As the votes came in on Friday morning, to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. That disappointment is not on any personal level, it is, as it has always been, for the future of Scotland and its trapped position inside an increasingly dystopian union.
The independistas tried, but devolutionists of ever colour won.
I know first-hand how hard Alba party candidates worked and I know the passion they share for Scotland’s independent future. But hearing the First Minister denounce and other those same people, many of whom were only recently members of her own party, was a very real low point nonetheless. It’s clear to me that the SNP leadership’s primary focus is no longer independence, it is attacking and impeding any alternative political voice for independence so they can limit the aspirations of the movement to those of ambitionless caution and hand-picked mediocrity.
I only hope that limit of ambition is not yet embedded in the wider membership. Many of them told me at the count that if a referendum is not delivered in 2023 then that will be the final straw. So, is this really the final throw of the carrots for Nicola Sturgeon? Sadly, I am not so sure.
When I stood for election in 2019 I naively believed that independence was still the primary focus of the SNP leadership, but the events of that election taught me some very tough lessons. Even then the YSI’s conference booing of Angus McNeil MP and Chris McElhenny over their Plan B proposals was somewhat assuaged in me with the belief that Nicola had a secret plan. What I discovered was a ruthless SNP leadership without a plan but prepared to use any tactic to damage anyone who questioned the First Minister’s diktat, and in particular her obsession with gender politics.
I still do not believe the issues I raised at the time were at all controversial; women’s concerns about GRA reform should be listened to and, like any policy, safeguarding considerations needed to be baked in to prevent the abuse of any proposed process. This is important with GRA for two principal reasons; it minimises risk to vulnerable victims and helps prevent the mislabelling of trans people should the loose regulation be exploited for nefarious purposes.
Why the First Minister sees this as problematic should raise deep concerns with anyone who has promoted child protection principles as part of the professional responsibilities.
When I raised these issues with Shirley A Somerville, someone I then thought I knew and trusted, I was instructed to be silent. Having undoubtably reported back, it was Shirley who phoned round my friends with various threats intended to force them to abandon my campaign and help the SNP lose the seat. Even now she still can’t look them in the eye.
Anyone who believes I owe my seat to the SNP take note. It is my firm belief that the allegations made against me came directly from the SNP leadership and that they deliberately intended to gift a completely winnable seat to Scottish Labour just to damage me and silence my voice over GRA reform. Furthermore, Peter Murrell personally phoned the returning officer in Fife to demand that the party’s name was not used when announcing my result. The party pulped my election address, intimidated by friends and did all they could to lose the seat, and so surrendered any credit in that victory.
Conversely, I carried on because I was not prepared to surrender to unionism, and I will use my independently won platform under the Alba banner for as long as I possibly can.
Of course, those who crow that I could’ve been re-elected if only I’d stayed in the SNP are completely missing the point. No independence seeking MP should be planning for re-election, or celebrating a lengthy Westminster parliamentary career – that is a sign of utter failure and is the antithesis of the job you were elected to do. My ambition was to be out of Westminster in one term, so a career was never on my radar and a second term was never my ambition. I will however contest the seat again and the choice will be as before; Hanvey for independence versus a rainbow of devolutionists.
I would rather lose on a platform of truth and hope than win on a tissue lies.
When the promise of a 2023 referendum comes and goes like snaw aff a dyke, fortunes may change, but already the groundwork for another throw of the carrots has begun. It is my belief that even if the Scottish Government bring forward enabling legislation it will be done in such a way as to invite legal challenge from Westminster. This will lead the Scottish Government to bypass any examination of the constitutional underpinnings of Scots law and willingly hand the decision over to the UK Supreme Court.
Whatever the latest narrative from the FM, there clearly are alternative routes beyond a Section 30 or she wouldn’t have made such strenuous efforts to prevent them being debated at SNP conference. Her promise to the SNP group to allow such a debate in 2024 illustrates so clearly the mendacity of her 2023 promise.
The reckoning for Scotland is a stark one. We can abandon all hope of independence and submit to the rainbow of devolutionist parties and their false promises, or we can find our voice, rise and be a nation again.
To each and every Alba Party candidate, I am proud to stand with you. As Rosa Parks said “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”
Slàinte mhath
Neale Hanvey MP
Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath
Thank you to Neale for his determination in the fight for freedom – not only from WM but also the creeping talons of the Murrells. We need many more like Neale.
Having re-read this amazing piece from Neale Hanvey I now realise just how important his words really are to our movement……the following declaration in particular:
“I would rather lose on a platform of truth and hope than win on a tissue of lies.”
There wasn’t a candidate from ALBA in my ward, but they still got my vote. For the first time ever, I spoiled my ballot. ALBA in large letters written across the paper. Hopefully I will have someone to vote for next time.
Spot on. More and more folk are seeing through sturgeon. Her hatefest, her plotting, her dishonesty, her favoured (as long as they obey) cabal will lead to her downfall. Can’t come soon enough.
P.S. The incredible lady Mrs Rosa Parks was actually born Rosa McCauley . Her granda was Scottish or of Scottish descent. She never gave up and neither will we.
Sober reading, but I can’t disagree with anything.
Well maybe one thing… I don’t want the Scottish Government merely examining the Constitutional underpinnings of Scots Law. That examination is decades late for one thing, but I would rather ditch a Scottish “Government” who was even ambivalent about Scotland’s Sovereignty, than forfeit Sovereignty in the hope Westminster will give us permission to ask for it back.
I think the shock waves of the North Ireland election will cause panic in Westminster. We are going to be bombarded with the same old codswallop again so brace yourself, Devo Max ,Fedrealism, Labour will save us. Shit, We know they are all Torys liars, Colonialists who don’t want any change and wish to exploit us for another 300 years of their benevolent corupt rule. We cannot let Strugeon sell us a pig in a poke Fedrealism or a doggy referendum on a local election franchise designed to lose and keep us in their coercive dystopian Union.
Ireland knows the Unionists are English Nationalist ,frankly if we stay in this Union we are Mugs condemned to a eternal Hell.
Get your act together,,i support independence my arse,,you got your arse kicked ,now get behind the SNP,,,
Sure as soon as you tell us 3 practical things Sturgeon’s SNP have done to advance the cause of independence since November 2014,
John
“Got your arse kicked”, was it a football match. Here is me thinking it was an election where are set of ideas were exchanged to varying degrees depending on how much media coverage a party got. The fact that you have used the word independence and SNP in the same sentence sadly tells me pretty much all I need to know. I think you will find that “independence” will only happen if voters can get behind a party that actually wants it, right now that is not the SNP and if you believe it is then you are in for a rude awakening.
John, away and lie in yer pish!
Great article. It gives me the creeps to know just how perverted this Sturgeon government is. What has happened to the free thinking electorate. When did they become robots contented to stand by and watch our country slowly being reduced to one of the poorest societies’ in Europe. You put the SNP to shame. Thanks Neale for all you Kenny do in WM, what a disgrace it is, when you both stand to speak the Disgusting parasitical SNP MPs leave the chamber. Shame on them. We SHALL over come. Saor Alba.
I agree 100%. A cracking article from Neal. I resigned from the SNP for the very reasons he speaks of in his article. I am a former SNP Councillor (10 years). I think I and many others got the measure of Sturgeon when she and her cabal in the SNP stabbed Alex Salmond in the back. I will never forgive her for that. Onwards and upwards to Independence. Saor Alba.
I respect Neal and all of Alba greatly but unfortunately the dream has died for a generation. Sturgeon has stifled the movement beyond repair and her divisive rhetoric has ensure that the braindead drones who blindly follow her would rather see Unionists in power forever than back and alternative. We are living in an age where mediocre people at best are elevated to positions of power because they will toe the line for globalist technocratic interests who are not interested in the cessation of countries. It will take a serious depression for the average Joe to work out his own interests are best served by localism, not globalism so until we reach the point where people really need to think for themselves to survive there won’t be enough appetite for Independence in my opinion.
After a disciplinary hearing on Saturday, he was informed today that his sanction was a six-month suspension backdated 2 November 28, the day the party initially took action against him.
It means he should B free 2 return 2 the SNP on May 29.
However he must first successfully complete an educational course with an anti-Semitism charity to demonstrate an understanding of the problem.
He must also meet with the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (ScoJec) and apologise for his previous action.
During the election it emerged that Mr Hanvey had previously promoted an article about the Jewish financier George Soros depicting him as a puppet-master, an anti-Semitic trope.
The former SNP leader on Fife Council issued an “unequivocal apology” for what he called his “dreadful errors of judgment”.
He has always said he hopes to return to the SNP fold, and currently sits alongside & votes with SNP MPs at Westminster. An SNP spokesperson said: “The decision of the Member Conduct Committee is open to appeal and so we cannot make any additional comment as this stage.
“As was said at the time of Mr Hanvey’s suspension, there is no place for antisemitism in the SNP or in our ”society.”