NICOLA Sturgeon has urged the SNP to unite under one banner as she warned “history is littered” with parties that have fallen victim to infighting.
The First Minister, responding to criticism of her approach and the launch of new pro-independence parties, says it is “odd” that fissures have appeared when support for independence is soaring.
Speaking to the Scotland on Sunday, the SNP leader also suggested that the coronavirus crisis has shown that effective governance from Holyrood is a powerful way of convincing Scots that their country should be independent.
The SNP is on course to win a comfortable majority at next year’s election, but splits have emerged over the approach to securing indyref2, the Alex Salmond trial and GRA reform.
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The First Minister commented: “Of course I want my party united,” adding: “History is littered with examples of political parties that start talking to each other as opposed to the public.
“I don’t think that’s where the SNP is generally, but there does seem something odd about a political party that is sitting after 13 years in power, with record opinion poll ratings and the biggest ever support for independence, agonising over what’s gone wrong.”
Sturgeon also had her say on the establishment of new parties which are seeking to maximise pro-independence representation in the Scottish Parliament.
She told the newspaper: “You can take it as read that, come the election, I will be saying to people: ‘Vote SNP with your first vote, and vote SNP with your regional vote as well,’ and I will be pointing to the fact that the one time we did win a majority [in 2011] was when we maximised the constituency and the regional vote.”
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Both support for her party and independence have increased during the coronavirus crisis, and the First Minister said that’s because the pandemic has enabled the Scottish Government to “show not tell” the benefits of Holyrood making its own decisions.
She stated: “The Yes movement possibly has something to learn about the fact that – as we have stopped shouting about independence, and shouting to ourselves about how we go about getting independence, and just focused on [dealing with the crisis] – it has allowed people to take a step back and say: ‘Well, actually that’s the benefit of autonomous decision-making’ and also ‘perhaps things would be better if we had a bit more autonomous decision-making,’ and to come to their own conclusions.”
Though she is at pains not to attack other leaders during the crisis, Sturgeon criticised aspects of the UK Government’s handling of the pandemic.
“I have tried to impose self-discipline about not criticising other leaders elsewhere because we are all dealing with a difficult situation and I am pretty sure everybody is trying to do their best,“ she said, “but I think mixed messaging has been an issue from the UK Government, both in not being clear enough about the decisions they are taking where they apply to England only, so there is the potential for confusion, but also just mixed messaging in saying: ‘Get back to work’, but also ‘the virus is still a threat’.”
And on the Border row, the First Minister expressed her exasperation at Tory vitriol over Holyrood’s decision not to rule out measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from England to Scotland.
She explained: “There are public health experts worldwide right now looking at the UK debate about borders between Scotland and England and thinking: ‘What is that all about?’ They just see it as, if you have a virus that’s spreading, and you can stop it by putting a border control in, then you do that. The idea it should be a big political or constitutional controversy is alien to them.”
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