IN his seminal work on the growth of the SNP in the 1960s, Scotland Lives, the late former SNP leader Billy Wolfe recalls that he spoke at the SNP national conference in 1968 thus: “We must always have as the basis of our thoughts the fact that we seek to act on behalf of the people of Scotland. Their rights and interests must be paramount in our deliberations. The growing support which we have from the people of Scotland is a trust we must respect”. This was a reference to the Hamilton by-election victory in 1967 and the SNP winning 40% at the local elections in 1968.

The verdict from the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election last week was clearly that in some shape or form the SNP is not putting the interests of the people of Scotland first. This is of concern to all Yes supporters because of the primacy of the SNP as the leading party of independence. Electoral setbacks are rarely set in stone and it is not too late for the SNP to regroup and reassert itself, but to do that the SNP leadership has to look outwards and forwards, not backwards and inwards.

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The First Minister is a generous man in spirit, so he must restore a culture of healthy democratic debate within the SNP which has been lacking in recent years, so that private robust debate at all levels increases the likelihood that decisions agreed, by conference or council rather than by Cabinet diktat, will be held to with a minimum of public dissent. Furthermore, the SNP is a party of independence or it is nothing. Therefore, all efforts must be made, as Billy Wolfe and his colleagues did in the 1960s, to cement the case for independence to the social and economic betterment of the Scottish people. To forget this is fatal.

Despite the vast debt all nationalists (yes, I do use the word proudly in a Scottish context) owe the SNP for carrying the torch of freedom for 89 years, it must be open to dialogue with other pro-independence parties. The SNP is right to see itself as the leading party of independence but it must never believe that its vision is more valid than that of other pro-independence parties.

The Unionists collaborated last week in Rutherglen, although that was only some of the reason for the scale of the SNP defeat, so nationalists must collaborate come the next Westminster elections with the broadest range of pro-independence candidates on offer. This must be SNP, Alba, Green, SSP, ISP, and some seats where well-known pro-indy public figures such as Lesley Riddoch, Val McDermid or Brian Cox are carrying the flag. If we fail in this mission, history will not judge us well.

Cllr Andy Doig (Independent)
Renfrewshire Council

I HAVE read and listened to many opinions, within the SNP and the wider independence movement. It would appear that there are many different routes being proposed to achieve our ultimate goal. There seems no chance of a united proposal to offer to the people of Scotland any time soon, despite support for independence being around 50%.

In my opinion, we are pursuing the wrong objective in the short term. Before we can achieve independence, we must secure a vote that can deliver such an objective and is accepted by all parties in the UK.

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We should start a campaign for an independence referendum with some important provisos, specifically that a further referendum will not take place for, say, at least another 10 years. There are many opponents of independence who would support such a campaign, if only to bury independence!

Achieving 70+% for a referendum (within two years) should be an achievable objective, which should embarrass the new UK Labour government into accepting the will of the people.

Or maybe I am being naive!

David Howie
Dunblane