Will a Scotland 'love bomb' woo voters?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2021

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon seem to be battling for the position of most amiable leader. The First Minister invited Johnson to meet with her on his visit to Scotland, but the PM politely declined, instead inviting Sturgeon to a more formal meeting of devolved administrations. The Prime Minister's visit to Scotland is part of a wider plan to soften support for independence. Will a 'love bomb' work? Katy Balls speaks to James Forysth and James Johnson, co-founder of polling firm JL Partners and former pollster at No. 10.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. absolutely free. Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.
0:25.9	Hello and welcome to a special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots. I'm Katie Balls
0:30.8	and I'm joined by James Fusife and James Johnson, formerly of number 10, where he advised Theresa May.
0:36.7	And we are talking about Scotland.
0:39.6	This week, the Prime Minister headed north of the border for a few days on a visit.
0:44.0	James Forsyfe, we're going to go fill names in today's podcast for clarity purposes.
0:49.0	When it comes to the situation now in Scotland, clearly there was a lot of reporting about the potential for Indy
0:56.7	Ref2 ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections, but then Nick of the Sturgeon fell one short of a
1:01.8	majority. So what is the current outlook from the government when it comes to those issues?
1:07.4	So I think things on the independence front have been fairly quiet since the Hollywood
1:12.6	elections. I think the SMP realised that it wasn't in their political interest to look like they
1:17.7	were agitating for a second referendum with the COVID crisis in such an acute state. But I think
1:25.7	if you look at the way in which the restrictions have been eased
1:29.1	in Scotland as well as in the rest of the UK, the falling case numbers, and the fact that Nicholas
1:34.7	Sturgeon is on the verge of doing a kind of formal deal with the Greens, which will give her
1:38.1	government an absolute majority in the Holyrood Parliament. And that you've got the SMP conference
1:42.7	coming up at the start of September.
1:48.8	I think you will see independence go back up the political agenda come the autumn.
1:54.9	I think that if COVID numbers stay low, I think you may well see an independence referendum bill in the Scottish Parliament in the autumn. Now, this is obviously a provocation by
2:00.3	Nicholas Sturgeon because the Constitution
2:01.9	is a reserve matter. It's very hard to see how, if not impossible, to see how the Scottish Parliament
2:07.7	has the powers to call a referendum. But I think one of the things that she will be hoping for
	...

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