THE sole way for the SNP to “move the dial on independence” is by focusing on making “material improvements” to people’s livelihoods and communities, according to one of the party’s backbenchers.
Stewart McDonald, the MP for Glasgow South, said his party must focus on the “insecurity and uncertainty” felt by voters across the country if it wants to progress the case for independence.
And he warned that the “path to independence cannot stay the same while all else changes”.
He wrote: “The heady sense of optimism that defined the start of this century has long vanished, replaced by a pessimism and uncertainty about the future.
“The SNP must craft a platform firmly rooted in this new world – one which explicitly recognises these insecurities and is laser-focused on addressing them by making material improvements to people’s livelihoods, jobs, communities and economic resilience. This is the only way that we will move the dial on independence.”
Writing in the Sunday National, the party’s former defence spokesperson pointed to what he said were global threats posed by Russia and Houthi rebels in Yemen to the “international rules that govern our world”.
McDonald compared Humza Yousaf’s speech on Friday – in which the First Minister said he would be happy to work with Keir Starmer’s Labour Party if they come to power after the next election – to a famous intervention from former Labour PM Harold Wilson in which he spoke of the need to harness the “white heat of technology” in 1963.
Wilson’s speech is widely seen as proving him as a leader and putting Labour on the side of progress while putting to bed a period of internal turmoil for the party.
“Humza’s speech has the potential to be similarly transformative,” McDonald (above) wrote.
“If the First Minister backs it up with delivery of a strategic plan, and empowers the right people to implement it, then his speech this week could be a similarly defining and transformative moment for him and for the cause of independence.”
But McDonald’s comments will not assuage the fears of those in the SNP and the wider Yes movement that independence is taking a backseat to other issues in the run-up to the election.
The SNP say they want to link the two issues in the minds of voters – but Yousaf’s speech in Glasgow framed the election mainly as a chance to vote the Conservatives out of power.
McDonald added: “The SNP must push for increased powers for Holyrood across the board, from greater economic levers to migration and an increased voice on the international stage.
“Above all, they must use the upcoming General Election to make a bold and confident pitch for the power to hold a referendum to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. We must put this front and centre of our campaign.”
