THE SNP was last night facing a fresh internal protest after scores of proposed motions were rejected for debate at the party’s annual conference this month.
Resolutions are usually published in the names of individual members or branches, but this year the party grouped them into six themes without noting the names of their proposers.
The National revealed last week the Plan B motion on an alternative route to independence – put forward by Angus MacNeil and Chris McEleny – was turned down.
Instead, the provisional agenda contains resolutions on six broad topics – independence, the economy, the NHS and the pandemic, Scotland and the world, the green recovery and social justice.
A draft motion on a Scottish Reserve Bank intended to allow an independent Scotland to have its own currency “as soon as practicable” was also turned down.
The draft motion had been submitted by the Dalkeith branch and backed by 24 other branches and four MPs. The Dalkeith branch secretary has written in protest to the SNP’s national secretary, The National understands.
There’s been recent debate over currency after Andrew Wilson last month claimed it could be a decade after independence before the creation of a Scottish pound. The chair of the SNP’s Growth Commission said he believed Scotland could be fully independent by 2026 after a referendum and negotiations during the next Holyrood term.
However, he warned that it could take between five to 10 years for the introduction of a Scottish pound and 25 years until the country “is as good as a society as somewhere like Denmark”.
Meanwhile, one senior MP suggested members were being shut out of the party’s policy-making process as well as decisions over future governance.
Joanna Cherry, the Edinburgh South West MP, drew attention to the provisional document when it was published on Tuesday night.
Cherry, the party’s justice and home affairs spokeswoman at Westminster, tweeted: “The constitution of @theSNP says ‘National Conference is the supreme governing and policy-making body of the party.’ The provisional agenda is now available online. It’s confidential but members should scrutinise the agenda bearing in mind the constitution.”
Cherry pulled out of the contest to be the party’s Holyrood 2021 candidate in Edinburgh Central following a change to the party’s “dual mandate rule.” The revision meant MPs would have to stand down from Westminster if they wanted to be elected to Holyrood. The SNP said the change was made to prevent a series of possible by-elections.
Activist David Henry said the provisional agenda contained six resolutions out of more than 130 submitted by branches.
An SNP spokesman said: “Effective leadership during the global pandemic is proving a real boost to support for an independent Scotland. The SNP will continue to focus on what’s important to the people of Scotland, and our conference agenda is reflective of those priorities.”
Sources say 42% of resolutions submitted by branches were used to shape the provisional agenda, while last year that was just 19%. Branches have until 5pm next Tuesday to submit amendments to the resolutions with the final agenda published later.
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