Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp: Tommy Sheppard is wrong about our convention

The article focuses on Tommy’s response to Believe in Scotland’s report, "The Scottish Citizens’ Convention: Creating a Better Scotland".

Now I want to be clear that I am not having a go at Tommy. When I started Business for Scotland as the pro-independence business network in 2011, Tommy was one of our founding members. He was also a diligent MP who stood up for Scotland at Westminster.

However, his article gets quite a few things wrong regarding the Believe in Scotland Citizens’ Convention proposal and worryingly signals, along with statements made by other senior SNP figures, that they have no idea why they just lost so heavily in the General Election (GE). 

The Citizens' Convention was a post GE24 report 

Firstly, let's start with the first inaccuracy in the article. Tommy writes: “Although reference is made to the election result, this report takes no account of it and was clearly drafted well before July 4”. Sorry, but that is just completely wrong.  

Believe in Scotland has been working on a route to independence, one that included a convention, since spring 2023 (reported on in a July 2023 front page article in The National). Some of the research done prior to the GE was re-evaluated and added to the appendices of the report. However, our report wasn't just redrafted after the General Election, it was written as a direct response to the General Election result. I will take it as a compliment that he doesn’t think it could be done in less than two weeks but you would be amazed at what a dedicated team of independence supporters can achieve when we are actually focused on independence.  

The GE wasn't about independence ... but it should have been

Secondly, Tommy seems to suggest that the Scottish Government’s multiple mandates to hold a referendum from past Holyrood elections have been undone by this single result. He asks: "Didn’t the SNP just fight the General Election asking for that mandate to be reaffirmed and for the constitution to be changed to allow Scottish people to choose their own future?" Err NO THEY DIDN'T. The SNP may have had independence on page one line one of their manifesto as instructed by their conference, but then the word was almost banned from their campaign after that point.  

They ran their campaign on defending the SNPs record in Holyrood which seemed bizarre, to say the least, in a General Election context. The daily press releases hardly mentioned independence during the campaign until the last day and did not provide any sense that their campaign was about independence, nor any credible route to independence. The convention idea just didn't feature. All three bits of SNP campaign material put through my door failed to mention independence at all and I almost didn't vote for them myself despite the fact that I have dedicated the last 13 years of my life to the independence cause.  

Thirdly, Tommy says: “Didn’t we just lose that election? We can’t pretend that didn’t happen."

Well my question is who is WE? WE didn't just lose an election, the SNP did and lost because the campaign became disconnected from the independence movement. I refuse to accept that when independence support was sitting at 51% in a poll so close to the election, and the SNP were polling in the low 30s, that trying to strip independence out of the campaign's message (other than the minimum mandated by the SNP conference vote) was a good call, because it wasn’t. 

(Image: Jane Barlow)

The REAL message reported back from the doorsteps

Hard-working SNP activists across the country, BiS members and friends of mine were knocking their pan in for the SNP, going door to door and reporting back to me that they were all getting the same answer.

SNP voters, even some members, saw no sense of urgency on independence from the SNP. Therefore members and strong supporters mostly sat on their hands, and some voted Labour because at least they could guarantee to deliver some form of change. That change was getting rid of the Tories. Get rid of the Tories was indeed the SNPs message during most of 2023/24. In a meeting with the former FM and three ministers last year I told them that "get rid of the Tories" in a Westminster election context just translates to vote Labour, and that the 2015 and 2019 big wins for the SNP were run on the back of independence-focused campaigns.  

The Citizens' Convention is complementary to the political process 

Fourthly, Tommy says that the BIS report is anti-politics to an unhealthy degree, that we are throwing political baby out with the bath water, and that the Scottish Citizens’ Convention is seen as an alternative to, rather than complementary to, the existing political process. Sorry but that is a complete strawman argument, refuting a point the report does not make. A Citizen's Convention is actually as complementary to the political process as you can get regardless of its avoidance of party politics.

In regards to independence the report concludes we need a three-pronged approach to gaining independence. An independent Citizens Convention, a strong grassroots-led non political campaign led by BiS and adds: “There must also be a strong political arm of the independence movement, which is focused on independence and a wellbeing economic approach and is willing to compromise and form workable alliances ahead of a potential de facto referendum." So in fact the report proposes that politics is one of the three pillars needed to deliver an independent Scotland. 

READ MORE: Ian Murray accused of 'lie' about SNP minister amid austerity row

Of course the answer is independence

Tommy suggests "there is a danger that the conclusions the convention might reach might not favour independence". That is to assume that the hopes and dreams of the peoples of Scotland, that their ambitions for creating a better nation for future generations (gained via the biggest national convention and engagement project our country has ever seen) will be so lacking in ambition and creativity that Holyrood could deliver it with its existing powers. Or indeed that Westminster would say yes to any of the key changes the people would want.

That is to assume that the Scottish people wouldn't want a wellbeing pension that allows pensioners to live with dignity and to afford to heat and feed themselves properly in wintertime. That's assuming they would want nuclear weapons to remain on the Clyde, that assumes that they want the Bedroom Tax, the two-child cap and austerity. That they want to stay isolated from the EU and for Westminster to be able to throw us into illegal wars. Believe in Scotland’s extensive polling on the people of Scotland’s core values means that we can anticipate the conclusions of the exercise and it will be undeliverable as part of the UK.

How about we actually challenge the Union

Once the convention has published its "Creating a better Scotland" report, then it's down to the convention and others to challenge the politicians to deliver against those ambitions and it will be clear that only independence can. The independence movement then needs to build a manifesto for independence based on the ideals and values of the people not of a political party, because they might not be the same.

Convince the people and the roadblocks will clear 

The sixth and final point I want to address is something that Tommy gets at least partially correct. He writes that “at no stage is there a suggestion that the outcome of the Supreme Court case needs to be challenged”.

The Citizens’ Convention isn't a constitutional convention and therefore there should be no mention of legal challenges on constitutional issues. If there is to be a challenge to that decision it is down to the Scottish Government, not the grassroots movement or the Citizens’ Convention. 

READ MORE: Winter Fuel Payment: Scottish Government not consulted on welfare cut

He argues for the Claim of Right for Scotland, and so do we but there is a problem with the Claim of Right. Although passed by acclaim as recently as 2019 by Westminster, the Claim of Right is useless without popular consent so we simply suggest getting consent first.

The time to deploy the Claim of Right is after the Citizens’ Convention has defined the nation's direction and after the parallel independence campaign has moved the polls to favour independence. The Claim of Right for Scotland must be mandated by a majority vote of the people and that is why Westminster continues to delay (saying "now is not the time" rather than just "no to a vote"). They are blocking a new referendum because they know they will lose if the Scottish people get to discuss our future in a similar way to 2014 – the Citizens Convention allows that new national conversation we need to build consent for independence.

As I said above, I have a great deal of respect for Tommy Sheppard and I feel that he will have a major role to play in Scotland's journey to independence, and will seek to meet with him to see where we can find common ground.