Scottish elections: what the papers are saying
It’s a difficult job putting together front page coverage of an election with the news still breaking as you go to press, and so easy to get wrong when so much guess-work is involved.
Lucky then for the Scottish newspaper industry, and not so lucky for the Scottish Labour party, last night’s Scottish elections presented what could (and repeatedly was) reasonably be described as a landslide, with the SNP on course for a historic win.
So no excuses for getting it wrong…
The Scottish Sun put out a 6am election special with the front page headline “SHOCK AND AWESOME”, describing the SNP’s showing at the polls as “Jubilant Salmond on course for landslide win” and “Labour humiliated as big guns are booted out”.
The Daily Record meanwhile held off an extra hour, going for a 7am election special, proclaiming “ECKY THUMP”, going on to say “Alex Salmond thumped Labour last night as he cruised to a landslide victory”. “Scotland’s newspaper” also highlighted the Lib Dems pitiable performance quipping “Lib Dems are wiped out in coalition backlash”.
The Scotsman didn’t tell us what time it went to press at, and neither did it manage to fit the words “landslide” or “humiliation” into any of its headlines. Remaining sceptical, the paper’s political correspondent Scott MacNab instead went with “Victorious Salmond to face £800m black hole”, before going on to explain “New government faces reality of extravagant manifesto spending promises”.
The Herald meanwhile got us back on track with landslide headlines, offering “Salmond handed Holyrood landslide”. A 5am state of the parties by the newspaper put the SNP at 23 seats, labour at 11 seats, Lib Dems at 2 and Tories at 1.
The Daily Star of Scotland gave front page prominence to Rangers’ takeover saga, but the top right corner was reserved for the proclamations “ECK’S GOT IT” and “GRAY FACES AXE”.
Lastly, the Scottish Daily Express went with “LABOUR CRUSHED BY RAMPANT SNP”, and continued to describe Labour’s results at the election as “Battered, bruised, bloodied and utterly humiliated”.