Veteran nationalist Jim Sillars says the SNP are lucky not to have been granted a second independence referendum – because they would lose it.
The party’s former deputy leader, who won the 1988 Govan by-election, said the SNP can no longer be trusted to make an economic case that will increase support for breaking away from the UK.
He said: “For seven wasted years the SNP elevated a referendum as the be-all and end-all of Scottish politics. They have done so while support for independence has been a consistent minority.
“We are lucky the UK Government didn’t, and does not, grant the Sturgeon-Yousaf wish, because we are in no position to win a referendum. Our movement faces a double reality. Not only are we stuck but we are in no condition at present to win over those unionist votes we need for that substantial majority.
“No longer can we trust the SNP to produce the necessary geopolitical analysis with a coherent, convincing economic case of how an independent Scotland will transform itself from a faltering, low wage region to a nation able to win a prosperous position in a world where power, and competition, has shifted to Asia.”
Sillars, who remains an SNP member, spoke out at an Alba Party event on Friday. Alba leader Alex Salmond also spoke out against First Minster Humza Yousaf’s government.
Salmond, 68, said: “He has survived 100 days. Now he has 100 more to change direction before the SNP disappears into a political black hole. Every poll, every local by-election, every single retiring MP points in one direction.
“The SNP are perched precariously on the event horizon of Scottish politics. Humza must engage full thrusters now. Either the SNP embrace the Scotland United concept and fight the Westminster election as a united movement or be sucked into oblivion.”
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