THROUGHOUT the independence strategy debate at SNP conference on Sunday afternoon, we heard plenty of terminology about routes. Roads, journeys, no shortcuts, road blocks, hurdles.
If they had not realised it already, delegates were told under no uncertain terms that this is a party at a crossroads and it needed guidance about the way ahead from its members.
There was an admission from policy chief Toni Giugliano early on that SNP voters did not come out in Rutherglen and Hamilton West earlier this month, allowing Labour an easy ride to victory in the by-election.
The frustration around that and the downward trajectory the party appears to be on was no more apparent than in the raised voice of MP Tommy Sheppard who bellowed that, in his view, the SNP simply cannot afford to lose the next General Election if independence is to be achieved. The journey will end, he said, if this happens.
But while he pleaded with members to stick with the party and believe in its cause, he was honest about the need to make it clear to people that independence will not be for independence’s sake, but to gain the powers Scotland needs to solve many of its economic problems.
And that was the mood of the whole affair, really. A party that needed to remember its core beliefs, but also a party that needed to look inside itself and reassess how it communicates that belief and the reasons for it to the only people that can make the dream come true.
In the end, delegates opted to back a strategy based on the party winning a majority of seats at the next General Election. If that happens, the Scottish Government will be “empowered to begin immediate negotiations with the UK Government to give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent country”.
🚨 Our political reporter @BrawnJourno was in the room for the independence strategy debate this afternoon, this is how she found it… pic.twitter.com/4ArIAiXqMK
— The National (@ScotNational) October 15, 2023
The debate overran with a stream of speakers keen to make their voices heard on the issue, and for a while delegates listened intently - taking notes, whispering to each other and shaking and nodding their heads at the ideas on the table.
As time ticked on, though, it started to feel as if this was a bit like the process you go through when you’re ordering a takeaway. It felt like people had decided what they wanted but still fancied one last look at the menu available, before going back to what they thought about in the first place.
Delegates did get twitchy in their seats and clearly wanted to quit talking process and get on with the job.
There were some who clearly walked away unsatisfied, still feeling as if the party did not believe in itself and lacked ambition as the possibility of reaching 50+1% of the overall vote was firmly batted away.
They will not stay quiet. Passionate speeches from the likes of Chris Hanlon and Pete Wishart calling for a “credible and realistic” route to independence that would be recognised internationally – which they argued could only be done through votes, not seats – received smatterings of claps and definitely sparked conversation.
But despite how split it might seem the SNP have been in recent months, delegates appeared to come together and settle on a way forward.
Famed inventor Charles Kettering once said "a problem well stated is a problem half solved". The SNP have reminded themselves of their direction, but only time will tell if they have been honest enough with themselves about what must be done to get there.
