I WAS left tearing out what little hair I have left after reading Mhairi Black’s article “SNP implosion has been on the cards for years” (Jul 13). She writes: “The decline in Scotland’s public services is undeniable, but so is the fact that those services still outperform those of the rest of the UK. That truth is not enough to inspire people in an election though”.
In the election campaign the SNP’s opponents endlessly harped on about these “declines”, and so the public were exposed to an unrelenting diet of scurrilous stories about ferries, police tents, campervans, iPads, plummeting education, failing NHS, financial scandals, leadership chaos – you name it – day after day. But where was “the truth”, as Mhairi Black puts it, to be heard? Where was “the truth” spelt out to the public? Where was the powerful, solid, loud and equally unrelenting public rebuttal from the SNP’s campaign?
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It’s all very well for SNP parliamentarians to know the truth, but which of them got up on their soapbox day after day to grab the media’s attention and make sure it was hammered out to the public? The truth will only count and inspire voters when the SNP remembers to focus on it, bang the big drum for it, pull out every stop for it and blast it out at each and every opportunity.
Of equal importance, people in Scotland were not clearly warned that voting for Labour’s “Change” risked undermining SNP policies on free university tuition, no privatisation of the NHS and additional child payments – none of which are advocated by UK Labour. The public were left blissfully assuming they could keep the benefits of progressive SNP policies and at the same time hand over power to UK Labour – another example of a “truth” that the SNP conspicuously failed to spell out or campaign on effectively.
The truth is out there and can inspire the public, it just needs to be put in sharp focus and then cried out again and again at every media opportunity. Let’s hope the SNP can learn the lesson quickly before the next election starts, and can find their soapboxes.
Bruce Crichton
Hamilton
YES we were gubbed, both Alba and the SNP. What went wrong, and what can we do to fix it? There are many subjects we got wrong at Holyrood and Westminster.
The Hate Crime Act. No-one at the Scottish Parliament sufficiently explained this act. We were told by former First Minister Humza Yousaf that the act has a high threshold for criminality, but he failed to get the message across to the general public. A friend of my wife told us that if we said something, even in private, that someone finds offensive, we could be arrested. I failed to convince her otherwise, but as she is a Trump fan, no vote lost there.
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On the subject of Michael Matheson, this must have created a great deal of mistrust. However, it seems to me that it must be unavoidable for a committee of MSPs to keep politics out of their decisions. I would suggest a committee of one Scottish judge and two from outwith the UK for these types of cases rather than a committee of MSPs.
Also the case of the missing SNP funds feels like it has dragged on for years. The longer it has dragged on, the more trust we have lost.
Also the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill has created a great deal of confusion. I was asked at a funeral in England what I thought of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. All I could say was that if it was passed by a democratic majority in the Scottish Parliament, it should not be overruled elsewhere.
At every independence march I have attended I have heard the shout “Tories Tories Tories out out out”. What now will be the shout? I hope something more positive.
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The critics of the SNP would often say “get on with the day job”. It is the day job of the SNP to promote the positive case for Scottish independence.
My view about fixing the low situation the independence movement are in is for those politicians seeking independence to recognise that we are a wide movement – right, left, centre – and allow the glue of independence to keep us together. Stop the in-fighting For the next Scottish Parliament election, allow Alba or Scottish Greens (dependant on who has the best chance of winning the vote) to take the list vote.
At the next General Election all parties standing for Scottish independence should stand as one, under the name Coalition for Scottish Independence or similar.
Keep the faith. We’re down on the floor, but not dead.
Ian MacTaggart
via email
MR Starmer, before you get Britain any more deeply involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine or give any encouragement for Zelenskyy to attack Russian soil, please show Scotland “more respect” as you promised and take your nuclear weapons out of Scotland and put them somewhere that they are wanted.
Ni Holmes
St Andrews
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