General Election 2017: Scottish political reaction

Theresa May's announcement that she is to seek the approval of the House of Commons to hold a General Election on June 8th shocked everyone in British politics.

The Prime Minister indicated that she was sick of her efforts to make Brexit work being hamstrung by her small majority and anti-Leave political parties in both Houses of Parliament.

In Scotland, voters are going to the polls with an almost alarming regularity, and will now be voting twice in just over a month, in May’s local elections before the general election.

As ever, our political discourse continues to be dominated by independence, even as council elections loom, so that issue will feature prominently in June’s vote.

Here are how some of Scotland’s politicians and parties reacted to the vote.

The SNP

The party – which won 56 of the available 59 Scottish seats at the last general election, had their Westminster leader Angus Robertson reacting almost instantly.

Mr Robertson, who leads the now 54-strong bloc of SNP MPs, wrote on Twitter: “Whatever happened to ‘now is not the time’? Uk General Election: 8th June. Straight choice in Scotland between the SNP and and Tories.”

Minister Humza Yousaf agreed that the announcement ‘blew apart’ Theresa May’s now is not the time refrain, before adding a personal reflection.

“Just realised #GE17 gonna be smack bang in the middle of Ramadan. Fasting 20 hours while climbing tenements … ah well will shift some weight,” he tweeted.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon added: “The Tories see a chance to move the UK to the right, force through a hard Brexit and impose deeper cuts. Let’s stand up for Scotland.”

Labour

The timing couldn’t have been worse for the Scottish Labour Party, which was in the middle of launching their local election campaign when news of Theresa May’s announcement broke.

Kezia Dugdale and her deputy Alex Rowley were ready to hold forth on their plans for carers when their thunder was rather abruptly stolen.

Ms Dugdale said: “The choice again will be clear: a Tory Party intent on a hard and damaging Brexit, or a Labour Party that will oppose a second independence referendum and fight for a better future for everybody.”

There is no word yet from former leadership challenger Neil Findlay, who is seen as Jeremy Corbyn’s top ally in Scotland.

Ian Murray, the party’s only MP in Scotland, immediately announced that he would again ‘fight and win’ his seat of Edinburgh South.

Mr Murray defied expectation and a national swing to hold on to his seat in 2015, after controversy about offensive online postings engulfed the SNP candidate.

Conservative

To the surprise of no-one, the Scottish Conservative party immediately set their stall out to use the election to again oppose Nicola Sturgeon’s plans for a second referendum.

In a statement, Ruth Davidson said: “The Scottish Conservatives are ready for a campaign, we are organised and are optimistic about the prospect of increasing our number of seats.”

“The SNP will use this campaign to try and manufacture a case for separation. And with Jeremy Corbyn having said he is ‘fine’ with an immediate referendum, we also know Labour can’t be relied on to stand up to them.”

The Tories’ only Scottish MP, and the Scottish Secretary, David Mundell, indicated that he too will again stand in his Borders seat, where he has a majority of just under 800.

Lib Dems

Another party confident of increasing their number of seats is the Liberal Democrats.

At a UK level, their leader Tim Farron was first out of the blocks in relishing the challenge of a snap general election.

The party said they had added over a thousand members since the Prime Minister’s announcement, and are positioning themselves as the home for an anti-Brexit vote.

At the Holyrood election last year, the party defied expectations to again win constitutions in Scotland, snatching North East Fife and Edinburgh Western from the SNP.

They will be confident of winning the equivalent Westminster seats in June.

Willie Rennie said: “The Lib Dems are relishing the prospect of this election, which is a chance to change the direction of the whole of the UK.

“Our optimistic agenda is pro-UK, pro-EU, and progressive.”