Why “independence” is a good thing for the SNP

The launch of Independence shows that the energy which built this party is alive and well. It brings fresh ideas, new campaigners and members ready to roll up their sleeves. The SNP should open the door to it.

I have been a member of the SNP for 30 years. I have delivered leaflets in the rain, chapped countless doors, sat through branch meetings that ran long past their welcome, run campaigns as an election agent and celebrated nights I never thought I would live to see. So when I hear colleagues talk nervously about Independence, the new organisation of SNP members launched in Aberdeen during conference, I understand the instinct. New things can feel unsettling.

But I would ask them to look again. “independence” is not a rival and it is not a faction plotting in a back room. It is a group of members who care enough about this party and this cause to give up their evenings, put their hands in their pockets and build something positive, something the party needs.

That is the same spirit we saw after 2014, when tens of thousands of people joined us in a matter of weeks and filled our branches with fresh ideas. We should be glad to feel it again. The party leadership should welcome it with open arms.

A party of government still making policy like a corner shop

Every other major party has internal groups and think tanks that turn ideas into policy. Look at Labour. In truth, new policy stopped coming from ordinary Labour members a long time ago. It comes from organised groupings such as Momentum, Labour Together and Mainstream, from think tanks like the Fabian Society, and from the trade unions.

That is not because Labour members ran out of ideas. It is because taking an idea from a starting point to government policy takes far more than writing a few paragraphs, submitting a motion to conference and making a three-minute speech. It takes detailed research. It takes costings. It takes polling to understand how the public will react, and professional lobbying to win over the people who will have to deliver it. Unions, think tanks, the third sector and the private sector all have that capacity. A general membership, on its own, does not.

The SNP still makes members' policy much as we did when we were a party of six MPs and there was no Scottish Parliament. We are a professional party of government in almost every other respect. When it comes to turning members' ideas into policy, we still run things like the corner shop.

Businesses, unions, think tanks and charities arrive at St Andrew's House with fully worked-up proposals. Our members arrive with a motion and a few paragraphs. It is no surprise which gets further.

That needs to change, and Independence can help. A well-funded, member-led organisation could take a well-intentioned conference motion and do the hard yards: the evidence, the costings, the public opinion testing, the conversations with civic Scotland. It could hand the party something ready to use, not just something that sounds good on the conference floor. If members back it to do that work, it is not a threat to the leadership. It is a gift.

Let John govern. Let the movement campaign.

The SNP is the party of independence. Nobody doubts that. But being in government means there are times when making the case has to take a back seat. Think back to 2017 and Theresa May's "now is not the time". The party took a pounding for talking about a referendum, and it understandably rowed back.

(Image: from Getty Images Signature)

The work still needed doing, though. It always does. The arguments on currency, borders, pensions and trade do not win themselves, and they cannot be built in a hurry when the moment finally arrives.

We ask a great deal of our leaders. We expect John Swinney to run the country, run the party and run an independence campaign, all at once. Nobody can do all three at full strength. Independence can carry some of that load. Free from the day-to-day of government and free from the electoral calendar, it can run a constant campaign fixed on our north star, while the First Minister gets on with the job the people of Scotland elected him to do.

Give members a voice and they will give you their energy

Twelve years on from the referendum, we have won election after election at Holyrood. Yet we still have no agreed route to independence. Members feel that gap keenly. They need a space to talk, to be heard and to have their voices amplified. Without one, frustration will only grow and disillusionment will continue.

We won the Holyrood election in May, and we should be proud of that. But we should not kid ourselves that all is well. Our membership has fallen from around 125,000 at its peak to around 51,000. Activist teams that once covered every street in a ward have been hollowed out. Last week, a Survation poll for the Forum for Research and Energy put Yes on 54%, yet support for the SNP runs well below it. There are a lot of Yes voters out there we are not reaching.

Winning back the trust of the wider movement will take time. Embracing Independence would be a good start. It tells members, and those who have drifted away, that their voice matters and that there is a constructive place to put their energy.

Every movement needs a push

Movements move through push and pull. Someone has to argue for going further, faster and bolder. Someone else makes the case for care and timing. Progress comes out of that tension. Independence's job is to push and pull constructively: to help shape public opinion, build campaigns and, now and again, nudge the party leadership's thinking.

Sometimes that will mean offering constructive criticism. We should not fear that. A party confident in its case welcomes the devil's advocate, because they are the ones who make sure the case is robust before our opponents test it. Far better to hear the hard questions from friends in a meeting room than from the other side in a television studio.

Turning frustration into something positive

So what should Independence be? A loud voice for getting the hard work done on the case for independence. A bridge between the rank and file and the leadership. A platform where members can discuss, debate and be heard.

 Launch of the new internal grassroots pressure group named "Independence" during a fringe event titled "Building a sustained majority for independence". (Image:Newsquest, Published by The National)

It should bring members' ideas to life through professional policy work. It should shape public opinion with bold campaigns and test it with regular polling. And it should work hand in hand with the wider Yes movement and with civic Scotland.

Frustration can defeat you, or you can turn it into something positive. Independence can be that positive. That is why I have joined. After 30 years in this party, I would ask you to see it the same way and join us.

You can join us via the link: Join Us | independence