It's time to move on from issues with the SNP's finances

Enough gloating if you’re an indy-supporting rival who sees opportunity in the SNP’s current predicament. A little hand-rubbing and “we told you so” is merited and a useful spur to SNP internal party reform. But too much is a bad look.

Enough being right, if you predicted trouble with the SNP books from the minute Douglas Chapman resigned as treasurer in 2020, well done to those who’ve been ahead of the curve. Poor show to those who brushed “command and control” tendencies under the carpet.

But it’s time to move on.

The world is full of greater issues and Britain – as usual – is stappit fu’ with deeper problems.

READ MORE: Wee Ginger Dug: Why must we all pretend Tory cronies are 'lords' and 'ladies'?

As the main party pursuing independence from a British state riddled with double standards, corruption and privilege – we need SNP eyes back on the prize. Leaders, ministers, MPs, MSPs, voters and other Yessers.

Sure, it’s hard for everyone – not just Nicola Sturgeon herself – to be stuck in this twilight zone, without knowing if the police will press charges or not, and if so when, against whom and over what.

But the sooner loyalists accept the SNP’s fall from grace, from a lofty, morally superior political perch to the same compromised universe inhabited by many of its rivals, the sooner we can all move on.

Sure, there may be more serious revelations ahead. Or not.

But whatever emerges, we’ll all learn to deal with it. For two big reasons.

Firstly – and obviously – the independence movement is bigger than the SNP.

Yes, it’s taken trouble for the party to demonstrate the strength of the cause but while polls predict SNP losses at the next Westminster and Holyrood elections – which might yet be mitigated by better governance – support for independence itself remains steady. That’s well worth knowing and I’ll bet I’m not the only Yesser feeling slightly buoyed and hopeful at the knowledge that conviction about independence doesn’t rely on the health of any single party-political vehicle.

At least not to the “converted”.

Clearly, question marks over the honesty, capability, transparency and trustworthiness of the SNP-led Scottish Government do raise big questions amongst the undecided about the value of going that extra-constitutional mile in pursuit of better governance.

That’s why there can be no return to wheesht for indy. That’s not what this is about. Quite the opposite.

The time for stasis and feeling immobilised is over.

We need action.

The Yes movement needs the SNP to produce a party conference in October that’s totally different in character from the corporate snooze-fests that have prevailed within the party for far too long.

I’d humbly urge all party members to pause the compulsive headline-checking and/or righteous recrimination and strategise about that vitally important event instead.

There are no second chances for the SNP in the eyes of the public and media. The next conference must usher in a new era of responsive, frisky, discursive and even combative debate.

No more nicey, nicey. No more agendas full of platitudinous addresses by ministers with motions scheduled for days when the First Minister doesn’t even turn up. No more muscling leadership candidates on to every committee. And time to rescind the package of measures introduced by Peter Murrell that has locked MPs into a lifetime at Westminster. We need all hands at the Holyrood pump – and at the very least, we need those MPs who want to work closer to home to do that.

After (generally) eight long years walled up with the kind of politicians most of us would cross the world never mind the street to avoid, they’ve earned the right to relocate without sacking their staff and risking ending out on their ears.

READ MORE: Was Diane Abbott's mistake deserving of the witch-hunt that followed?

If those rules aren’t torn up, onlookers will judge that the new leadership values control above all else – above the workplace fairness and the frisson of excitement that would be generated by bringing a few big hitters home.

Indeed, since Westminster candidates are being selected right now, it may already be too late to create a smooth passage between the two parliaments. It’s also true that sitting Holyrood candidates won’t welcome party rivals being parachuted in and there may be annoyance that MPs who can shine as part of an effective opposition, have no experience of the less glamorous business of government. And of course, if some relocate, new faces will be needed for Westminster which could jeopardise some seats.

All true.

But come on.

Recognisable, respected MPs would bring an injection of energy and experience to Holyrood. Let’s see the SNP free up the rules and let its politicians work where they want, not where they’re stuck.

These and other vital internal party changes will only happen as a result of concerted pressure. And that will only happen if members aren’t transfixed by arrests, motorhomes, burner phones and resignations and then lost to the first long-awaited and well-deserved family holidays since the Covid years.

So, no more preoccupation with lost innocence and fallen heroes. It’s time to get weaving and fix what has long needed fixing.

The second major reason why we’ll all learn to deal with whatever comes is because undue focus on internal party problems simply ignores the broken nature of Britain. Remember, that’s what we’re trying to escape. That’s why you’re reading this paper.

That’s the goal. And that’s what Scots have lost focus on, as the SNP stramash continues.

It has to stop – and it can.

READ MORE: SNP's last-ditch bid to scrutinise immigration crackdown bill rejected

Witness SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn in Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.

Two terse, no-nonsense, no-notes questions cut through the highly scripted, point-scoring of Keir Starmer and exposed the Tories as the callous, anti-migrant party they truly are. Hopefully, you’ll have seen the video of his Commons challenge by now, but in summary (and I’m grateful to Kerry on Twitter for paraphrasing):

Flynn: “Go on then, name me a safe route for children coming from Sudan.”

Rishi Sunak: “Nope.”

Flynn: “So yer gonnae detain Sudanese kids?”

Sunak: “Hey we’re compassionate but yeah basically, we’ll lock ‘em all up.”

Yes, the Tories will try to argue otherwise but the revolting hostile environment facing British citizens fleeing death has been created in OUR name.

The UK Government, operating without humanity, sympathy, guilt or shame is OUR government – until we get independence.

Broadcasters focused on voter suppression by Donald Trump during the last US presidential election. Now it’s happening right before our eyes – a third of BAME voters in the English local elections don’t know they need special photo IDs to vote.

And we’ll be next. But our political correspondents are too busy waiting breathlessly for another sighting of Murrell or the first backbench speech by Sturgeon to notice.

We can’t redirect them but we can redirect our own energies.

Not to distract, displace or excuse what’s happened within the SNP or what is yet to unfold.

But to get on with our collective day job.

Building Scotland as a progressive social democracy and demonstrating that we cannot progress, trapped within a conservative UK.