The Scottish National Party has reached a pivotal moment in its quest for Scottish independence. There are many internal and external pressures challenging its new leadership. In John Swinney’s acceptance speech, he emphasised the necessity for the SNP to “work very, very hard to regain the trust and support of independence supporters.”
Those are John’s own words, not mine. If you are serious John then here are my suggestions as to the best and in my opinion only way to return the SNP to the dominant position in Scotland. It is also the only way any of us will see independence in the short to medium term. I am highlighting the concerns and giving solutions that can assist you and the party to claw back all those lost voters.
ย Woke Politics
My first piece of advice centers around the SNP’s association with what is commonly referred to as the “Stonewall Woke Doctrine/Queer Theory.”This alignment by the party has alienated a huge segment of the base, leading to a significant decline in members and support. It is the biggest mistake made by Sturgeon and compounded by Humza. Mr Swinney you need to reject these policies immediately and apologise to the country for this dalliance with a lobby group who work at the behest of Big Pharma!
My suggestion is a call for the party to return to more traditional political stances that prioritise broader national issues over gender-focused policies. Addressing this concern might involve a nuanced approach where the party can maintain its commitment to social justice and equality while ensuring that such stances do not overshadow the primary objective of independence. It is imperative to extract the party from the grip of Stonewall if the SNP is to recover lost ground. Failure to do anything on this thorny topic means only continuing decline and ultimate defeat at the ballot box!
ย Unity and Strategic Realignment
Another critical aspect is the need for unity within the entire independence movement. The idea of a Scottish Constitutional Convention was proposed by Nicola Sturgeon in January 2020. That she never enacted this is a recurring theme of her entire tenure in charge. She promised much and delivered very little. A Convention needs to be called immediately it is a means to foster broader dialogue and collaboration among various independence groups. It should include all the other independence parties too.It is imperative that you also get buy-in from Civic Scotland and the Yes Movement. After so many years in charge, it will refresh the party to start listening again to those voices outside the SNP tent and bubble.
This Convention could serve as a pivotal rallying point, reinforcing the SNP’s role as a unifier rather than a divider. Additionally, the cleansing of the “Sturgeonite cabal” from the party is vital to successfully realign with the broader grassroots movement. The party’s MPs and MSPs need to reinvigorate the party’s image and operational effectiveness. There have been too many recent policy disasters.
Playing at British politicians needs to end now! We will never succeed playing by Brit rules.The elected SNP members sadly, need reminding that those of us pressing for independence are their allies, not their enemies! Unionists and Unionism are the enemy! It is a sign of how far the party has fallen since 2014 that this point even needs to be emphasised!
Engagement and Policy Reform
The necessity for engagement with the party base and the public is the major theme. One of my suggestions is to mandate SNP members and their staffers to attend all significant indy events like the Bannockburn AUOB next month. It underscores the need for visible commitment to the independence cause and movement. It also sends out the message that the SNP is once more in alignment with the grassroots, not working against it. Stop allowing SNP members and staffers to treat individuals and groups like AUOB or Salvo/Liberation, Yes, Groups,Wings and dare I say, Through A Scottish Prism as enemies. We are your allies.
Furthermore, addressing controversial legislation such as the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) and Hate Crime Bill (HCB) by dropping them immediately will be seen as a unifying act to restore confidence among the many disillusioned supporters that have drifted away over the past years.Those particular two pieces of legislation and all they entailed have caused the biggest divisions and hurt within the movement. It has also resulted in the SNP losing 50% of their members. It explains why the Labour Party in Scotland is on the verge of being taken off of life support! Keeping these toxic pieces of legislation in place will harm the party, perhaps even destroy it completely!
Policy Direction and Electoral Challenges
This critique would not be complete if I do not point out the urgency for the SNP to focus solely on policies that promote Scottish independence. It sends the message of a strategic shift away from social/gender policies that have diluted the partyโs primary objective of independence. This approach could re-energise the movement. Ensure that all party activities and policies are directly tied to the independence agenda. If a policy is not seen to advance the cause then ditch it. Additionally, in the current political landscape, where the British Labour Party in Scotland is outperforming the SNP in polls for the first time in two decades, change is required. As Einstein famously said,’Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’
The SNP is at a crossroads.The choice between becoming a ‘hero or zero’ is stark but encapsulates the essential decisions facing the party. Either it addresses the internal and external challenges decisively, or it continues facing declining support and influence. By potentially realigning the party’s focus towards a unified independence effort, engaging openly with the base and beyond, reconsidering some of its recent policy decisions, the SNP can begin to reconstruct its relationship with Scottish voters and reposition itself effectively back onto the quest for independence.
The steps taken in the near future will be critical in determining the trajectory of the SNP and the broader independence movement.This advice is given in the hope that John Swinney was telling the truth when he said he wants to reach out and unite the movement. Continuity now on policy and attitude will only see the parties fortunes continue in a downward trajectory and independence move away by decades.
However, be assured independence is inevitable it is only a matter of when and how, not if it will happen!
The next few weeks will tell us if it is to be the near future or not.
In a nutshell! Clear and straightforward
Thank you
๐๐๐โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ
Let me start of by saying John Swinney is a lair and I wouldn’t trust a man who’s been at the very heart of Sturgeon dictatorship regime last ten years and neither should you.
If he meant what he said then his minister would follow his mantra on working with others, so far that hasn’t worked out. Please see clip @ https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-unforgiven/#comments
If we want Independence it has to be done without the SNP.
I loved the SNP the party I and you where members off all our lives until the Sturgeonites took control and they have destroyed it, so would I trust Swinney NAW never and if I did I would deserve all I got..
As it says in the title and the blog Its a Roadmap for recovery. Will John takes it ? I have shown him how if as the article says they don’t they are done.
Absolutely bang on Roddy. Sadly the current SNP are blind and deaf. No-one except the ruling mafia is considered to have any worthwhile opinion. The top dogs bark, everyone must obey. They brook no arguments and those disobeying are summarily ‘ silenced’.
How did it come to this? It breaks my heart to see so many years of my life – I joined the SNP in 1962 and resigned in 2017 (55 of these campaigning until Sturgeon began dismantling a once extremely credible party ) working for the independence I am now very unlikely to see. I am by no means the only one in this position. How dare that narcissistic, evil woman slap us in the face like this.
The only way out, as far as I can see, is for the rest of the movement – Alba, ISP, Sovereignty, SALVO, Liberation, Independents For Independence, ALL OF US to be SCOTLAND UNITED and sweep the remnants of the SNP into the sewer where they belong.
I am a prisoner of hope normally, Roddy, but in this case even I am not expecting any actions by Swinney that follow your advice. It is of course brilliant advice!
Thank you, I live in hope though.๐
Absolutely spot on Roddy. Very sound advice.
In reality Swinney’s SNP only has a couple of months at best to sort itsel oot. As you imply, the party has to immediately work to repair the former great independence movement these bad actors intentionally ruptured, in the process delaying our national liberation unnecessarily for years and putting the very existence of our country in jeopardy.
A failure to implement now, today, a cohesive determined strategy on independence and to reclaim our sovereignty as the most urgent priority of the people and Scottish Government will deservedly result in the governing party’s utter collapse and an inglorious final meltdown, unemployment looming for most of the SNP’s Westminster payroll with Holyrood’s daeless lot cast into the same midden in 2026.
I think you were spot on the money with your comment that the SNP as a whole needs to realise that the enemy is the Unionists parties not the broader Independence movement.
I don’t recognise the SNP as the party I first joined 60+ years ago as a young girl. They need to go all out for Independence by campaigning in all constuencies; we have enough Independence supporting material that we could highlight one issue a week for the next two years and still not use up all the facts which support Independence (See IndyPosterBoy for bite-sized ideas).
I listened to Stephen Flynn today at PMQs when he raised the question of arms for Israel. Sunak said the UK government does not send arms to Israel. Flynn should have called him a liar because the UK government has to issue a licence before arms can be exported. He should have called him a liar and be thrown out by the Speaker. The rest of the SNP MPs should have walked out as well.
The SNP need to show how Scotland backs different policies from Westminster and use the differences to disrupt the House of Commons.
I no longer think I will see Independence in my lifetime but I don’t regret all the tenement stairs I climbed up and down over the years. I hope my grandchildren will see an Independent Scotland although it is doubtful if they will ever live here, the British Government having denied them a British passport making them foreigners in their father’s country.
John Swinney has done away with the Minister for Independence and removed the site from gov.scot.
https://www.gov.scot/about/who-runs-government/cabinet-and-ministers/minister-for-independence/
This is an excellent , clearly laid-out , eminently rational & achievable roadmap for SNP/Independence-pursuit recovery .
However : it has several flaws , eg ….this is an excellent , clearly laid-out , eminently rational & achievable roadmap for SNP/Independence-pursuit recovery . Ergo …..it is destined to pass unread – or if read , ignored – by those in positions to heed and implement the sound advice therein .
The SNP are now Torturers of Optimism , Kidnappers of Hope , Crushers of Dreams , Agents of Discord and soon , reapers of an electoral whirlwind that will see many of them blown away like the chaff they have become
Even the most delusional of the psychological nappy-wearing lotus eaters must be at least peripherally aware of the dark , heavy clouds amassing on the electoral horizon , or maybe they think those thunderheads are just the belched foul breath of * Bigots * , assorted * Phobes * , * Racist/Sexists * + the SNP’s fave alibi for sloth * Tories * ?
Whatever they think ( are they even capable of thinking ? ) , it’s extremely unlikely it will resemble the programme for recovery above . Sure , they’ll bluster about * this * and soundbite about * that * , they’ll promise the moon of Progtopia as they scorch the earth of our country . They’ll literally say anything in the forlorn hope of retaining their places @ the Holyrood/Westminster all-you-can-eat Buffet 4 Bozos . It will avail them nothing .
The current SNP have chosen the road to ruin ; the best we can hope for is they reach their destination – Woke Narnia/Oblivion – ASAP and that something akin to their former integrity and sense of mission might rise from the cinders ; failing this , that the vacancy they leave be filled by an entity – not , necessarily , another Political Party – with the requisite strength of character & laser-focused commitment to bring about the unavoidable confrontation with the Brit State that will precede the regaining of our Independent Nationhood .
Excellent comment Robert
Well done, sir. On the button (not the red one).
It is simple fact and arithmetics that independence only can heal Scotland’s woes, and, even after independence, we will need another five to ten years to restructure adjust. Devolution cannot ever allow Scotland to make the changes necessary to build a thriving country. Any tradesman (or woman) who does not have the necessary tools cannot do the job. You don’t have to be genius to work it out – which is just as well, for the lot we have in Holyrood right now, bar some well-intentioned and decent human beings, are way beyond the pale.
They have just voted to kick the Cass can down the same road that they have kicked independence. How many more of our bairns will go under the knife before this insanity is stopped? You are giving the nod to a programme of eugenics, ladies and gentlemen, and, when they ordure is eventually banned, I hope you will have the good graces to stand up and admit your guilt, or will you all, like Dr Mengele, hide from view? I suspect it will be the latter.
On ‘Debate Night’ last night, Sarwar complained about the Unionist parties and even the SNP faithful being called ‘traitors’. What do you call people who know perfectly well that the country is sinking into a swamp of addiction, extreme poverty by Western standards and a loss of hope, leading to ill-health, both physical and mental? What do you call people who know that independence, while it will never be a panacea, will eliminate the very worst aspects of life under the Union and afford our country the chance to prosper and thrive, who know that 50% of the population wants in dependence, but who continue to insist on doing nothing except maintain the status quo because their allegiance lies across the border? What do you call them, Anas?
The SNP is finished. John Swinney’s speech was the bluster of the already-dead, the zombie remnants of a once great party. Parties are their people, John. You and your cohort of parasites, rainbow eejits and troughers need to understand just one thing: we have had enough of you. Go back into the graves you dug for yourselves and leave us to get on with the work that needs to be done. No referendum that will never be granted by Westminster. We need to do this differently now. Plebiscitary election, even with the SNP out of it. Every other independence party needs to make that make that plain.
In the run-up to 2026, let’s have SALVO/Liberation leaflets with short explanation of the salient points of the Treaty, the Claim of Right, etc., to show that we are constitutionally entitled to repudiate the Union which has been breached too many times to count. England has no sovereignty over us. Only the votes of English MPs count at Westminster because of the numbers, therefore, only England counts down there. We did not sign up to a Treaty that gave England superiority over us. Legally and constitutionally, we did no such thing, and the Scottish people need to know that. This is going to come down to UDI in the end, so long as we have a majority of the people behind us. SALVO/Liberation can place our case with the International Court of the UN, for recognition, but we need to declare independence first, assuming we win a plebiscitary election. Let the SNP argue themselves out of that one.
“In John Swinneyโs acceptance speech, he emphasised the necessity for the SNP to โwork very, very hard to regain the trust and support of independence supporters.โ”
And what is the first thing Swinney did as FM? He scraps the post of Minister for Independence, alright the indy door was already slammed shut and bolted by Sturgeon, but now Swinney has plastered over where the door was so it can’t even be found anymore.
Bringing back the SNP as we knew it is the only thing that coild save the SNP. But in reality it is too late to undo the electoral damage that has been done these last ten years.
Voters are heart and soul sick of the SNP. The SNP have failed on every count. Their failure to pursue independence, their sell out on Brexit where two thirds of Scots democratically said they did not want Brexit, the acceptance of the UK as our masters, the comfortable dae nothing troughers at Westminster, the policies of corrupting our schools filling them with LBGQT ideology, the erosion of protection for women, the corrupt and inept Scottish Government – ferries, bottle return scheme, failure to deliver needed infrastructure, drug deaths, the list goes on and on.
So why would anyone vote for this stinking rotten party. The General Election is not far away. Something utterly drastic would be needed to resurrect the SNP’s fortunes.
And so, they head to electoral wipe out. Panel Base earlier this week stated that polling indicated that the SNP would be down to 13 seats. They had their opportunity, they squander their electoral mandate, and frankly good riddance to far too many of the dead beats who we sent south to sell us out.
Independence will be delivered but not by this shower.