It’s a funny old business, politics. The SNP’s number one target in the Holyrood election was Scotland’s most marginal seat, Dumbarton. Held by Labour in 2016 by just 109 votes, the Nationalists put everything into unseating the incumbent Jackie Baillie.
It is no exaggeration to say Baillie is a hate-figure for Scottish nationalism. She is moderate Labour, staunchly pro-Union, pro-Trident (the Clyde Naval Base is in her constituency), and was a member of the Holyrood inquiry, during which she distinguished herself with fierce, forensic questioning of both Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond. For all the damage they have inflicted on Labour in its one-time heartlands of west-central Scotland, the Nationalists have never been able to beat Baillie.
This marks six times the SNP has tried to take Dumbarton and six times Baillie has sent them packing.
That tradition was continued on Friday evening, when the Dumbarton returning officer announced that Baillie had won — increasing her majority in the process. Baillie
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