SNP members are gathering for the first day of their party’s autumn conference in Aberdeen. The party is keen to trumpet quite how much has changed in a year, and it’s not just proud of its 56 MPs. Last night it released ‘figures showing the scale of its growth since the referendum’. These include the conference hall having four times as many seats as it did last year (from 1,200 to 4,765), the exhibition space is three times the size, there are three times as many fringe meetings and a media centre six times the size ‘to accommodate over 500 members of the media’.
(The press room is a rather outdoorsy tent, incidentally).
But the party has changed so much since its last conference. Many of its delegates see its general election victory and the increased number of seats in the hall as a sign that the SNP must talk up plans for a second referendum. But Nicola Sturgeon will use her speech this morning to talk about the SNP governing Scotland, and reach out to former ‘No’ voters ahead of the Holyrood elections. The First Minister is expected to say:
‘There will, understandably, be significant interest in what our manifesto will say about independence.
‘But let me make this clear: what matters just as much to me and to people across the country will be what it says about jobs and the economy, the safety of our communities, our hospitals and health centres, our schools, colleges and universities and our plans to use new power to tackle poverty and inequality.’
Talking about governing is risky for the SNP. This week’s Spectator cover piece examines the party’s record in government – rather than at winning elections and charming people – and it’s not a pretty picture. Adam Tomkins writes of rising hospital waiting times, plummeting school standards and basic policing mistakes. He writes:
‘This is why it suits the SNP to talk about independence: any other conversation would be about how they have betrayed the country they purport to champion.’
Will talking about governing be risky for Sturgeon? It’s certainly easier when the SNP’s main contender, Scottish Labour, is in disarray and is not being helped by the party’s Westminster leadership mucking up its position on the fiscal charter to the extent that Sturgeon can claim credit for John McDonnell’s embarrassing U-turn this week. Perhaps the SNP would get away with less if there was any suggestion that its opponents would be much better: Scottish Labour is unlikely to boast that it’s increasing the exhibition floor space at its conference any time soon.
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