IN railing against Alex Salmond for his litigation against the Scottish Government and principal agents within it and the executive, don’t correspondents L McGregor, Stan Grodynski et al seem like they’re getting in early using Salmond as an excuse for any poor showing by the SNP at the forthcoming General Election (Letters, November 27)?
It seems to me that Alba and Salmond aren’t the architects of SNP’s misfortunes. Rather, its very membership that allowed the party to be taken over by the clique that has recently vacated power and are awaiting the outcome of various investigations into their management.
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What these correspondents refuse to address are two things.
First, after half a dozen clear mandates there is scant progress on the independence issue, apart from the publishing of a few documents that encourage discussion but have done nothing to advance the case, which needs direct confrontation with the Westminster government and establishment.
Meanwhile the party has enjoyed the best possible opportunity to demand independence with the worst blue Tory government in history, under which not only has Scotland been dragged out of the EU against its will, but is clearly sidelined within this absurdly undemocratic UK union.
We should note that any impending red Tory Labour government will offer nothing different from what we’ve endured for the last 13 years, a fact which the SNP should be singing from the rooftops at every opportunity while warning against a red Tory Labour resurgence in Scotland.
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It is precisely because of this failure that while support for indy has remained fairly constant, support for the party has slumped, with many choosing not to turn out. We can only hope that a catalyst transpires before the election to encourage indy supporters to turn out next time.
Second, Alba only exists because of the SNP’s failure to deliver indy. Those like Ash Regan who migrated to Alba would have preferred not to have to. But they could see that the SNP is dithering and not delivering, so have joined a party that is unequivocal about Scotland becoming independent sooner rather than (much) later.
So instead of looking for scapegoats and excuses for poor performance, shouldn’t SNP members be looking to their own organisation, asking the pertinent questions and demanding the answers and actions to drive the indy cause the party was founded for and which would encourage voters to return to the fold?
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Finally, under the circumstances described, it’s a fundamental mistake to base the test of support for Scottish independence on seats won at the General Election rather than votes cast for indy-supporting candidates, which would be a more accurate representation, particularly as there are many like me who have voted SNP in the past but are no longer prepared to do so.
Isn’t it time to put the indy cause before party and consider the wider movement which encompasses SNP party interests?
Jim Taylor
Edinburgh
I COMPLETELY agree with L McGregor (Letters, Nov 27) regarding Alex Salmond. I used to respect him, sadly not now. His quest for vengeance is a pathetic ego trip. I read an interesting saying recently: “he who seeks revenge had better dig two graves”. Maybe Alex needs to give this more thought before trying to inflict more damage on the SNP government and the independence movement ... and himself.
Angus Ferguson
Glasgow
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