Pete Wishart

[Thistle_do_nicely]

1 hour ago, Granny Danger said:

Only because of FPTP.  If we had a fairer system for elections to Westminster then it wouldn’t be an issue.

 

Fully with you on this, yeah.

As for the notion of not standing, I'm pretty much in an "SNP until independence" mode at this point but if the Greens stand wherever they please I've no issue with it. It's up to the SNP to attract people that might be predisposed to voting Green through policy commitments, or at least try to.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

1 minute ago, MixuFixit said:

Unless something has changed, the Tory candidate for this constituency is Angus Forbes, not Murdo Fraser.

Meh, these gammony simpletons are all the same anyway.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

2 hours ago, MixuFixit said:

Unless something has changed, the Tory candidate for this constituency is Angus Forbes, not Murdo Fraser.

Indeed. There is absolute no danger Murdo Fraser is going to run in a FPTP situation. 

[welshbairn]

4 minutes ago, ali_91 said:

Going to have to explain this one my man. 

[welshbairn]

4 minutes ago, ali_91 said:

Going to have to explain this one my man. 

If 22 voters had decided to vote Green instead of SNP in 2017, the Tories would have won. Thankfully the Green Party decided not to run.

[welshbairn]

3 minutes ago, ali_91 said:

If 22 voters had decided to not vote instead of voting SNP the Tories would have won.
 

A vote for the Green Party is not a vote for the Tories. You could argue it’s the equivalent of not voting, but it’s clearly not in any way, shape or form a vote for the Tories.
 

That sort of reasoning is why the UK has been a duopoly for however many years. If people want to vote for a party that they feel represents their views than vote tactically then that’s their prerogative. 

The Green Party and people who support them are obviously free to do what they want. My priority in this election is to stop the Tories getting power, so I want the SNP to win Perth, denying the Tories a gain. If people have different priorities or think registering Green support is more important than stopping the Tories, of course that's up to them.

[Pet Jeden]

16 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

The Green Party and people who support them are obviously free to do what they want. My priority in this election is to stop the Tories getting power, so I want the SNP to win Perth, denying the Tories a gain. If people have different priorities or think registering Green support is more important than stopping the Tories, of course that's up to them.

"My priority" suggests you're active in the election campaign. Out of interest, what's your role?

[welshbairn]

Just now, Pet Jeden said:

"My priority" suggests you're active in the election campaign. Out of interest, what's your role?

I've got a substantial bet on a hung parliament.

[Baxter Parp]

Really uncomfortable with the idea of parties not running to do others a favour. Anyone can run and it's up to voters to decide if they want to be tactical.

Lib Dems, Greens and Plaid Cymru reveal remain election pact

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/07/lib-dems-greens-and-plaid-cymru-reveal-remain-election-pact?

LibDems, Greens and Plaid are anti-democratic, shock.

[NotThePars]

If I was Pete Wishart I would simply be a good enough candidate for Green voters to back me instead.

[welshbairn]

3 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

That's fair enough. It doesn't give you carte-blanche to start spouting nonsense about a Green vote being a vote for the Tories though.

A vote for the Greens is a vote for the Greens.

End of story.

If you want to stop the Tories getting in Wishart needs to get working and earn his re-election.

That's just how FPTP works. A vote for the Greens rather than the SNP in Perth helps the Tories. 

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

I didn’t vote in the last general election but big shagger Pete will be getting my vote this time. Voted Green Party in the Euro elections just past there. The Tory candidate in Perth is a true gammon of a man. 

[Honest Saints Fan]

The Greens emailed their members asking their opinion on whether they should stand in marginals like Pete's seat. Think they are meeting next week to decide. 

[mizfit]

Be quite interesting to know if they plan to put former SNP Councillor Elspeth Maclachlan up against him.

[invergowrie arab]

On 06/11/2019 at 18:27, MixuFixit said:

The SNP should have a groaning war chest from all their membership fees. If they've not given him special treatment in a tight contest and he's having to resort to crowdfunding then that probably says something.

That's not how it works. All monies have to be raised locally and whilst we can do that the more of yous stick a fiver in the less plant sales and coffee mornings i have to attend.

I think every SNP candidate is crowd funding 

Edited November 8, 2019 by invergowrie arab

[invergowrie arab]

1 hour ago, mizfit said:

Be quite interesting to know if they plan to put former SNP Councillor Elspeth Maclachlan up against him.

I hope not for her sake. She's not a well woman

[jamamafegan]

I disagree with others here about how this could affect the SNP vote. It can only be considered bad news for Pete. Let’s look at the facts:

1. The vote was extremely marginal last time round and Pete needs all the votes he can get.

2. The Greens haven’t a hope in hell of winning this seat.

3. The people who vote Green tend to be the same ones who would vote SNP if Greens weren’t an option. Tories aren’t going to vote Green.

This is only going to make the SNP’s job more difficult. The Greens can stand wherever they like of course, however for a party that’s in alliance with the SNP this is a poor move IMO. The Greens are well liked among SNP voters, with many voters saying they would vote green following independence.

The Greens should stand down in every marginally held seat. There’s a bigger picture here.

[Flybhoy]

When I hear his name I still think of him as the keyboard player from Runrig truth be told. 

[tirso]

The old tune getting played "a vote for the snp is a vote for the Tories" which bored us all for many years.
Same tune, different note.

Pete Wishart needs more people in Perth to vote for him than any other party. It's been done for many years already. A vote is a vote for whatever you want. Young people deserve the chance too to vote for who the want, in my opinion.

If people think green before SNP that's their choice. The SNP box is still there, it's not going anywhere.

[invergowrie arab]

21 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Why don't the SNP donate to these crowdfunders then?

1. Because there are rules about who can donate to individual poltical campaigns which would prevent them doing this.

HQ pay for national materials, mailshots, advertising, IT systems etc etc but every constituency campaign is an individual campaign

2. The SNP HQ actually dont have that much money. Obviously much more than they had but you can see where that goes on increased social media presence etc Most of the membership fees go back into local branches. 

To give you an idea a branch like mine with 200 members gets about 300 quid a month (most new members pay a quid a month)

Out of that we need to pay for hall hire, conference delegates, postage, constituency office levies to pay for rent,rates and utilities and constituency office staff etc 

Beyond that since the big jump in membership late 2014 we are onto General Election number 3 and have had Scottish elections, local elections, euro elections and euro referendums as well as having to pay a levy for by elections such as Shetland

As well as national naterials HQ buy we need to pay for local candidate specific materials,postage,posters, venue hire etc

Elections are massively expensive and even Labour and Tories are down to brass tacks. The difference being a local Labour candidate can expect a nice 2500k cheque from the local union or Tories from a local business man. 

Whereas by and large we rely on individual donations and fucking coffee mornings