruth Davidson, the popular Scottish Conservative leader. It has also been helped by the lacklustre Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, and confusion about his party’s Brexit policy.
John Curtice, the veteran pollster at Strathclyde university, said the woes of its main opponents meant SNP hopes of substantial gains were not unreasonable, even though support for the party appeared only slightly ahead of where it had been at a similar point in 2017.
“Somewhere around 45 to 50 seats [for the SNP] at the moment seems perfectly possible,” said Sir John. [...]
Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader, Scottish first minister and a former protégé of Mr Salmond, has so far made her demand for a new independence referendum her central election campaign theme, while also stressing the party’s opposition to Brexit.
“This is Scotland’s chance to escape the Brexit chaos by voting SNP and putting Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands,” Ms Sturgeon told the Leith event on Friday.[...]
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