THE SNP annual conference was a good start in the party’s advance towards the 2026 Holyrood election. It was far from doom and gloom, and the efforts to involve the membership are to be commended. The arrangements for members to hold the leadership to account at formal sessions were managed very skilfully by Angela Constance.
The fringe events at SNP conferences have become presentations with a few minutes added for three or four questions. It’s just your luck if you choose a quieter event and there are only a couple of principal speakers.
Such an opportunity presented itself to me at the Scottish Police Federation fringe meeting, and your report “Police Scotland ‘will not thwart’ independence” (Aug 31) highlighted the contretemps which I had with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.
READ MORE: RECAP: Shona Robison announces Scottish Government cuts
For all my enormous respect for her, I think that Angela’s response summed up what is wrong with our politicians and many members of the SNP. They don’t see the constitutional aspect of every policy or action, however mundane they may think it is, and its consequences for achieving or preventing our independence. This permeates our state, national and local politicians and their political advisors.
While I might not have the temperament to be the most persuasive advocate of Think Independence First, it is significant that 30% of the delegates voted for me as their next president on a specific agenda which included this approach. I thank each and every one of them for their vote and encouragement. That was achieved through no campaigning or establishment endorsement.
I congratulate Maureen Watt on her success, and hope that she and the other members of the NEC will recognise the very significant minority in the party who are enthused by this Think Independence First approach.
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While it would be wrong for me to leak anything specifically revealed in the internal discussion around the recent General Election, I would suggest that all SNP branches take time to digest that information and consider how it was reflected in the setting of the subsequent resolutions and their outcomes. That information, if imparted to the Conference Committee before-hand, should have given it an opportunity to frame the debates accordingly. It clearly did not.
It is my greatest wish that the party wins the next Holyrood election and independence in 2026, but to do so it must spell out how it will achieve our mission and in the meantime take the necessary steps to secure the confidence of half the electorate in its performance in Holyrood.
There is a perception that the UK Labour government’s attack on the living standards of everyone in these islands (save for their institutional backers) will be a mortal blow to the ambitions of their underlings in Scotland and thus carry the SNP back to government. Only a fool would rest on that notion. We must make our own luck.
READ MORE: Shona Robison announces £500 million of Scottish Government cuts
You don’t make your own luck by announcing cuts, even if you demonstrate the source of the cuts is not you. This is the classic mistake which the Scottish Government has already made and is about to increase. It’s painful enough when there is no access to more public funds, but when a ready legislative alternative exists and can be implemented at the next Scottish Finance Act to not just prevent the cuts but increase public support for all of us, then serious questions must be asked of the group-think at the heart of our government and its advisors. The cuts announced this week by the Scottish Government are Scottish Government cuts, and the public know it.
30% of the delegates at conference demonstrated that they have open minds to chart our own course without the constraints of a Westminster bubble which just needs pricked by the Scottish Government. It doesn’t take much of a push to prise open another 20%.
Let’s just hope that within that 20% are some of our leaders who Think Independence First on everything they do.
Graeme McCormick
Arden
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