I don't feel any optimism. It's going to be a hung Parliament, which will mean another up to five years of uncomfortable bedfellows hedging and compromising. The very antithesis of a government that could be visionary and inspired.
The two candidates who do have some kind of vision are Farage and Sturgeon. Farage is best nodded at sympathetically as you would do to any drunk old man in the pub falling asleep in the corner, otherwise you take no notice; and Sturgeon... well, she's not an MP, she's not standing in this election... Nicola Sturgeon has nothing to do with the British Parliament. She's an MSP, the First MInister of the Scottish Parliament (poor Wales only got an Assembly), and she's the leader of the Scottish National Party... but she's actually nothing to do with the UK's Westminster government.
If the SNP become the junior partners in the British government...? I would actually agree with whoever said this could be the biggest British constitutional crisis since the abdication of Edward VIII. I'm not saying that the situation couldn't be resolved sooner rather than later... but I don't know if there's a historical precedent for a non-elected MP, non-House of Lords person becoming a Deputy Prime Minister of the UK government.
I will say this, though. When Alex Salmond stepped down last September and named Nicola Sturgeon as his successor, I thought I wouldn't hear much about her after that, that the SNP would calm down a bit after the referendum didn't go their way. and become a minority party like Plaid Cymru, if not a bit more vocal/popular. I was wrong. Whatever else you say about Nicola Sturgeon, she's already got an advantage for not being as odious as Alex Salmond.
And I now think Scottish independence will come sooner than what I believed in September in 2014. In September I thought the Scots would leave it another generation to hold another referendum (more like 2035-2040 rather than 2030). I strongly believe in a nation's right to self-determination. Emotively and rationally I did not want Scotland to leave the UK, I didn't want to see the break-up of the UK, but I do recognise Scotland's right for autonomy away from London.
I also didn't think Scotland was ready for independence in September 2014. (There was talk about them not being able to participate in the 2016 Olympics for not being able to register as an independent country... if Scotland left the UK they would for a time no longer be in the EU - what would that mean for border control? - would Scotland have an independent currency? Some Scottish businesses were considering moving their headquarters into England, where the economy was known to be more certain.) This would have been the end of the UK as we know it. But now I think if the SNP become the dominant party north of the border, they could really learn what it takes to run a whole country after a number of years dominating the Scottish Parliament. 10+ years. Might not even need a referendum.
There's uncertainty ahead. And I fear the £ sterling will lose 3-5% (maybe more) of its value with the announcement of the hung parliament.
Fingers crossed that the best happens!
