We need John Swinney to salvage this pro-independence government

I’m sure that many within the SNP will be breathing a sigh of relief that there will be a swift and seamless transition of power, with no need for a contest which will reveal any splits within the party.

At first glance this might seem like a good thing, but will it be viewed like that by many members of the party, and more importantly, the voting public?

Given that the Sturgeon era was brought to a halt by controversy upon controversy, one might think that a reboot of the party might send out the message that the party leadership wanted to put clear blue water between that old regime and the new one. That they were not to be tainted by events which could soon be revealed in court.

They have chosen not to do so, and by choosing John Swinney, their seamless transition to fresh government instead becomes a seamless join with a running sore that continues to damage the SNP. From Sturgeon, to Yousaf, to Swinney. As Eric Morecambe used to say: “You can’t see the join!”

In depriving the membership of the party a say in selecting who their leader should be, they have continued in the vein of Nicola Sturgeon, centralising decision-making to as few people as possible. Humza Yousaf was to the SNP what Liz Truss was to the Tories, and he has now been replaced by their equivalent of John Major. Swinney is undoubtedly Scotland’s dullest and least inspiring politician, and for those of us who remember his last spell as leader, he brings with him an expectation of loss.

READ MORE: Patrick Harvie speaks out after end of Bute House Agreement

With an impending Westminster election and a Holyrood election soon after, I can think of no worse choice that the SNP leadership could have imposed on the party. On BBC Debate Night, Neil Gray MSP, campaign manager for Humza Yousaf, said he had endorsed Humza Yousaf because he was the right man for the job, and in his opinion, he had been a good first minister. He then went on to say that in his opinion Swinney was the right man for the job. Fool me twice, shame on me, as they say.

The whole process in which Humza Yousaf departed office raises more questions than it answers. Surely I can’t be alone in thinking that the decision to end the Bute House Agreement with the Greens was not a decision made my Yousaf alone, above the heads of his Cabinet, and without their endorsement?

If Neil Gray, as he said, worked hard to convince him to stay as first minister, why was he railroaded out by the rest of the Cabinet? One vote from Alba would have saved him and the Scottish Government from the votes of no confidence they faced, yet the SNP made it clear that they would refuse to countenance such an offer. One has to remember that probably 95% of the Alba Party membership are former SNP members, and while they are disappointed in the party’s failure to progress independence, they recognise that the SNP are at present still the major party of independence, and as such will support them to achieve that goal.

I find it bizarre that Scotland’s second largest independence party’s offer of help was rejected outright, in order to cut a backroom deal with the Greens, who the SNP, not Humza Yousaf alone, threw out of government. Clearly there has been a recognition at some level that a continued joint government was not in their interest, and the rejection of Alba over the Greens again indicates no change in direction from the party.

It’s akin to when Marathon rebranded to Snickers. The label changed but the nuts remain.

READ MORE: SNP activist seeking to challenge John Swinney for party leadership

When the Greens asked that Labour withdraw their vote of no confidence it was quite clear to every man and his dog that a deal had been done, and that the Scottish Government was safe. The vote was, by that point, pointless. Knowing that the government was safe, Ash Regan of Alba then knew that she could cast her vote of no confidence without actually ending up being the scapegoat for bringing it down.

Unfortunately, this was manna from heaven for those on the more tinfoil-hatted wing of the SNP, who saw this as evidence that Alba are an MI5 construct, and all the members are secret British Nationalists. These members are, of course, the same folk who used to attend branch meetings and conferences alongside them, and who chapped doors and delivered leaflets in all weathers with them.

A more sensible approach from Regan would have been to abstain, sending the message that she could not endorse them, but ultimately neither would she bring down a Scottish Nationalist government in favour of a British Nationalist one. That opportunity has been lost, and it may now be harder for Alba to reach across to the SNP membership, something that they need to do in the next Holyrood election.

There is more that unites us than divides us, and as someone who has not forgotten that independence is our ultimate goal, which I want to see sooner, not later, I must ask all our independence supporting politicians to focus on that goal in every act that they do. All our politicians have fallen into the trap of focusing on election cycles, when what we need to do is break the electoral system. We are being told by London that we cannot have a referendum. Good governance brings the confidence to take more responsibility, and we can bypass any referendum by having all independence parties stating, clear and simple, that a vote for them is a vote to declare independence, not to seek permission which will always be refused. It’s time to put country before career.

Some people think that a spell out of office is required to refocus, regroup and reorganise. This is akin to football supporters facing relegation, who convince themselves that after a season in the lower leagues, they will come back bigger and stronger. This is seldom the case, and for many teams, that season becomes an extended period in the wilderness. We can only hope that Swinney can salvage something in time for the elections, because the Yes movement cannot afford a loss in any way, shape or form. Relegation is not an option.

James Cassidy

Airdrie

JUST as I suspected after the not so secret meeting between John Swinney and Kate Forbes, no sooner had Swinney come out of it than he was stating that yes, he would stand in the “hardly a race” to be First Minister.

Soon after, we read of Kate Forbes’s agreement with just about everything John Swinney is standing for to become first minister. Now, we read that he has promised Kate a senior role in his government if/when elected.

It was my guess that this would have happened. Further, it was my reasoning that Forbes would also be promised the deputy first minister job for the interim and until the next Scottish election. Thus giving her the opportunity to become the first minister if the SNP won another term in government.

However, John Swinney has not gone that far yet publicly, except to say that a “senior” post will be on offer based on her being an “intelligent, creative, thoughtful person”. Enough said? Quite possibly!

As stated in my earlier letter, I would like to see Kate Forbes in a senior position whatever that might be, having voted for her in the last first ministerial race subsequent to Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation.

The next two years of Scottish government could be quite interesting. So far as independence is concerned, it looks as if it will be up to us, the sovereign people. A “people’s convention” would be a good start. The Yes movement doesn’t need reinvigorating as suggested by Forbes.

It is the SNP government that needs invigorating.

Alan Magnus-Bennett

Fife

FIRSTLY, I would like to wish Humza and his family, which will be increasing in size in due course, all the very best for the future. He always seemed to me to be a thoroughly decent human, being among some other politicians in Holyrood who, in my view, are nothing of the sort! I backed Humza and the Bute House Agreement (BHA) from day one and personally feel so sad about how recent events transpired.

During the period after Humza ended the BHA, but before he resigned, I watched an interview Alex Salmond did on the telly. In it, as usual, he slagged off the Greens. Then he said something that nearly made me fall off the sofa. He

said Ash Regan was the “adult in the room”, obviously compared to the Greens and no doubt her detractors within the SNP!

Sorry, Alex, you are clearly an intelligent man, but folk with the right type of intelligence – and that is the vital bit – realise that this planet we inhabit is in serious dire straits and urgent, drastic action is required to deal with the crisis. The Greens, not you or Ash, totally get that. In my book, therefore, that easily makes them the real adults in the room!

I read that there was a poll of SNP voters and 60% of them were disappointed by the breakdown of the BHA and I’m definitely one of them. It seemed like anything the Greens proposed to combat climate change while in government was shot down in flames by all and sundry throughout Scotland, except those on the left of the SNP and environmental campaigners.

They never stood a chance and I definitely don’t blame Green politicians or members of their party getting totally frustrated in the end!

I feel this is an opportune time to deal with the elephant in the room. Many, myself included, thought it was a good thing that Humza became the first Muslim and person of colour to become Scotland’s First Minister. However, Humza had a hurdle to deal with that none of his predecessors experienced.

The vehemence some showed towards him right from the off was very suspicious, in my view. I don’t doubt for one minute that this was due, in some instances, to sheer racism and/or Islamophobia. I don’t believe such sentiment is merely confined to some individuals in Scottish cricket, for example, as has been well publicised over recent years. It’s a problem that has never gone away. Just ask those that have been victims of it throughout their lives, including Humza, of course.

On a lighter note, I know one thing. If the choice for the next leader of the SNP puts a smile on the faces of Alex Salmond, Ash Regan and Fergus Ewing then I’ll definitely be greetin’!

Ivor Telfer

Dalgety Bay

LIKE Lesley Riddoch, I am very disappointed that the grassroots who tramp the staircases year in, year out are not getting the chance to hear the candidates’ vision for the SNP – but also, and equally important, for Scotland and its people. It’s quite obvious a deal has been done and now we’ll never know. SHAME.

Ken McCartney

Hawick

ENGLISH Labour’s Viceroy-in-waiting Ian Murray wants an election now. He slams the Scottish administration’s record but doesn’t say that Scotland not only has the UK’s best-performing NHS but has avoided strikes while the English NHS has had almost continual strikes since 2022.

And look at Labour-run Wales. The new Welsh Labour leader accepted £200k from a company owned by a man prosecuted for illegally dumping waste, the Welsh NHS isn’t functional according to the Welsh BMA head and 80% of Welsh GPs complain of excessive workloads putting patients at risk. But you won’t hear Ian Murray calling for a Welsh election.

Then we have yet another English Labour U-turn, this time a rollback of workers’ rights. Starmer says he won’t end employers’ use of “fire and rehire”, won’t raise sick pay, won’t reverse anti-strike legislation and won’t ban zero-hours contracts. This makes a complete mockery of English Labour’s northern manager Anas Sarwar’s promise to “always be on the side of working people across Scotland.”

But we know whose side English Labour is really on - the side of its corporate donors who, the FT reports, are really now “quite relaxed” about Labour’s plans.

There’s no way English Labour will deliver anything positive for Scotland. There won’t be a return to the Single Market and despite saying the union is ‘voluntary’, Sir Keir says Scotland has no democratic way out and no right to self-determination.

What Scotland needs now, Ian, is an end to our nation’s exploitation and subjugation by its larger “partner”.

Leah Gunn Barrett

Edinburgh

“THE governance of any country cannot simply be a revolving door that one party gets to pick time and time again who occupies the highest office in the land.”

These were the words of Nicola Sturgeon after the defenestration of Liz Truss by Rishi Sunak. Now that the unimpressive John Swinney is to be the 3rd SNP leader in a year, the charge against them is rank hypocrisy.

The Swinney Coronation will be viewed (correctly) as yet another stitch-up by the Sturgeon faction. All so the talentless bottom feeders promoted by Sturgeon/Murrell can continue to be paid generous expenses and wages by the public purse.

Under Sturgeon, the SNP ceased to be a party of independence. She may have said they were pursuing independence, but this was transparent nonsense. Her actions showed she was firmly a closet Unionist.

These unprincipled grifters sought and got mandates for a referendum in 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2021. During this time, the UK government had to deal with Brexit, Covid-19, and the invasion of Ukraine. The Prime Ministers were Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

It is hard to imagine more felicitous circumstances. Yet the unscrupulous charlatan Sturgeon managed to blow it. It was all about her. A personality cult was built up. No opposition was tolerated. The SNP is now paying for the insecurity and imposter syndrome of its ex-leader.

All that was forthcoming were extremely unpopular lunatic “gender” policies that made science denial an actual crime.

When Humza Yousaf was elected, I said his record in health, justice, and transport was an indicator he wouldn’t last as FM.

The same will apply to Swinney. His record of failure is even greater than that of the hapless Yousaf.

The Alba MSP Ash Regan has a bill on the table. This would be for a referendum on the power to hold a referendum. It would be legally tight. The SNP woke faction refused to endorse this reasonable proposal. This yet again exposes them as Devomax fraudsters.

A John Swinney government at Holyrood seals the fate of independence. Nothing will occur for at least a decade, maybe more. This is the legacy of the toxic Sturgeon and her gullible cult. The only way to get independence back on the agenda is to elect actual independence supporters to Holyrood.

Alan Hinnrichs

Dundee