Like the wider UK result, the SNP getting a hammering in yesterday’s general election was largely predicted by the polls. But this has not lessened the impact of seeing the many well-kent faces of high-profile former SNP MPs being given their marching orders by the Scottish electorate. One after another they fell, and with them the hubris that has defined the party since 2014 melted away.
Popularity in democracies tends to be cyclical, but the SNP has defined itself not as a mere political party but as the beating heart of a national liberation movement and, as such, able to transcend political gravity. It also has a particular emotional pull for many of its members, many of whom have an unfortunate tendency to conflate party and nation. For them, yesterday’s seat losses must have come as a body blow.
The SNP should be humble in response to the strength of the signal the Scottish electorate has sent them
For Scotland, it is a different story.
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