Article by: Andrew Bentley-Steed
The SNP have just one job. One. But this morning, Angus B MacNeil MP conceded that after all the effort he and Councillor Chris McEleny had put into arguing for a Plan B, there was to be none. I doubt they are feart. Remember that Councillor McEleny has been booed and attempts made to shout down his brave effort to get a coherent strategy toward independence foremost in party strategy at conference.
Angus B MacNeil MP writes: “As HQ want, we are left with hoping Boris will give Scotland an independence referendum…”
Well, at least we now know where the accusation of spinelessness should be directed. Boris – and the wider Westminster body politic – have already said no. Several times. Just this week, in fact.
In its own party constitution, the party leader is also the First Minister where the SNP are to form government in Scotland, and this is as it should be – but the party has over 80,000 thousand members, 418 councillors, 61 MSPs, and 48 – rather redundant – MPs in Westminster. It is, in a very real sense, not only the party of independence but the party of power and it can’t even find the gumption to run two strategies for delivering on its multiple mandates to secure nationhood? This plays into the hands of those who suggest that they would be unable to plan and execute an independence referendum while still running Scotland’s government, a charge they have rightly refuted in the past.
What has gone wrong with the SNP?
The SNP seem to have forgotten that it is not the independence movement, it is supposed to be the representative of it. If the SNP were reliant on its membership alone for electoral support, it wouldn’t be in government and wouldn’t have received several mandates since 2014 on getting independence done.
Fortunately, we don’t have to rely on the SNP to lead us step by gradual baby step toward the federalism that will no doubt keep them satisfied. With such a strong and sustained level of support for independence, the Alternative Member System actually works against the idea we’d just Wheesht for Indy. Everyone who supports independence will be able to vote for a party that will boot federalism or any other spurious compromise to the kerb and instead push ahead for a vote on independence no matter what Westminster has to say: the Independence for Scotland Party.