Our first focus groups of the general election campaign take us to Scotland, where Labour are hoping to reverse a decade of SNP dominance and boost their chance of a big majority at Westminster – hence Keir Starmer’s visit within hours of the election being announced. In Paisley, Dundee and Aberdeen 2019 SNP and Conservative voters told us – separately – what they made of their recent political dramas and how they saw the choice on 4 July.
A few of our more independence-minded participants sensed a southern conspiracy behind the allegations of financial impropriety inside the SNP: “How do these stories come about? Someone on the Conservative side has tried very hard to hurt her. Something had to dull the diamond or Scotland would have voted to leave;” “It’s coming from Westminster. It was to take attention off the partygate stuff.” More often, though, even previous SNP voters tended to believe there was something in the allegations. But if there was any wrongdoing, most rejected the idea that Nicola Sturgeon would have been in the dark about it.
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