02.10.1997

SNP Rose upsets leadership

Last week’s SNP conference was a contradictory affair for the party leadership. On the one hand there was the self-confidence brought about by the convincing ‘yes, yes’ vote in the referendum, with the part played by the SNP and Alex Salmond given considerable praise in the media.

Counterposed to this was the controversy around the monarchy debate and the suspicion of SNP activists towards the expanding ‘luvvie’ wing of the party. Still the euphoria from the referendum result pervaded the conference. This manifested itself in the conference themes of cross-party cooperation and coalition.

Salmond, like the leaders of his referendum allies, the Scottish Lib-Dems and the Labour Party, is continuing to bathe in the cosy warmth of post referendum entente cordiale. In his address to the conference Salmond declared that while continuing the fight for independence the three parties must not abandon their newly found consensus and that the SNP would seek to make the new parliament work. He went so far as to make overtures to the Lib-Dems with talk of the potential of a governing coalition in the Scottish parliament.

However, he did reserve the right to attack Labour when necessary, referring particularly to Labour’s sleaze enquiries in Paisley and Glasgow. He indicated that the gloves will be off at the coming Paisley South by-election. Despite this new epoch of détente there is still hostility in the air between the avowedly unionist wing of the Labour Party and the unreconstructed separatist wing of the SNP.

The early part of the conference saw a nasty shock for the leadership. Against the express wishes of Salmond, president Winnie Ewing and vice president Allan Macartney, the delegates, led by Perth MP Roseanna Cunningham, voted that an independent Scottish parliament controlled by the SNP should hold a referendum on the future of the monarchy. The referendum would determine whether the British monarch would remain head of state for Scotland. Disaster for the leadership was only just avoided, when an amendment calling for the SNP to campaign for an elected head of state was defeated by just 50 votes. Defending current SNP policy, Salmond stated that keeping the monarch as head of state is “logically impregnable”.

For those unfamiliar with the SNP’s monarchism, its current policy is for a Scandinavian-style monarchy in an independent Scotland. When in residence, the monarch would be head of state. When absent, the speaker of the Scottish parliament would deputise. On the eve of the 21st century does it not seem incongruous that any modern political party is wedded to the concept of a head of state being determined on an hereditary basis? So will she be Queen Elizabeth I or II of Scotland?

The whole debate illustrated that the SNP’s separatism is characterised by a craven servility to the state it formally opposes. Far from being fired by healthy rebellion, let alone revolutionary sentiments, the party yearns for bourgeois respectability. There is nothing positive in its nationalism.

Nevertheless the fact that such motions can obtain a large measure of support demonstrates that republicanism has a resonance among the Scottish people. This needs to be linked with the democratic demand for self-determination and a federal republic.

Treasury spokesman John Swinney led the attack on the Labour government’s loyalty to previous Tory spending pledges. Declaring that under Labour public spending will be cut by £1.5 billion in real terms, he pointed out this would mean a “very serious threat” to public services and would result in thousands of job cuts. The SNP offers no alternative. Where it runs local authorities, as in Perth and Kinross, it has ended up axing jobs and services like just New Labour. So we can expect SNP councils to capitulate to Labour government policy, just as Labour councils collaborated with the previous Tory government.

A backlash against the luvvie factor also surfaced at the conference. The fear of some long-standing members is that big-name celebrities recently recruited to the SNP cause will be favoured as SNP candidates, while rank and file activists will be given the cold shoulder. This led one delegate to speculate whether an Equity card was a prerequisite for nomination.

The Paisley constituency branch warned the leadership that if there were no local members on the candidate short list for the coming by-election then the list would be sent back. A section of the SNP membership seems keen to flex its muscles to keep some kind of control.

While Salmond’s pragmatic road to independence is still overwhelmingly endorsed by the membership, the leadership did not have it all its own way.

Nick Clarke