A FORMER SNP minister has argued that “nationalist” and “Unionist” are over-simplistic terms that don’t reflect modern Scotland and suggested they could be ditched.
Writing in a column for The Scotsman, Ben Macpherson, the SNP MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, said that since joining the party in 2005, he has never described himself as a “nationalist”.
He went on to say that “words matter” and added that most Scots want less conflict and more collaboration in our political discourse.
Macpherson wrote: “One of the ways we can lose sight of the common good is in how we label and group each other, when most of us would not put ourselves in such specific tribes.
“I don’t wish to be overly semantic, but words do matter. In Scotland this badging is particularly true with regard to our constitutional future and the question of independence.
“Our collective situation is complex and our individual views are mostly nuanced – yet too often people talk about Scotland as two polarised camps of 'Unionists' and 'nationalists'.
"Of course, some people would proudly badge themselves as either 'nationalists' or 'Unionists', and I respect that.
"But, for many of us, these are overly simplistic descriptors which don’t reflect the multifaceted politics of modern Scotland, and our relationship with the rest of the UK, Europe and the wider world.
“Our identities are layered and complex – and that’s a good thing! We must acknowledge that we are a divided country on the constitution in various ways, but maybe not as much as we sometimes think or are told.
“Because I’m an SNP MSP, I am often called a ‘nationalist' but, since I joined the party in 2005, I have never used this term to describe my own political views.
“Like many other SNP members, I am an 'internationalist' and I don’t think Scotland is superior to any other country – I just want it to have the type of government its people vote for, the powers to make our society more socially just and prosperous, and to be recognised as an independent state in the global family of nations.”
He then added: “My point is that the terms nationalist and Unionist are often so inadequate and unhelpful for describing who and where many of us are in Scotland when it comes to our political philosophies, preferences and identities.
“Most of our views are a balance between different civic nationalisms and unionisms, in an inescapably interdependent world.
"So rather than calling each other Unionists or nationalists, why don’t we instead strive collectively to get our political discourse into a better place?
"As a first step to move forwards, perhaps we could call SNP supporters exactly that – 'SNP supporters' – rather than 'nationalist’, which as I have argued is an inaccurate general descriptor for many people who would normally vote SNP.
“And if the context is just the constitutional question, we could simply describe people as 'independence supporters', especially given that not all of those who support independence necessarily vote SNP (although of course I would urge them to).”
