THE SNP’s annual conference kicks off on Friday, and as well as resolution debates, fringe events, and the General Election review, delegates have the crucial task of electing key SNP office bearers.
As well as votes for a new national secretary, policy development convener, and other key party positions, the SNP will also elect a new president.
The role has been vacant since Michael Russell, the former constitution secretary, stood down in December 2023 – and two candidates have thrown their hat into the ring in a bid to be elected to the position.
Maureen Watt, the former SNP MSP and government minister, and Graeme McCormick, a well known party activist and land reform campaigner, are both bidding to take on the presidency.
Here, they both make their pitches to SNP members, asking for their vote. In the interest of fairness, The National tossed a coin to decide whose pitch would go first.
Maureen Watt
SINCE 2007, the SNP has provided strong leadership, effective governance, and delivered real change for Scotland. We stood up for Scotland and put ourselves back on the map after the timidity of the Labour/LibDem years. We have protected the people of Scotland from the worst of Tory cuts while delivering progressive policies that have had positive impacts. In the face of continued austerity from Labour in Westminster, the case for an SNP government and independent Scotland becomes ever stronger.
To achieve both of these aims, we need a clear vision and a united voice to reconnect with the Scottish public. Under the leadership of First Minister John Swinney, we are well on our way to achieving that.
As party president, I will use my 50 years of experience as an SNP member, gained at every level of our party and in government, to be a critical friend to the leadership while also bringing our membership together, to ensure the SNP can win.
Defeat is never easy and the results of the recent Westminster election are still at the forefront of our minds, however now is not the time for egos, personal agendas or to turn inward. We must rightly examine where we have gone wrong, but we must look forward to what we still have to offer as the governing party of Scotland.
We must also rigorously examine our case for independence, the democratic route to achieving it and how we convince the majority of our fellow Scots that it is the best option for Scotland.
A governance review has already identified areas for improvement, and those recommendations must be swiftly implemented to ensure our party is well-equipped to achieve our goals.
I have been a local councillor, a regional MSP, and a constituency MSP. I have held ministerial positions in education and health, culminating in my appointment as the first dedicated minister for mental health. Currently, I sit on the NEC. But first and foremost I am an activist, delivering leaflets, knocking on doors and fund-raising.
It is because of this, I know the SNP’s most important asset is our membership. By empowering our members and providing everyone with the opportunity to contribute to our success, we can strengthen our connection with the Scottish people and build the unassailable majority needed for independence.
As party president, I hope to follow in the footsteps of party stalwarts like Ian Hudghton and Winnie Ewing, and contribute my experience, advice, and a fresh perspective to our leadership. We must learn from our losses, quickly adapt to changing circumstances, and reconnect with each other and with the people of Scotland.
I am dedicated to ensuring the SNP is a strong, united force capable of delivering independence for Scotland.
Graeme McCormick
AFTER 90 years advancing the cause, we must now deliver independence. The alternative is the emptiness and failure which we shall endure for the rest of our lives if we allow the Unionist supremacists to kill off the SNP and bury independence for good. That is an imminent danger unless we confront and undermine the British state in all its forms.
We are not dealing with nice Mr Cameron. Brexit and blue-and-red muscular Unionism have made managing devolution incompatible with delivering independence. Now, the longer the SNP governs in Scotland the less power Scotland has. That is the dreadful reality, and that is what we as a party, movement and government must stop immediately. The SNP is irrelevant without delivering its historic mission.
While the SNP government has many accomplishments, it is now perceived as stale. The party must now transform itself. A majority vote for me as party president is a de facto instruction to our members who form the Scottish Government to:
- 1: Deal with the UK Government, not cooperate with it.
- 2: Appoint an Expert Independence Delivery Unit from nationalists who have been doing the hard graft on currency etc, free from British Civil Service influence and control, to chart our path to independence and dissolution of the Union.
- 3: Publish all advice from civil servants to Scottish Ministers apart from national security issues.
- 4: Take control of the Scottish economy, suspend the current Land Reform Bill and legislate to raise all our public funding through land.
- 5: Grant everyone a Universal Citizen's Income of £200 per week.
- 6: Challenge Police Scotland and the Crown Office over Operation Branchform in the civil courts.
- 7: Embed our direct democracy through citizens assemblies and popular referenda to decide social issues.
- 8: Enable local communities to become self-funded local authorities if they wish.
- 9: Give everyone a financial stake in our economy.
- 10: Fight the 2026 Holyrood election on the sole issue that a majority of the popular vote in favour of the SNP is an instruction to all Scotland’s MPs to dissolve the Union and transfer all reserved powers to the Scottish Parliament.
John Witherspoon, the great Scottish divine who signed the American Declaration of Independence, said: “If your cause is just, you may look with confidence to the Lord, and intreat him to plead it as his own”.
Whatever your guiding light is, shine it on our mission. Now is not the time to slither amongst the slime of the decaying adipocere of Unionism but grasp the torch of self power, of self belief and deliver independence in 2026.
If you don’t have that belief by the end of this conference then there is no place for you in the SNP. If you share that belief then you must be inspired to join so we all strive for and share our freedom in 2026.
What is passed is in the past. The future must be ours and those who come after us!
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