• United Kingdom Nicola Sturgeon against Alex Salmond: open war in Scottish independence

  • On the record Alex Salmond: "The Scottish referendum is urgent"

The pro-independence parties in Scotland aspire to win a majority in the local parliamentary elections on May 6 and to achieve the final push to hold a second sovereign referendum in the next five years.

The polls actually grant 68 of the 65 necessary deputies to the Scottish National Party (SNP) of the main minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who can also count on the reinforcement of up to 13 deputies from the Green Party and one or two from the Alba Party of its predecessor Alex Salmond.

The pro-independence frenzy of the "super Thursday" coincides with the acid test of the Labor Party and its leader Keir Starmer, who faces the polls for the first time with the worst of omens, before a Boris Johnson reborn by the impulse of vaccines and shielded from scandals.

Johnson has avoided setting foot during the campaign in Scotland

, where he remains highly unpopular.

The 'premier' has, however, turned to his new fiefdoms in the industrial north of England, the same ones that gave him an absolute majority in 2019 and that supported Brexit at the time.

In England 5,000 councilors and the mayor of London are

elected (where Labor Sadiq Khan will probably be re-elected).

But the real China in Keir Starmer's shoe is the special election in the Hartlepool district caused by the resignation of MP Mike Hill (implicated in several sexual harassment cases).

Since 1964, the seat has been held by the Labor Party, in what has been considered one of the bastions of the 'red wall' in the industrial north.

The latest polls nevertheless give Conservative Party candidate Jill Mortimer a 17-point lead.

An internal Labor Party poll has revealed that only 40% of the party's traditional voters intend to back its candidate Paul Williams, in what is also seen as an

outright rejection of opposition leader Keir Starmer

.

Starmer has recognized that his party "has to climb a mountain" to reconquer the 'red wall' that voted in favor of Brexit.

The Labor leader has assumed in advance "full responsibility" for what may happen on Thursday, while the left wing of the party revives to demand his head.

Keir Starmer, 58, came to Labor leadership just over a year ago wearing the band of a serious politician and his record as a prosecutor.

For several months, in the most critical moments of the pandemic, he kept the guy in his confrontations with Boris Johnson and even achieved the 'sorpasso' in the polls last fall.

His personal 'vendetta' with his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, however, has alienated him from the party's hard wing, while criticism raged in the moderate sector for the lack of a vision and a message with which to counter Johnson's comeback on behalf of vaccines.

The 'premier' has once again put the 'Tories' ahead ten points in

YouGov's

national polls

for

The Times

, and is relying on a resounding win in Hartlepool to strengthen his position against the increasingly questioned leader of the opposition.

In Scotland, and to a lesser extent in Wales, the 'premier' will nevertheless have to face the independence resurgence to which Brexit and Covid contributed equally.

Nicola Sturgeon has offered herself during the campaign as "a serious leader for serious times"

and has put on the table her "experience" since 2014 (when she took over from Alex Salmond after the first referendum) as a guarantee for her re-election.

"Thursday's vote is not an independence referendum, we are not asking people to vote 'yes' or 'no'," he stressed, however, hours before the election date.

"When we ask people to make that choice, as we did in 2014, we will put it in detailed perspective."

The SNP's electoral manifesto does, however, specify the commitment for the so-called # indyref2

, which could be held even in 2023, although the 'premier' Boris Johnson has already anticipated his refusal.

"Sturgeon and his fixation on independence are a clear and present threat to the post-Covid recovery," said Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross.

"It was already a disgrace that they began to set in motion the machinery of a new referendum in full lockdown, when hundreds of Scots lost their lives. But the threat is now more real than ever."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Boris johnson

  • Coronavirus

  • Jeremy corbyn

  • London

  • Sadiq khan

  • Brexit

  • Scottish independence

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