John Swinney's renewed independence drive is the last thing Scotland needs
If the Scottish Government spends the next five years arguing with Westminster about independence, real-world problems affecting the economy, NHS and schools will not be addressed with sufficient vigour
If feeling particularly charitable, we should perhaps have some sympathy for the SNP – or at least as much as can be felt for a party that appears set to be re-elected to power despite presiding over the managed decline of Scotland’s crumbling public services.
As the party that has commanded more support than any other for nearly two decades, it must be highly frustrating to have led the Scottish Government for so long without managing to achieve their main ambition, Scottish independence.
This is unlikely to change any time soon, with the UK Government opposed to a second referendum and polls showing public support generally somewhere between 40 to 50 per cent. Holding a referendum in the near future would be a mistake, as a second defeat would have catastrophic consequences for the nationalist cause.
Rhetoric or a warning?
However, John Swinney and co are still required to insist that independence can be achieved to galvanise the SNP base, if nothing else. And so it was that the SNP leader proclaimed that, if returned to office, “on the first sitting day after the appointment of the new government, we will bring forward a vote of the Scottish Parliament to approve the development of a Section 30 Order to give Scotland the power to hold an independence referendum”.
It’s hard to say how much of this is pre-election rhetoric and how much is a warning of future strife. However, voters have little choice but to take Swinney at his word. If you think a divisive independence debate would be good for Scotland, then you should probably vote for the SNP – although Reform UK is apparently keen to persuade you to back them instead.
However, if you think Scotland needs a government with a laser-like focus on getting the economy going, fixing the NHS, restoring Scotland’s schools to their former glory, and other such ‘bread-and-butter’ issues, you may wish to consider the alternatives.
Otherwise, we may be left feeling decidedly sorry for ourselves as Swinney ushers in a return to the constant constitutional bickering between Holyrood and Westminster that is part of the reason why the country is in such a mess.
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