The SNP’s 90th party conference has finally wrapped up in Scotland, after the Nats spent a long weekend discussing their flailing party’s fortunes. Support for the party has been on the decline since the pandemic, with its latest leader John Swinney presiding over a rather disastrous general election result that saw his party left with just nine seats. And now, in a bid to stop the ‘fragmentation’ of the nationalist movement, some in his group have even suggested breaking bread with their rivals…
Pete Wishart, the SNP’s longest-serving MP and former Runrig band member, made the rather curious suggestion at the weekend that his group should work with former first minister Alex Salmond’s Alba party – despite it saying ‘really awful’ things. After the party’s deputy leader Keith Brown called for a constitutional ‘convention’ for pro-indy politicians, Wishart admitted: ‘Alba are a feature of Scottish politics and we have to accept the reality.’ He added: ‘They can get in control and talk to their supporters. Some of the stuff that they say is really awful – they really need to get a grip of it. If they are able to get some sort of discipline with their supporters, then I think it’s an opportunity for that.’ How very interesting…
The remarks come after the defection of former SNP leadership contender Ash Regan MSP to join Alex Salmond’s separatist lot last October. Hapless Humza sparked outrage when he rather disdainfully remarked it was ‘no great loss’ to the party – with veteran Nat Fergus Ewing slamming the former first minister’s ‘entirely unfair and ill-founded attack’. Yousaf himself was forced to resign after he abruptly ended the co-operation deal between the SNP and the Greens, causing yet more friction between Scotland’s pro-indy parties. Talk about trouble in paradise…
But despite Wishart’s apparent shift in stance, the rift between the pro-independence groups continues to run deep. And certainly not everyone has been thrilled by the MP’s latest intervention, least of all many Alba supporters themselves – who have taken to Twitter to point out that ex-Runrig bandmate hasn’t been shy about blasting Salmond’s party in the past, posting only a month ago that:
I know we have issues to address but Alba didn’t even secure one deposit in the last election and only got a few thousand votes across the whole of Scotland. There are some people who we may take lectures from but these divisive haters are certainly not one of them.
Crikey, talk about rubbing salt in the wounds. Will they ever stop fighting like Nats in a sack?
Comments