THE year’s most important gathering of Scottish independence supporters takes place in Edinburgh today under the auspices of the Scottish Independence Convention. This annual event has now surpassed the SNP conference in terms of relevance. A sense of restless dynamism pervades the Convention which has been largely absent from the party’s official rally. Whereas an undercurrent of drift and ennui; of holding on to what we’ve got has insinuated itself into the big official party gatherings, the Convention has spent the last two years doing what the SNP have lamentably failed to do since the 2014 Independence referendum. Instead of standing still and congratulating themselves on how good the referendum campaign was, they have examined the reasons for its ultimate failure and sought to address the reasons why a majority of Scotland’s citizens voted No.

In those heady days following the referendum when it seemed the Yes side had actually prevailed and an avalanche of new membership applications jammed the inboxes of SNP headquarters, it seemed this curious sense of euphoria had dulled the senses of the party high command. Instead of soliciting easy applause by proclaiming the mighty new membership lists of the party, why did no one set about the task of candid introspection; of dispassionately deconstructing the Yes campaign and asking why it had ultimately fallen short? Astonishingly, more than three years on from September 18, 2014, the SNP have yet to undertake an all-encompassing audit of the strengths and weaknesses of the Yes campaign.

It seemed those gilded early months of Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership – followed by the capture of 56 out of 59 Westminster seats in Scotland in 2015 – had lulled party chiefs and strategists into thinking independence was an inevitability and not far off at that. Yet those among us who had come lately to be persuaded of the independence argument were still looking for answers about the Jackanory sections of the White Paper on Independence and who had authored them.

The suspicion, given eloquent credence by Jim Sillars’ digging on this matter, was that the party had simply bulldozed aside any meaningful input from the wider Yes movement to the White Paper.

Events since then have conveyed an impression that too many in the party have become accustomed to living the good life of perpetual power. Has ten years of government with the virtual guarantee of ten more taken the edge off the thirst for self-determination? Party advisors, and there are stacks of them, can emerge with none-too-scruffy pension pots over the course of a stretch like that. And such is the SNP’s close bonds with big lobbying firms that a lucrative career in the whispering sector is virtually guaranteed.

A visit to the main hub at recent SNP conferences makes you momentarily wonder if you haven’t instead rocked up at a CBI beano instead. The real beating heart of the Yes movement is to be found on adjacent premises where the fees for displaying your wares are not as exorbitant as those demanded by the party. In this place and among these people is where the second independence referendum will be won and lost.

The Labour Party in Scotland has brought about its own downfall, mainly by demonising and alienating the significant section of its support base which supports an independent Scotland. There is a nagging suspicion now that the SNP is similarly hostile to Yes supporters who are not pure followers of the party. These are viewed as a mongrel species which can’t really be trusted to be given a significant measure of influence in the overall struggle for independence. Many of them will be at the Independence Convention today.

The big issues facing the UK and Scotland since 2014 curiously seem to have subdued the SNP rather than galvanised it. Almost 18 months after the EU referendum Theresa May’s faltering government and the Brexiteers who are driving it from the back seat stand accused of possessing no strategy for leaving Europe. Yet the SNP still haven’t produced a coherent plan of their own which outlines what Scotland’s relationship with Europe will be outside of the EU. There has been half-hearted talk of joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) but that is all it is.

Half-hearted doesn’t even begin to describe the SNP’s response to events in Catalonia. The party was delighted to have the support of the Catalans in the run-up to 2014 but now it seems fearful and cowering about supporting them in their time of crisis. Whatever consternation they might have had about the legality of the Catalan independence referendum must now have been washed away by the actions of the Spanish Government. The SNP loudly and solemnly proclaim the sovereignty of the Scottish people; a sovereignty shared by the Catalans who, denied by a dubious constitution the chance to hold a referendum, defied police intimidation and the state theft of ballot papers to vote overwhelmingly for independence.

In a mature democracy this ought to have, at the very least, earned them a constitutional dispensation. Instead Madrid has resurrected the ghost of Franco and the kidnap of democracy in 1936 by using force and imprisonment to squash even the merest discussion of self-determination. The SNP’s hand-wringing response in the face of this is utterly shameful. Will they also say that the French revolution was an unconstitutional power grab by peasants in 1789 thus rendering all subsequent governments in Paris illegitimate?

This over-arching sense of caution; this terror of risk and radicalism has pervaded its domestic policy-making from John Swinney’s Education reforms to its seeming inability to reform the major surgery required in the NHS. And how long will it be before the antics of the chaotic and criminally incompetent Police Scotland single-handedly revive the Police Academy movie franchise?

There are still many converts to be had from the Labour Party in Scotland, the one organisation in this country that makes the Police appear the epitome of solid governance and sound leadership. But that which they have long yearned for in their own party – radical action at tackling the root causes of long-term poverty, inequality and injustice – has also disappeared from the SNP.

The Scottish Independence Convention must step into the breach and provide the fresh impetus, ideas and leadership that the wider Yes movement desperately craves. It has arrived not a moment too soon. Amongst these people and in this place the ultimate fate of the campaign for Scottish independence will be determined.