DO the SNP support Scottish independence? This is a question that may seem on a par with the Pope’s religious affiliation or a bear’s toilet habits, but it is one that I have been asking myself for a while, and especially in the past week as the ISP launched their new party, and were met with a storm of denunciations especially from spokespeople from the SNP.
Many criticisms have been levelled at the ISP, but one in particular for me stands out; that they are amateurs. I, and I am sure many other independence supporters, are bemused by that observation.
It was the amateur Yes groups who, in the space of two years, raised support of independence from 30% to 45%. It was amateurs who gave their vote to the SNP and propelled them into the seat of governance and filled their bank account with membership fees.
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It is amateurs who have taken the question of the legitimacy of Section 30 to court and have just recently won the right for the case to be heard. By contrast, the SNP have provided competent government within the limits dictated by Westminster, but on the issue of independence, support stays stubbornly at 45% . If those polls are to be believed, then the SNP has not managed to increase support for independence beyond the margin of error. It would seem on the issue of independence at least, that the amateurs far outrank the professionals in persuasion.
More disconcertingly, the attacks on three of the biggest supporters of independence, Alex Salmond, Craig Murray and Stuart Campbell of Wings, does nothing to calm the nerves. However much you might disagree with them, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth to see these giants of the Yes movement being pursued in various ways. The broad church of the Yes movement seems to have narrowed to a puritanical cult and those not of the true faith are being ruthlessly cast out as dangerous heretics. The damage that this is doing to our cause is considerable.
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People have objected to the ISP’s proposals to stand on the list as a risk that could split the vote. My question is, which vote are we talking about? Are we talking about the split that might result in a couple of seats fewer for the SNP, but a clutch of new indy MSPs; or are we talking about the split written into the D’Hondt system that ensures the Union-supporting MSPs stay in place? As a Yes supporter my first loyalty is to independence, not to the SNP, and if a second vote for another party will remove the Tories from Holyrood, then that is the choice that I will make.
There are those who say that this is a gamble and risks losing independence. But in weighing a risk, one has to ask what the other likely outcomes are. If continuing to vote SNP 1 and 2 is going to deliver more of the same, is it genuinely a gamble to vote for something else? And as the fallout from Brexit and coronavirus hurtles towards us, I am rapidly reaching the conclusion that we have nothing left to lose.
Gerry Parker
Whifflet
IN reply to Robin MacLean’s suggestion that the Tory party has let us down, since when did the Tory party ever do anything that supported Scotland? And there was almost a suggestion that Scotland’s Parliament has members waiting in the wings to take over Nicola’s job as leader. But heaven help any chance of a Westminster Tory moving north of the Border, let alone Boris Johnson. We have enough Tory time wasters living here serving their supporters both in the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments, in especial the latter.
We are all aware of the fault lines of both Boris and Trump who, at the very least, provide humorous anecdotes at the expense of both being absolutely useless as their individual countries national leaders.
Whatever Boris Johnson chooses to do with his “one nation government” is up to him, so far as I am concerned. My support and concerns lie with my adopted country here in Scotland and its very able and successful leadership in Nicola Sturgeon.
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife
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