I spoke with ex-SNP MPs on party's election review – here's what they said

The annual event kicked off with a behind closed doors post-mortem of the election result hosted by party leader John Swinney.

The SNP won nine seats at the 2024 General Election, down from the 48 they won in 2019.

Speaking to The National following the review, former SNP MP for Edinburgh East Tommy Sheppard (below) said the party had a “thorough and frank discussion” in which people spoke “candidly”.

(Image: PA)

He continued: “It’s the beginning of a process of understanding what went wrong and putting it right.

“No conclusions this morning. But I think the mood was very good. The willingness of the leadership to listen was excellent and no one is trying to brush this under the carpet and say, ‘nothing really bad happened’.

“We know something big happened, it has to be analysed and put right.”

Elsewhere, former SNP MP for Edinburgh North and Leith Deidre Brock conceded that some people were “unhappy” but that it was otherwise “largely constructive”.

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“John (Swinney) was very much listening to people and responding in a way that showed that he was listening to people which was really important.

“He wasn’t writing off any of the comments made, critical or otherwise," she told The National.

She added that people “want to get to independence” and that the party has the “best methods” to enable this to happen.

We told on Thursday how around one in four SNP members responded to Swinney’s call for feedback on the party’s election campaign.

Brock (below) added: “There was interesting focus from Labour on Scotland. They seemed determined to put as much money and resources here as they possibly could.

“That’s a difficult thing for a party that can’t depend on London money coming up to have to counter.

“It was good, I think people came out feeling broadly pretty happy.”

Asked specifically what she felt went wrong for the SNP, Brock said: “Funding. And I think messaging could have been determined earlier and more strongly.

“But you know Labour were on the crest of wave, there’s no denying that and sometimes that happens in politics.

“I certainly felt like the starting gun was fired some months ago in terms of 2026 but this is all helping to consolidate our approach and get in place the structures we need in order to win in 2026.”

She added that Swinney was feeling “very positive” about the Holyrood election.

Elsewhere, the former MP for Central Ayrshire Philippa Whitford (below), who stepped down from her seat at the last election, said although she thinks some people might have been expecting a “dismal” session, there was in fact “lots of positivity”.

(Image: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor)

She said she felt it would be valuable for the party to host a similar event at every upcoming conference from now on.

“Even when people were being critical, they were still offering constructive solutions. There was also discussion on the disconnect between those who support Scottish independence but didn’t vote for the SNP,” the former MP added.

Whitford also commented that although July 5 was a “painful” day for the SNP, there was a recognition in the meeting that the SNP have to “pick ourselves up because it would be easy to get into a moan-fest”.  

The National also spoke with Toni Giugliano, who contested the Falkirk seat at last month’s election but lost out to Labour’s Euan Stainbank.

“It felt quite authentic is probably the word I would use and I really appreciate John Swinney’s determination to have a session like that,” he said.

“Internal democracy is really important, particularly for a party of government. There has been a feeling that for a long time the decisions that have been made at conference and what actually happened at government level didn’t really quite translate.

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“So the fact we had this session was important.”

MSP and former minister for transport Kevin Stewart said there was a “huge degree of honesty” about what went right and wrong throughout the campaign.

“Sometimes these kind of sessions can be a little bit uncomfortable but the truth will always out and it’s much better to be open and transparent and allow people the opportunity to have their say,” he said.

In terms of topics which came up, Stewart said: “I think that there are a number of things which, you know, people recognise.

“This was an election where people wanted change, they seen Labour as being that change although that hasn’t happened.

“It’s probably been change for the worse rather than for the better. And also, you know, for those of us that knocked a lot of doors, people were quite straightforward in the fact that they didn’t think we were doing well enough in certain aspects of their lives.

“And obviously one of the things about the SNP over many years if we have been trusted and that trust has edged away a bit because of the difficulties the party have faced.

“There’s no running away from that and we have to ensure we rebuild that trust and listen.”