THE SNP will win a majority on May 6, Roseanna Cunningham predicts.
Cunningham has won in every election since the Scottish Parliament was reinstated in 1999 and says she believes current polling is accurate.
A raft of results this month have signalled that the SNP will be the largest party in the next parliament, but opinions differ on whether it will achieve a majority.
Last Tuesday analysis by Professor John Curtice of five results found “the SNP could well secure an overall majority of around nine seats or so”.
In an interview with the Sunday National, Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Secretary Cunningham says she believes “people have made up their mind” about where to place their cross.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW: 'All I wanted was to work for indy': Roseanna Cunningham on a career in the SNP
She said: “I think what we are seeing in the polls is what the reality is. I think there will be an SNP majority. There have been one or two bits of excitement in the first week of the campaign but that looks like it’s not quite as exciting as it seemed.”
She’s referring to the advent of George Galloway’s All For Unity and Salmond’s Alba Party, both of which are seeking list seats to build separate cross-party voting alliances along constitutional lines. Galloway’s is an appeal to unionists, while Salmond seeks pro-independence backing for a Yes “supermajority”. Cunningham says of that concept: “It’s not a thing, it’s invented, it has been spun up out of nothing and nowhere. There’s no such concept and it’s pretty undemocratic – you either win or you don’t win in a democracy, you don’t find a new test.
“It comes to something pretty fundamental – the SNP is the engine that is going to take us to independence. There isn’t any game playing you can put in place that actually takes away from that single fact.
“I accept there are some people out there who don’t want to join the SNP but want to express their support for independence in some other way – fine, but don’t kid yourself. If you want independence then the SNP has to be the place that you put your efforts.”
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