ANOTHER good article from Richard Walker and a great example of headline writing (Now, more than ever, SNP must separate their governing role and the pursuit of indy, Sep 6). Since I’m neither a headline writer nor journalist, I’d be asking: why haven’t the SNP been doing this over the years?

Being able to govern and govern well, when London has the last word, is difficult enough, since devolution is actually a stranglehold wrapped up in sugar-coated, mind-numbing “can’t do” legalese. But a stranglehold nevertheless that can be tightened whenever London chooses: cut the funding, whip up the the pro-Unionist press media, obfuscate with lies, damn lies and statistics!

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It should have been a given that the SNP devoted its resources to engaging with the population, not just its party members, identifying priorities with the populace, with the follow-through ensuring good governance as far as possible, within that stranglehold.

At the same time, if there had been clear messaging explaining that London was preventing more of the governance needed in Scotland, that would have underpinned the constraints of devolution. Beyond words like “levers”, actual details, examples! All these years, there’s been a failure to weaponise devolution, to expose it for what it is, that stranglehold, with the reins held in London. Is it too late now?

Come 2026, just how more difficult will it be for politicians to show the failures of the Union rather than the failure of the SNP, real and faked, the Scottish Government, and devolution? It would be foolish for anyone to hope that Labour will fail so badly between now and 2026 that there will be a pro-indy majority government in Holyrood. There’s a lot of party political work to be done, and not just within the SNP but across the spectrum of parties wanting to be represented in Holyrood.

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When you turn to the party, the SNP, many will argue they didn’t go far enough in the fight for independence, that it has lost its way, that it’s is currently stalled, but it was the SNP and its members that became the political face leading the drive for independence as we hit 2014. If September 2024 does nothing else, it should revive the understanding that a movement emerged in 2014 that was politicised around a vision for the future of Scotland, again an independent nation. A grassroots movement non-aligned: a movement passionate in its belief that its components were civic-minded, encompassing broad sections of society with a self-confidence and self-belief in the viability of an indy Scotland. That movement hasn’t disappeared.

We’ve been self-funding, self-organising: creative, diverse. Just like 2014 with differing views, but a common purpose. It may be over-simplified to say the 2014 date made an urgency of focusing. Surely 2026 is now the same.

I do believe that the passion and belief are still there, but that’s not sufficient. There’s so much work to be done, so let the politicians do their jobs, better than before, please. But the grass roots need to re-emerge, separate from political parties: regain their non-aligned position with some form of public-facing commonality, just as we had the one word Yes. That was then, not now. So, can we get on with it, please?

A citizens’ convention, reaching out beyond party and pro-indy activists, truly reflective of Scotland’s people, is a great starter. Imagine that: politicisation with the purpose of identifying a future for an improving Scotland. The separation between parties and people will be clear, but which political party won’t take heed of what the people say, what they want, coming from such a base?

Selma Rahman
Edinburgh