A LOT of political talk and “wishy wishy” promises characterised the SNP leadership hustings on Saturday evening, members in the room told the Sunday National, though there is hope that the candidates can be made to stick to their now public commitments moving forward.
Speaking to the audience, there was no clear consensus on who emerged the “winner” from the event – which saw Humza Yousaf, Ash Regan, and Kate Forbes answer questions from trade unionists on key issues impacting Scottish workers.
Yousaf was seen as having started the hustings on the front foot. His opening speech drew four rounds of applause out of the crowd – the first when he congratulated trade unionists on being consistent allies in the fight against racism and inequality.
Forbes also came in with a pitch aimed at the trade unions specifically, which went down well in a room which was always going to be toughest for a Finance Secretary with more right-leaning fiscal policies than her opponents.
Regan however did herself little favours by delivering essentially the same opening speech as she had used for other hustings, and admitting to having to “ad lib” her closing one.
After the event, SNP members who had gone in supporting Regan told the Sunday National that they had been a little disappointed in her performance.
“I think on paper [Regan] was the stronger candidate,” Unison member Tracy McBurnie said. “But on the hustings she didn’t come over particularly great. Kate, if her religious views do not cloud, then I think she could be the stronger candidate.”
Lorraine Cowan, the vice convener of the SNPTUG, agreed. “I thought this was going to be a slam dunk for me, and it’s not,” she said, having backed Regan ahead of the event.
“I felt perhaps the other two candidates spoke slightly more eloquently and to the point,” Cowan added.
Both Cowan and McBurnie raised concerns that the promises made by the candidates on stage were just “political answers without serious commitments”.
McBurnie said these concerns meant Yousaf was the one candidate she had ruled out supporting.
“He promised us last year at the Unison conference, I think that was about April, that he would negotiate our pay ‘immediately’. He didn’t get round the table with our negotiators until October.
“Maybe that cost us more money, I don’t know. But I cannot rely on somebody who doesn’t follow up to his commitments,” she told the Sunday National.
“I would query what they deliver. Each of them committed to doing something ‘immediately’. How immediate are we talking? Are we talking months? Are we talking a year down the line?”
Peter Henderson, an SNP councillor and the group leader in South Ayrshire, raised similar concerns of “wishy wishy promises” from the candidates.
However, the SNP councillor said the hustings had helped him decide he would probably opt for Yousaf, having been undecided before the event.
“I find some of Kate’s policies a bit right-wing for me and I’m afraid Ash isn’t at the races,” he said.
SNP member Peter Mechan echoed Henderson’s concerns. He said: “I think she’s got a tendency to say ‘let’s grow the economy’ and then later on we’ll get some money to go help the poor. I have a slight worry about that.
“I think she was better tonight, but whether that was just for the audience I’m not sure. But she’s still a great candidate and would be a great leader.”
Ian Doig, a Unison member who quizzed the candidates on the pay gap people with disabilities face, told the Sunday National that he had gone into the hustings “open-minded”, and had still to make up his mind.
“I think some of the responses didn’t address us as a trade union group and movement quite the way you’d maybe want them to,” he said.
“I would have to say that Kate Forbes came across extremely well, more than I thought she maybe would. Humza came across well too. I would have to say it’s between the two of them.”
Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the STUC and the host of the trade union hustings, said there had been “interesting commitments” from the candidates.
She said: “There always is [a lot of promises made] in these sorts of events. But actually I think this event has perhaps forced the candidates to go a little bit deeper into actual policy commitments than I’ve seen with some of the other hustings, and we will be following up on the detail.
“We will certainly be reminding them of all the things they said in this room tonight.”
