ALL SMILES, BUT WATCH YOUR BACK WITH THESE REBELS, NICOLA
POSING for a victory photo call, the Scottish National Party’s MPs yesterday joined smiling leader Nicola Sturgeon.
In celebration, they smiled gleefully and hugged each other – giving the impression of complete unity.
But despite the harmonious appearance, Ms Sturgeon’s party is riddled with splits and disagreements.
Arguments over issues such as a second independence referendum and changes to transgender legislation have exposed damaging rifts.
A number of Nationalist MPs, for example, failed to even mention a second referendum in their Election campaign literature. Kirsten Oswald,
MP for Renfrewshire East, studiously avoided mentioning independence on her leaflets – only pledging to give constituents ‘a choice over our future’.
John Nicolson, now the MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, omitted the independence issue from his listed ‘SNP priorities’.
Richard Thomson, MP for Gordon, explicitly rebelled against a second independence referendum being the focus of his election bid, posting a video in which he said a vote for him ‘absolutely is not a vote for Scottish independence and I will never, ever, try to claim it as such’.
They would not be the first dissidents to push back against Ms Sturgeon’s hopes of breaking up the Union.
Kenny MacAskill, who has earned the title of Ms Sturgeon’s ‘arch-critic’ in recent years, has long accused her of being ‘wholly unprepared’ for a second independence referendum. He has said there are too many unanswered questions about currency, a potential ‘hard’ border with England and whether
the EU would admit Scotland if it were to become independent.
The former Justice Minister, who urged Ms Sturgeon’s husband to resign as the party’s chief executive, has said ‘changes are needed in how the party is run’.
A serious rift has also formed in the party over proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act that would allow people to legally change their gender without any medical checks. A number of SNP MPs have raised concerns the laws would insufficiently protect women from predatory men. Joanna Cherry, who admits she is far from Ms Sturgeon’s ‘best mate’, has condemned the party’s stance on transgender law amendments.
Ms Cherry, Carol Monaghan, Patricia Gibson and Angus Brendan MacNeil are among 15 SNP politicians who have signed an open letter calling on the Scottish Government not to rush into legislation that could ‘change the definition of male and female’. The letter was in response to a speech made by the First Minister in which she said transgender rights are not a ‘threat to me as a woman’.