SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY

The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social-democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence. It is the second-largest political party by membership in the United Kingdom, behind the Labour Party, is the third-largest by overall representation in the House of Commons, behind the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, and is the largest political party in Scotland, where it has the most seats in the Scottish Parliament and 35 out of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The current Scottish National Party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has served as First Minister of Scotland since her predecessor Alex Salmond resigned on 20 November 2014, following the majority of the Scottish electorate's decision to reject independence at the Scottish independence referendum held on 18th September.

Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentary representation since Winnie Ewing won the 1967 Hamilton by-election. With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as the opposition. The SNP gained power at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, forming a minority government, before going on to win the 2011 Parliament election, after which it formed Holyrood's first majority government.

The SNP is the largest political party in Scotland in terms of both seats in the Westminster and Holyrood parliaments, and membership; reaching a peak of over 120,000 members in July 2016, around 2% of the Scottish population. Currently the party has 63 MSPs, 35 MPs and over 400 local councillors. The SNP also currently has 2 MEPs in the European Parliament, who sit in The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group. The SNP is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The party does not have any members of the House of Lords, as it has always maintained a position of objecting to an unelected upper house.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY MPS 2017-2018

THE BEST OF THE WORST - GOOD, BAD & UGLY

607 SCHOOLS PROJECTS DELIVERED

Childcare increased, free school meals extended, record exam results, 607 school building projects completed, and free tuition for students.

RECORD NHS FUNDING

A record £13 billion budget for Scotland’s NHS, more staff than ever, and patients getting some of the fastest and best treatment anywhere in the UK.

SMALL BUSINESS BONUS

Jobs and businesses protected through the recession – with business rates slashed or abolished for almost 100,000 premises.

SUPERFAST BROADBAND

£400 million to deliver superfast broadband to 95 per cent of properties across Scotland by the end of 2017. They hope to reach 100 per cent by 2021.

WOW! 30,133 AFFORDABLE HOMES BUILT

The SNP claim to have exceeded their target for new homes in the last five years, with an investment of £1.7 billion. They want to  build at least 50,000 more in the next Parliament.

We like this a lot. If only England was so progressive.

The United Kingdom has many political parties, some of which are represented in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Below are links to the websites of the political parties that were represented in the House of Commons after the 2015 General Election:

CONSERVATIVE PARTY

CO-OPERATIVE PARTY

DEMOCRAT UNIONIST PARTY

GREEN PARTY

LABOUR PARTY

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

PLAID CYMRU

SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY

SINN FEIN

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY

UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY

ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY

Conservative Party

Co-operative Party

Democratic Unionist Party

Green Party

Labour Party

Liberal Democrats

Plaid Cymru

Scottish National Party

Sinn Féin

Social Democratic and Labour Party

UK Independence Party

Ulster Unionist Party

We are concerned with how the make up of the above parties and (reasonably) popular policies affects the Wealden district, because we are all brothers on two islands in the Atlantic Ocean and what we do of fail to do is likely to rebound on ourselves and our fellow man in other nations around the world. How we act today influences policies in other countries in our global community. It is not just about us and our patch despite Brexit.

DISTRICT & BOROUGH COUNCILS

East Sussex has five District and Borough Councils, each with a border on the coast. From west to east they are: 

Eastbourne Borough Council

Hastings Borough Council

Lewes District Council 

Rother District Council 

Wealden District Council

There is also East Sussex County Council as the provider of services to the 5 East Sussex districts.

As near neighbours and with councils now sharing facilities and working together, these area of Sussex are included in our remit and an area where climate change and affordable housing are issues that need urgent attention. Where the coastline is a feature in every Council, Blue Growth is a food security issue, especially where this side of of our local economy is under-exploited.

SNP LINKS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scottish_National_Party_MPs

https://www.snp.org/your_team