THE establishment of a new independence party to rival the SNP would undermine the independence cause, according to its former director of communications.
Kevin Pringle went on to say the time for a new party to be created would be after independence had been achieved.
He made the point in a newspaper column yesterday as he responded to an article by Jim Sillars published in the current issue of the Scottish Left Review.
Pringle said his assessment of any attempt to supplant the SNP “could only undermine the independence cause”.
He added: “The right time for a new party would be after the achievement of independence, when the SNP should be revamped with a social democratic identity and a non-national name.”
Sillars, a former SNP deputy leader, had speculated in his article about moves to replace the SNP with a new party in the wake of the Alex Salmond trial and its repercussions.
Salmond was cleared of 13 sexual assault charges at the High Court in Edinburgh in March, and following his acquittal he suggested he had been the victim of a politically-motivated conspiracy. His backers blame people at the top of the Scottish Government and SNP.
A Holyrood probe will take place later into the Scottish Government’s flawed handling of complaints made against him.
Sillars said a book the former First Minister was writing would be like a “volcanic eruption” for the SNP.
He wrote: “For the rest of us, it is the effect of that coming volcanic eruption on the SNP as a party, as the electoral wing of the independence movement, that matters.
“Not being in the Salmond camp, but in the SNP, and having devoted the major part of my political life to the cause of independence, I see a need for a complete clear-out of the highest levels of the party before it is again fit to lead.”
Pringle said he hoped the First Minister was only half way through her tenure and added that the pandemic did not weaken the argument for independence.
“My hope is that Nicola Sturgeon is only approaching the halfway stage of her tenure, which would reflect a pattern of several SNP leaders serving about a decade,” he wrote.
He added: “The UK’s budget deficit is set to see ‘an absolutely colossal increase to a level not see in peacetime’. Yet no one would propose Britain, or indeed any other country, ceasing to be independent on that basis. The issue, as always, is which sphere is best placed to make decisions for Scotland, Westminster or Holyrood.”
Despite the Salmond trial and the claims of a conspiracy against him, the episode has done little to affect the SNP’s popularity in Scotland.
A YouGov poll published last week pointed to the party being on track for a majority at next year’s Holyrood election. The survey found 54% plan to give their first vote to the party, while 45% would pick them for the regional vote. Ballot Box Scotland said the result would give the SNP 68 seats – an increase of five from 2016.
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