One nation and two messages: how Scotland has become a problem for British journalists and the Labour Party

Citation

Harkins S (2015) One nation and two messages: how Scotland has become a problem for British journalists and the Labour Party. Jackson D (Editor) & Thorsen E (Editor) Political Studies Association. UK Election Analysis 20150: Media, Voters and the Campaign. Early reflections from leading UK academics. Political Studies Association. https://www.psa.ac.uk/sites/default/files/page-files/UK%20Election%20Analysis%202015%20-%20Jackson%20and%20Thorsen%20v1.pdf

Abstract
First paragraph: For many months before the election those of us surveying the political scene in Scotland had stopped asking if there would be an SNP surge and had instead, been asking how big it would be. On the night of the election the biggest exit poll predicted 58 seats for the SNP, Telegraph editor Alan Cochrane said he would be ‘astonished’ if this was the outcome and even the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that the exit poll needed to be treated with ‘HUGE caution’. Scotland is a traditional Labour Party heartland and the decimation of their contingent of 41 MP’s seemed scarcely believable.