Latest news with #ScottishNationalParty
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win
Jubilant Labour supporters celebrate a by-election win outside a Scottish town hall, waving flags and raising a champagne bottle. Labour scored a surprise win in a Scottish Parliament by-election on Friday, giving UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government a rare moment of celebration. Labour won with 8,559 votes, overturning the comfortable majority of 4,582 earned by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2021. The SNP were favourites going into the election, but saw their vote collapse by almost 17 percent, netting them 7,957 votes and delivering a heavy blow to the party that runs Scotland. "People in Scotland have once again voted for change," Starmer wrote on X. "Next year there is a chance to turbo charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border," he added. Starmer and his government have seen their popularity plunge since coming to power last July. Labour secured 31.6 percent of the vote, slightly down on the 2021 election. But they capitalised on a fractured opposition, with the anti-immigration Reform UK party making inroads into Scottish politics for the first time with 26.1 percent of the vote. The Conservative party continued its dismal recent electoral record, gaining just six percent of the vote. The ballot was held following the death of SNP lawmaker and government minister Christina McKelvie in March.
Arab News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win
LONDON: Labour scored a surprise win in a Scottish Parliament by-election on Friday, giving UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government a rare moment of won with 8,559 votes, overturning the comfortable majority of 4,582 earned by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in SNP were favorites going into the election, but saw their vote collapse by almost 17 percent, netting them 7,957 votes and delivering a heavy blow to the party that runs Scotland.'People in Scotland have once again voted for change,' Starmer wrote on X.'Next year there is a chance to turbo charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border,' he and his government have seen their popularity plunge since coming to power last secured 31.6 percent of the vote, slightly down on the 2021 they capitalized on a fractured opposition, with the anti-immigration Reform UK party making inroads into Scottish politics for the first time with 26.1 percent of the Conservative party continued its dismal recent electoral record, gaining just six percent of the ballot was held following the death of SNP lawmaker and government minister Christina McKelvie in March.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Labour Surprises in Scotland With Win Over Farage, Nationalists
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party won a Scottish parliamentary by-election, a surprise result that deals a blow to both the Scottish nationalists and Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. Labour's Davy Russell won the vote in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, denying Farage's populist party its first electoral victory in Scotland and setting back the Scottish National Party, which runs the semi-autonomous government and held the seat since 2011.
Epoch Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Epoch Times
Scottish Independence Not ‘First Priority,' Says Starmer
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that Scottish independence has not been raised as a top priority in discussions with First Minister John Swinney, despite the latter recently relaunching a campaign for a second referendum on the issue. Speaking during a visit to Scotland ahead of Thursday's Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse by-election, Starmer 'We got a big election win last year on the basis that we would stabilise the economy and ensure that on that foundation we built a stronger Scotland in a stronger United Kingdom and that's what I intend to do. 'Nobody's raising that with me as their first priority, certainly in the discussions I'm having with the first minister,' he said. His comments come less than a year before the next Scottish Parliament elections, where the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) is leading in opinion polls. But Starmer has ruled out that a strong result for the SNP would change his government's position. Swinney Rallies for Independence Swinney, who became first minister in May last year, has sought to rekindle momentum behind the independence movement. Related Stories 6/2/2025 6/2/2025 Speaking last month in Edinburgh, he He has also pledged to scrap the two-child benefit cap and has been critical of Labour's cuts to winter fuel payments (WFP), which he says disproportionately harm vulnerable pensioners. The government's recent suggestion of reviewing WFP cuts prompted criticism among SNP members, reigniting demands for Scottish independence. SNP MP Seamus Logan criticised the policy, which he said disregards the needs of 900,000 Scottish pensioners. 'This is exactly why we need independence,' he Swinney has also warned that the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party underscores the urgency for Scotland to take control of its own future, despite 'The SNP will confront Nigel Farage, not cosy up to him. With independence, people in Scotland would always be in charge of our future, not Westminster governments that ignore our values,' Swinney Referendum Debate Scottish nationalists lost the A 2022 Supreme Court ruling confirmed that Holyrood cannot unilaterally legislate for a second referendum without Westminster's consent. Although the issue has since receded on the national agenda, support for independence remains resilient. A recent SNP MP Stephen Gethins said on Tuesday that it was 'disappointing' and 'arrogant' for Starmer to suggest that the matter of independence was settled. 'This shouldn't be an issue that's decided by one person at Downing Street or elsewhere. This should be a matter for the people of Scotland,' he said. Meanwhile, SNP Communications Officer David Mitchell However, opposition to a second vote remains entrenched among unionist politicians. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said the focus of the next Parliament should be clearing NHS backlogs, not holding another referendum. He also accused Swinney of using Reform as a political distraction from the SNP's domestic record. Reform itself Defence Spending Highlights Policy Divide Starmer's visit to Scotland also coincided with the launch of a The UK plans to invest £15 billion in nuclear warheads and construct six new munitions factories. Given Scotland's role as host of the Faslane Naval Base—home to Britain's Starmer has defended the deterrent, previously telling the Commons that 'if ever there was a time to reaffirm support for the nuclear deterrent, it is now.' In contrast, Swinney While defence remains a reserved issue under UK constitutional arrangements, the nuclear debate reflects broader divisions between London and Edinburgh, divisions that could once again sharpen as the 2026 Holyrood election approaches. PA Media contributed to this report.
Scroll.in
03-06-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
Nationalist ideology and the slippery slide into fascism
Nationalism is typically seen as the preserve of right-wing politics, and it has long been a cornerstone of authoritarian and fascist governments around the world. In democratic countries the term 'nationalism' is linked to national chauvinism – a belief in the inherent superiority of one's own nation and its citizens – but the picture is more complex than it first seems. For starters, there is little to differentiate patriotism from nationalism except for degree of intensity. Most of us, however, can recognise the difference between love for one's own homeland and the harsher, often exclusive or xenophobic tenets of extreme nationalism. Patriotism is a low degree nationalism, but radical nationalism often turns into xenophobia. The picture is further complicated by substate or minority nationalism, an entirely different beast often associated more with left-wing and progressive ideals. Many political parties and ideologies – in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere – use the term 'nationalist' without any connotations of far-right beliefs. Instead, they present the nation as an emancipatory force that strives to achieve self-determination for a particular territory. Examples include the National Party in Suriname (founded in 1946), the Basque Nationalist Party (1895), the Scottish National Party (1934) and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (1982). Some of Europe's prominent left-wing movements, such as Irish party Sinn Féin, are fervently nationalist, while others, such as the Welsh Plaid Cymru, embrace eco-socialist principles. This does not mean that minority or substate nationalisms are immune to the influence of the radical right. Belgian party Vlaams Belang and the Catalan Alliance are two contemporary examples of far-right minority nationalism. Looking further back, the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Flemish National Union occupied similar political space during the interwar period. Despite these nuances, nationalist ideology can often slide easily into fascism. The resurgence of ethnic nationalism in the late 20th century has also reinforced this association, often channelled through the concepts of nativism and populism to bring about movements as diverse as Trump's 'Make America Great Again', Putin's irredentism and Hindutva nationalism in India. Few would question fascism's emphasis on the nation, or that nationalism is a pillar of any fascist worldview. However, the relationship between nationalism and fascism remains underexplored. My research aims to remedy this by looking closely at the link between the various conceptions of nation and the ideological contents of fascism. Ethnic nationalism Fascist ideology has often been regarded as the inevitable outcome of 19th-century forms of ethnic nationalism. Spurred by European imperialism and the Great War, the principle of the nation became increasingly chauvinistic, racist and xenophobic. This ethnic turn of nationalism would be decisive in making it an instrument of fascism, as well as a core argument of the diverse versions of the radical right, from 'fascistised' conservatism to more blatant forms of authoritarian government. In most theories of fascism, nationalism is implicitly linked to a single-issue expression that conceives the nation as an organic reality, one where the criteria for inclusion are based on 'objective' truths such as language, blood and soil, history and tradition. However, elements such as ancestry, history and territory are certainly not exclusive to fascist or authoritarian concepts of the nation. Many of those ingredients can also be found in liberal and Republican definitions of the nation, which usually take for granted the 'cultural community' within whose ethnic and territorial borders the community of citizens would be built. Indeed, many of Europe's rising progressive political forces – such as Sinn Féin in Ireland – can trace back their origins to radical nationalism in the early 20th century but promote a tolerant, open view of society that is the antithesis of fascism. It is therefore true that every fascist is a nationalist, but not every nationalist is, even potentially, a fascist. This raises the question of exactly how fascism harnesses nationalism to achieve its aims. In my view, there is a specifically fascist concept, and usage, of nationalism. Fascist nationalism Fascists see the nation as a single organic entity binding people together, not just by their ancestry but also by the triumph of will. As such, it is the driving, unifying force that mobilises the masses towards a shared goal. But fascists also have to appropriate nationalism for their own ends. In order to serve fascism, the concept of nation has to be coherent with the main tenets of fascist ideology: the idea of revolution, the corporatist imagination of social order, the purity of race (defined in either biological or cultural terms) and the social relevance of irrational values. The diversity of nationalist traditions also accounts for much of fascism's geographical heterogeneity. Although the components provided by nationalism are old, fascism combined them to create something new. This created what is known as the 'generic' fascist concept of the nation, which can be broken down into at least five specific characteristics: A paramilitary view of social ties and the national character: The nation exists in a permanent state of military readiness, meaning the martial values of discipline, unity of command and sacrifice are placed above all individual rights. The whole social order and the nature of its bonds are cast in a paramilitary mould, meaning society itself becomes a barracks. This also accounts for fascism's strong tendency towards territorial expansionism, the pursuit of empire and war – these all provide a common cause to keep the nation permanently united and mobilised. A Darwinian 'survival of the fittest' view of national and international society: This leads to the exclusion of others (defined variously by traits such as race, culture, language, and so on), the belief in the limitless sovereignty of one's own nation, and the justification of violence against its enemies, both internal and external. This leads to imperialism as a natural consequence of the affirmative character of the nation. The nation above all else, including religion: Fascist governments have always been, in theory, independent from religion. Wherever they seized power, most fascist movements arrived at some sort of agreement with the Church, but fascism ascribes God and religion a subordinate place (either explicitly or implicitly) within its hierarchy of principles. The nation is always at the top. Unity of state, culture and nation: As far as the relationship between the nation and the state is concerned, the fascist nation is neither above nor beneath the state. It is both identified with the state, and transcends it: a 'national-statism'. Blind belief in a charismatic leader: The idea of the fascist nation requires absolute trust in a singular, all-powerful leader. In Nazi Germany this was known as the Führerprinzip, the idea that the word of the Führer transcended any written law. This transforms the 19th-century figure of the national hero or founding father into something far more transcendent. The fascist leader assimilates and embodies the qualities of all the national heroes who came before.
