According to the Telegraph and other sources Labour have taken the hump, a bit like their future Leader MaCavity Brown, and are apparently looking to challenge the result of the vote in Cunninghame North constituency which was won by just 49 votes by the SNP. This is the constituency which includes Arran and had a problem getting the votes delivered by boat. According to Labour
When the ballot boxes arrived they had been opened and some of the papers inside were wet.
Which is not surprising considering what they had gone through, anybody who has seen the boxes might understand why they might have been a bit battered, even if they hadn't been attacked by a golf club waving senior citizen.
Whilst this might appear to mean they would then be back in control of the Scottish Parliament, it is more likely that they would then drop one from the regional list which would go back to the SNP, which means no change in the number of MSP's for either party. The BBC has more on the story
here.
If Labour does press for a review of this, they are more than likely going to open up a huge can of worms that they may prefer to leave closed, but as the columnist in the Telegraph says
... as I learnt from reporting on the murky world of Scottish politics, it pays never to underestimate the Scottish Labour party's arrogance and stupidity (a fatal combination in the affairs of a country) when it is backed into a corner. And so it is proving in Thursday's aftermath.
Continuing in the Telegraph is a litany of how the Labour Party in Scotland is having a severe sour grapes problem (should I have said soor plums). These include
- Jack McConnell stuttering and muttering about how he still wants to form a Government.
- Others saying it was just one seat so they are still within their rights to govern.
Nobody like a bad loser and this is what they are, granted that if after 50 years it is a bit of a shock to them, their supporters and their lackeys in the Scottish Media.
Any attempt to back-door a win in this election will inevitably create a huge backlash against them so let's hope they try and then fail.
Humility and guile: a plan to save the Union