The SNP: in a hole without a ladder
Scotland’s ruling party is mired in scandal. Will the opposition seize their chance? Emily Hohler reports
When Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scotland’s first minister in February, it would have been “hard to imagine” the “mess” the Scottish National Party would be in mere weeks later, says the Financial Times. Her husband, Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, was arrested earlier this month as part of a long-running police investigation into more than £600,000 worth of donations that have gone “missing” from the party coffers.
Even as her successor, Humza Yousaf, sought to “seize the narrative” on Tuesday by presenting his governing agenda (see page 14), the SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was taken in for questioning. Speaking to BBC Radio 4 in her first interview since losing the leadership contest to Yousaf, Kate Forbes described this as a “critical moment” for the SNP, warning that Yousaf needs to take “decisive action”. Sturgeon is currently keeping a low profile, but there are concerns that she may be the next person to be arrested; Yousaf, reports the BBC, has dismissed calls for the suspension of Sturgeon, Murrell (who was later released) and Beattie from the party while the investigation is ongoing.
The SNP is in the “deepest of holes” and Yousaf seems to “lack anything resembling a ladder”, says Chris Deerin in The New Statesman. Still, his “grandly named” policy prospectus – ‘New leadership, a fresh start for Scotland’ – was “nothing if not brazen”. After 16 years of “anaemic, risk-averse SNP government and months of nationalist disarray”, he blamed all of Scotland’s ills on the UK government’s “economic mismanagement”, a “hard Brexit”, a “disastrous… mini-Budget” and Scotland’s “lack of borrowing powers”. His audience was “driven to imagine how great things would be if Yousaf and his colleagues had been free to impose their full will on a Scotland entirely liberated from London’s yoke. After all, look at the wonders they’ve achieved with the powers they already have.”
Bidding for the left vote
“Despite touting himself as the continuity candidate… his statement of intent did feel like a fresh start,” says Kenny Farquharson in The Times. In his speech, Yousaf announced “delays, resets and rethinks” on Sturgeon policies: the bottle depositreturn scheme, restrictions on alcohol advertising, the national care service. As for steering a new course, his compass is “pointing very much to the left” with tax rises for wealthier Scots and more redistributive policies. There is a practical reason for this: “survival”. A “resurgent” Scottish Labour party could take up to 20 seats from the SNP at the next general election. “In the fight for the votes of socialist Scots, the SNP cannot afford to be outbid on the left.”
Before attempting to show that his party can “provide capable government”, Yousaf needs to “reform his party and provide a proper accounting” (which will be complicated by the legal probe), says the Financial Times. The problem is that distancing himself from the SNP establishment “from which he sprang” and showing a “political savvy he has not hitherto evinced” will not be easy, particularly for someone with a “lacklustre” record who was supported by “little over half of party voters in a divisive poll”. None of this should be cause for celebration in London. Support for the SNP appears to have sagged more than support for independence and, with young Scots tending to see themselves more as Scottish than British, “the sovereignty cause has demographics on its side”. Current events provide an opportunity for Conservatives and Labour to regain Scottish seats and a chance to “remake the case for why Scotland is better off within the UK”.