Included in the toll of seats which the party won from the SNP last week,
the Tories have also taken the political scalp of Nicola Sturgeon’s
Environment and Climate Change Minister.
In a parliamentary seat re-drawn from the former Galloway and Upper
Nithsdale, Finlay Carson won Galloway and West Dumfries for the Tories with
a 43.5% share of the vote.
Even with a 5% upswing in her vote, Aileen McLeod, who served as
Environment Minister from November 2014, finished in second place on the
first-past-the-post vote with a 39% share.
As she did not stand on the South of Scotland ‘top up’ list vote, she is
now no longer an MSP.
An SNP spokesman said: “Aileen McLeod stood in a Conservative held seat –
Galloway and West Dumfries – and all that happened is that the
Conservatives held onto the seat. Aileen actually increased the SNP
vote by 5% – but it wasn’t enough to unseat the Conservatives on this occasion.
“So no one ‘took her scalp’. She was elected on the list previously but
because the SNP got record support in the constituencies we didn’t get as
many list seats because of the complex and proportional nature of the
electoral system.”
Nevertheless, this ministerial gap (or ‘scalp) is one of the many reasons
why there will now be a Cabinet re-shuffle by Nicola Sturgeon, who is
expected to be re-affirmed as Scottish First Minister later this week.
Although not a top Cabinet job, the gap in the SNP Government’s ministerial
line-up could potentially pose a big problem for Sturgeon.
The ‘easy’ solution would be to offer it to a Green MSP – but that would
immediately put him/her into conflict with erstwhile Scottish Energy (and
Enterprise) Minister Fergus Ewing over shale energy.
While there is much agreement between the SNP and the Greens across the
policy spectrum – including Scotland’s Independence – a permanent ban on
fracking for shale gas is not (yet) SNP policy. And Sturgeon has also ruled
out a formal coalition with a junior partner.
In her manifesto, Sturgeon said she was ‘deeply sceptical’ about the public
health and safety aspects of shale gas exploration – effectively ‘outing’
Fergus Ewing who stoutly maintained a neutral public stance on the issue
pending the outcome of the still-ongoing government consultations for
‘evidence-led’ scientific reports.
However, she could offer to help the Greens get, say, the chairmanship of
the Energy and Enterprise Committee in Holyrood.
The environment is too important a post to be left vacant. Scottish Energy
News has invited the Scottish Environment Minister to attend SCOTLAND’S
RENEWABLE FUTURE.
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