Powered By Blogger

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Tory optimism grows in Scotland after very dark years

The political landscape in Scotland has changed beyond all recognition in the past 20 years, and in the Motherwell suburb of Ravenscraig the contrast of past and present is even more stark.

New housing estates with names like "Phoenix Park" have risen from the rubble of the site of the old Ravenscraig Steel plant which once employed 13,000 workers.

The plant was closed in 1992 and when its distinctive cooling towers were demolished a few years later, it seemed to herald the end of Scotland's major industrial era. Ravenscraig was deemed uneconomic but the local community blamed the Conservative government for failing to save it.

In 1997 Scottish Tories paid the price. Every single Conservative MP lost their seat; they've never managed to get more than one candidate elected in any General Election since. But this time the party has predicted it could win as many as a quarter of the country's 59 seats. The optimism comes from unexpectedly strong results in the local council elections.

Nathan Wilson, 23, wasn't born when Ravenscraig closed, but last week he was elected as a Conservative councillor for the area. The party went from zero to 10 seats on North Lanarkshire Council.

Councillor Wilson laughs as he recalls how he was dubbed "Tory boy" by one of his teachers at school. It wasn't intended as a term of endearment. He says the party has now broadened its appeal but its revival is largely due to the SNP's call for a second independence referendum.

Mr Wilson says everyone knows where the Conservative and Unionist Party stands on that issue.

"The dividing line now in Scottish politics is, if you support independence you vote SNP, if you're against independence you vote Conservative, and that doesn't leave a lot of room for the Labour Party."

Labour is a pro-Union party, but Jeremy Corbyn was ambivalent when asked about a second referendum saying it would be "absolutely fine" if there was a demand for it.

No comments:

Post a Comment