THE SNP’s policy development convener has said he will not be quitting the party’s national executive committee (NEC) following a series of resignations by close allies.
Chris Hanlon set out his own intention to remain in the SNP’s ruling body and to continue to campaign for reforms he believes are needed.
Hanlon was among a raft of candidates calling for a series of changes and for a greater push for independence as part of the SNP’s Common Weal Group when he was elected to the NEC at the party’s conference in November. Some 32 SNP CWG supporters were elected on to the body.
However, many of the SNP CWG members and supporters have now left the NEC, including MPs Joanna Cherry and Douglas Chapman, both of whom cited concerns over transparency as reasons for stepping down. Other SNP CWG members defected to Alba before the election.
Hanlon added that he could see more “reformers” elected onto the body again when the internal elections happen at this year’s conference.
READ MORE: Chris Hanlon: For the Yes movement to heal we must abandon petty grievances
He referenced the 79 group – when a group of left wing members including Alex Salmond, Kenny MacAskill, Stewart Stevenson and Roseanna Cunningham – rebelled against the leadership of Gordon Wilson in 1979 and how the party then adapted to restore calm, allowing the rebels back.
“After the catastrophe of 79 the party needed to change and adapt. It took a couple of years for the natural inertia of a big organisation to be overcome. A lot of folk left the party or were thrown out,” Hanlon told The National.
“They kept up the fight from the outside. A lot of folk, like our current national secretary, stayed and fought for the necessary change from the inside.
“I’m stubborn and unreasonably obstinate so I’ll be staying to do what I promised members I would do for as long as members want me to keep trying.
“Our nation needs the SNP and it needs it to be fighting fit when the time comes. I will never quit in my commitment to that goal.”
He added: “There are probably half a dozen reformers left in the NEC and I fully expect there to be a whole lot more after annual conference.
“Members gave the NEC a message last year. This year I suspect it will get the same message but a whole lot more emphatically.”
Hanlon ousted the Stirling MP Alyn Smith as policy development convener at last year’s conference. Smith was critical of the slate of candidates standing for internal party positions and dismissed the SNP CWG as a “faction”.
SNP CWG members or supporters who have left the NEC include Caroline McAllister, the national women’s convener and Lynne Anderson, the national equalities convener. Both were critics of the Scottish Government’s plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act and defected to Alba.
Rhiannon Spear and Fiona Robertson succeeded McAllister and Anderson respectively after the vote was re-run excluding the former office bearers. Both are sympathetic to GRA reform. Former treasurer Colin Beattie will succeed Chapman.
Other SNP NEC members elected in November who defected to Alba include Corri Wilson, Cynthia Guthrie and Dorothy Jessiman.
Ahead of the SNP’s conference in November, the CWG launched its “manifesto for democracy” which included commitments to improve democracy, accountability and transparency within the SNP such as transparency on committee voting giving greater control to grassroots members and local branches, reforming financial transparency, and establishing a fair complaints process.
The manifesto was launched after anger from some SNP members over the conference agenda set by the party’s conference committee which excluded motions on a Plan B route to achieve independence, reforming grouse moors and commitment to UN-led nuclear disarmament.
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