political parties

• in April 2024 Yousef, leader of the SNP, dumped the scotish greens from their power sharing deal after a fall out on dropping climate targets. this led to a no confidence motion in him causing him to step down
• the SNP has faced falling confidence and popularity since the resignation of sturgeon over SNP finances. this is a key example of how a central cause alone is not enough to unite a party - rather, a strong leader must be present
• reform UK is polling at 10% nationally - this has been backed up in by elections where they received around 10% of the vote
• while reform will not be able to win the election, if they manage to take 10% of the vote they pose serious threat to the conservatives.
• some polls place labour as having potential to take 36 of 59 scotish seats - this would signal a huge drop in the significance of minor parties in UK politics
• in 2023 the SNP announced that should they win a majority in the next scottish election they will cliam a mandate for a second scotish independence referendums
• The UK’s First Past the Post electoral system is usually seen as an obstacle to emerging and minor parties but in the case of the SNP, it has worked in its favour over the past decade. This is because, unlike the Green Party for example, its vote is not geographically dispersed across the UK. the SNP could secure a simple majority of seats — 29 out of 57 — without winning over 50 per cent of the vote.
• in May Mayoral elections the conservatives suffered a huge defeat. they lost their seat in the West Midlands only winning in Tees Valley where candidate Ben Houchen was successful only after fully distancing himself from the Conservative Party brand
• Sunak won a vote in the commons to phase out smoking. this was treated as a free vote but it highlights a clash in Conservative Party ideaology with a division between those who support the bill on health grounds and those with more libertarian philosophy
• the conservative party has just announced that they are going to remove all SRE lessons for those under 9 and stoped transgender teaching in schools
• the Labour Party have thrown out over 100 councillors over gaza