Inf ighting will cost us votes – Sturgeon
She pleads with fractious SNP to stop feuding
NICOLA Sturgeon has admitted that bitter infighting within the SNP could risk alienating voters – and potentially damage the party’s prospects in next year’s election.
Feuds have erupted among the Nationalists over issues such as independence, candidate selection processes and transgender laws.
The First Minister has now called for unity ahead of the Holyrood polls in May – while slapping down suggestions she is not committed to securing an independent Scotland.
‘The SNP is in a position of strength and we’ve got to recognise as a party that we don’t exist in some kind of bubble,’ she told BBC Scotland on Friday.
‘Right now, the majority of the people in the country we serve are worried about their health and they’re worried about their ability to pay their bills.
‘Opinion polls would suggest they massively trust the SNP to lead them through that crisis. If they ever thought the SNP was turning away from that priority and focusing on its own agendas and engaging in infighting I’m sure they would pass a verdict on that.’
Her rallying cry comes after a number of public rows.
Last month, a splinter Alliance for Independence party – supported by Nationalist MP Kenny MacAskill – was set up in a bid to boost support for separation and drown out the ‘Unionist’ vote.
The move was heavily criticised by the SNP, with Deputy First Minister John Swinney claiming he could not ‘understand the logic’.
Last week the party’s governing body was forced into a U-turn over a women-only candidate shortlist after it was deemed unconstituboth tional. MSP James Dornan, who represents Glasgow Cathcart, faced having to stand down after the party ruled only women could contest his seat, a decision which was later overturned.
Joanna Cherry has also challenged SNP candidate selection regulations after the Edinburgh South West MP withdrew from a bid to stand as an MSP after party rules meant she could not serve at Westminster and Holyrood. The SNP faced a fierce backlash from some party members in February, when a group of Nationalist MSPs and MPs – including Ms Cherry – branded it ‘misogynistic’ and ‘undemocratic’ over plans to make it easier to switch gender.
Now the First Minister has said such serious issues would have to be put aside in the interests of winning the election. Her declaration also follows questions surrounding her commitment to pushing for independence.
She said: ‘I believe in independence with every fibre of my being and that Scotland is going to be independent sooner rather than later.
‘I’m pretty comfortable in my own commitment to independence. Other people can question it if they want but I think it’s bonkers.’
The First Minister also reflected on some of the ‘agonising’ decisions she made during the early stages of the pandemic, saying: ‘Until my dying day I will probably agonise over these judgments.’
‘We don’t exist in some kind of bubble’