Error strewn and out of her depth
Former SNP deputy leader Sillars savages First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in brutal eve of conference verdict
NICOLA Sturgeon has been ambushed ahead of the SNP conference after the party’s former deputy leader attacked her as “error-strewn” and “out of her depth”.
Writing in today’s Daily Record, veteran nationalist Jim Sillars attacks the “exercise in monumental political misjudgment” which tied the prospect of a second independence referendum to the issue of Brexit.
And he sensationally suggests that the independence movement should distance itself from the SNP so support for Yes is not dragged down by the party’s plummeting popularity.
The explosive intervention comes as the SNP faithful prepare to gather in Glasgow on Sunday for their three-day autumn conference.
The comments will be widely seen as further evidence Sturgeon is beginning to lose her once cast-iron grip on the party.
Her decision in March to call a fresh independence vote by mid-2019 was seen as a key factor in the party losing 21 MPs and half a million votes in June’s snap general election.
Sillars, deputy under Alex Salmond in the early 90s, was one of the few prominent nationalists to publicly support Brexit, although it is thought up to a third of SNP supporters also voted Leave.
His decision to go public with the damaging attack on Sturgeon was sparked by the first item on the conference agenda being what he calls an “unthinking paean of praise for the EU”. Sturgeon has been one of the most vocal critics of Brexit and has insisted it would justify IndyRef 2.
Sillars said the SNP should take inspiration from the Leave vote as “the perfect template for harmoniously and civilly dismantling a UK union no longer fit for our purpose”.
But he added that the independence movement “won’t win independence until it is itself truly independent”.
Sillars is not the first internal critic to raise questions about the leadership of the party by Sturgeon and her husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.
Former SNP justice secretary Kenny MacAskill warned such a close relationship at the top of the party had to affect the judgment of both figures.
Sturgeon has promised to reflect carefully on holding a second referendum since the election setback but has insisted it remained “likely” before the 2021 election.
An SNP spokesman said: “Jim Sillars is contradicting himself – he backed an independence referendum at the last Holyrood election before Brexit had even happened.
“And he now finds himself against the majority of Scottish opinion, which is firmly opposed to the Tories’ extreme Brexit plans.”
Sillars backed the Rise party last year, who commited to a second referendum within the lifespan of this parliament.