# SCVO Election Result Response

Martin Sime, Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, has today issued a statement following the 2017 UK Election results:

There has been some interesting analysis around the election results this morning, and while there have been a few surprises, perhaps the most welcome outcomes so far have been that the turnout of young voters has been higher than expected, and the UK now has more women in Parliament than ever before.

“While we can only speculate at this point about what a hung Parliament will mean for Scotland’s third sector, we do believe this could create an opportunity for more participative governance, which in turn would mean more opportunities for people, charities and voluntary organisations to get involved and help influence and shape the future.

“This is a unique opportunity for politicians to listen and engage with those their policies affect and focus on finding some common ground and not just their own political ends. There are also real opportunities to change the trajectory of Brexit negotiations – in our recent membership survey 68% felt that EU policy has been good for the voluntary sector in Scotland – so there is hope that this result will open up the debate further, meaning greater participation for devolved nations and civil society, and thus greater scrutiny and transparency of the process.”

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## About SCVO

SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector.

Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact.

SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector.

Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners.

Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored learning opportunities.

SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience.

Discounts and savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org).

For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)