Just a fortnight to go until the Scottish Elections and - surprisingly - I'm still not sure how I'm going to vote.

My overriding priority is civil liberties, which means getting Labour out. I realise that Holyrood isn't responsible for the repressive, illiberal laws of the Blair government in Westminster. But the Scottish Labour party is hardly likely to oppose them either - two years ago they tried to pass amendment S2M-2463.4 in support of ID Cards. At which point they lost any chance of getting my vote.

I want a government in Scotland that will take every opportunity to resist the imposition of measures such as compulsory Identity Cards and the National Identity Register.

So, my current views on the six major parties:

Scottish Labour
I want them to be booted out. Defeated, crushed, humiliated.

Scottish National Party
The SNP are pretty good in supporting civil liberties, however for them it seems to be just one minor issue rather than a core principle. And I'm really not convinced by the idea of an independent Scotland. The thought doesn't scare me, but my preference would be for Scotland to have greater powers within the Union.

Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Lib-Dems are a natural choice for me and they've certainly stood up for civil liberties in Westminster. Unfortunately they also have a hunger for power and I'm afraid that they might let Labour back in with another coalition. Sure, they might slow them down but I haven't forgotten the Holyrood vote two years ago where the Lib-Dems abstained on S2M-2463 which condemned ID Cards as "an unacceptable threat to civil libertes". So I'm not sure I can really trust the SLD.

Scottish Conservatives
I'm old enough to remember the 80s and the damage Thatcher did. It's a mark of how much I despise Blair's Labour party that I might consider voting Tory if I thought that was the only way to defeat Labour. But it isn't so I won't.

Scottish Socialist Party
No. Well-meaning but so, so old-fashioned and strident they just get on my nerves. Until I spoke at an SSP meeting a while back I hadn't realised there were still people around who refer to each other as "comrade" without irony.

Scottish Greens
The Greens up here have been the most outspoken in defence of civil liberties and opposition to ID Cards. It was Green MSP Patrick Harvie who tabled S2M-2463. I also agree with many of the Greens' social policies. However I've never considered myself green with a capital "G" and as a non-driver who rarely travels abroad my carbon footprint is relatively small - so I feel no environmental guilt. Plus the Greens aren't standing in the constituencies anyway.


So, what to do? At the moment I'm thinking of voting SNP for the constituency, Green for the regional list and LibDem first in the Council. But there's plenty of time for that to change.

Scotland Scottish Elections UK politics ukpolitics