Why this Thursday's Scottish Parliament election is starting to scare me
The apathy about the potential for politicians to make meaningful changes risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, warns Christine Jardine
It would be disingenuous to pretend I don't have a stake in Thursday's election. We all know I’m a Liberal Democrat. But as the election draws nearer, there is something frankly quite scary emerging: apathy.
Recent polls have warned that we in Scotland are pretty scunnered with politics. Come Thursday, a significant number across the country might just not bother turning up to vote.
On so many doorsteps, the overwhelming sentiment has been disappointment in our Scottish Government’s inability to tackle the issues that affect households and businesses.
The cost-of-living crisis, the pressure on the NHS, falling education standards and crumbling public services. Couple that with disbelief at what’s happening across the Atlantic and you have public disenchantment.
The privilege of voting
People want change but are unsure how to make it happen in a world that feels out of control. I’m proud of the fact I was elected in time for the centenary of the first votes for women in this country. My grandmothers were born at a time when they were to be denied the privilege of voting that we now take for granted. In countries like Australia, it’s a legal obligation rather than a choice.
In its less than 30-year history, Holyrood’s turnout has mostly been between 49 and 55 per cent, with only 2021 reaching a high of 61 per cent. Compare that with general elections, where a 60 per cent turnout in Scotland would be regarded as disappointing compared to the norm of high 60s and even 70 per cent. Or the independence referendum where it was hard to find someone who hadn’t voted.
It may be that polls predicting the SNP may cling onto power is undermining enthusiasm. Why bother if nothing is going to change? Because if we do not bother then that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Even though I’ve never been a supporter of the SNP, I remember the anticipation of change and the potential it held when they came to power in 2007. It’s the same excitement that people still talk about experiencing when Tony Blair came to power, or that some felt when David Cameron invited the Lib Dems back into power after almost a century in 2010.
Overly impatient for change
Change and the possibility of a new era is what so much of Scotland wants. But we won’t get it if we shrug our shoulders and walk away. Ironically part of that dangerous apathy comes, I believe, from impatience.
Voters at this election want to know less about long-term strategies and more about what their elected representatives will do on day one. What actions will they take to deliver practical outcomes. And quickly.
Nineteen years has been too long to wait for promises to be fulfilled. Disillusionment has fuelled apathy. Why should we bother?
But I believe we owe it not just to ourselves but to previous generations, who didn't have our rights. Who won for them for us. So we could choose. And do it without violence.
We have the power to change the country’s direction. Whichever way we want it to be. We can send a signal. Or voters and politicians can face the consequences of doing nothing.
We each have the power. But only if we choose to use it.
Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West
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