THE Lion and the Saltire A Brief History of the Scottish National Party

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For most of the time that the Scottish National Party (SNP) has existed, public attitudes towards it have ranged from indifference to hostility or bafflement. Until fairly recently it was hardly taken seriously as a political grouping and was largely ignored. All this changed in May, 2015, when in the General Election for the Westminster Parliament, the SNP won 56 of 59 seats in a historic landslide. It is generally acknowledged that much of the credit for this victory goes to Scotland's chief minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who far outmatched any of the other political leaders in pre-election debates. Paradoxically, it appears to have been the campaign and the aftermath of the previous referendum on Scottish Independence in which the "no's" won, that led to a phenomenal rise in SNP membership. With the defeat of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, the SNP now replaces the latter as the third force in Westminster politics. Scottish Independence now seems nearer than ever.