VETERAN SNP MP Pete Wishart has called on his party to do more to inspire Yes voters, claiming that the loss of 21 MPs at the last election was in part because the campaign failed to offer anything to pro-independence supporters.
In an essay published exclusively in The National, the Perthshire politician has laid out his plan for “Independence 2.0”, calling on the Yes movement to sort out positions on currency and the border between Scotland and England.
But he’s also said there should be no second referendum on Scotland’s constitution until after the next Holyrood elections.
Wishart, the party’s longest-serving MP, said his colleagues need to do more to engage with independence supporters before then.
“We also now know that this is a fragile constituency that cannot be taken for granted.
“We lost a third of our Westminster MPs just as much because independence supporters decided to stay at home uninspired with what they saw as an agenda that did not meet their constitutional ambitions.”
The MP says the SNP should make a second referendum the central pledge of their 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign, and spend time between now and then working on the “new programme for independence, an independence 2.0, a new blueprint.”
But only when the “good ship UK fully collides with that Brexit iceberg” should Scotland be asked again to vote on the constitution.
“When the reality of this folly finally becomes apparent the Scottish people will almost certainly want to fully review and consider all their available constitutional options,” Wishart writes.
The pro-independence side must “have an unquestionable mandate”.
“This time round the Tory Government is less likely to be so accommodating in granting the same democratic arrangements we secured last time,” he argues.
The Perth and North Perthshire MP was the top target for the Tories in June’s General Election.
Ruth Davidson’s party threw everything they had at overturning the SNP’s majority of 9641, but Wishart managed to survive the onslaught, holding on to his seat by just 21 votes.
The former Runrig keyboard player is the SNP’s Shadow Leader of the House and spokesperson on the constitution, and one of the most familiar faces in the parliamentary party.
In his blueprint, Wishart says the Yes side must “address some of the issues concerning our onshore economy and the still potent issue of the currency in an independent Scotland”.
But the MP suggests, after Brexit, the big issue in any future independence referendum will be the border.
When First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was asked about the timing of an independence referendum last week, she replied: “The honest answer to that is: I don’t know.”
The SNP would decide, she said, “when things are clearer”.
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