No, we didn’t persuade the seniors

A FORMER SNP cabinet secretary has admitted the SNP didn’t do enough to win over older voters during the last referendum.

Last week The Sunday Post’s opinion poll of older voters found 70% said they’d back the Union in another referendum, while just 30% would vote for independence.

And former health secretary Alex Neil said the Yes side needed to up its game to convince pensioners.

He said: “I don’t think we were too smart last time, we didn’t allay their fears and remember they are key influencers in their families.

“We knew fine well that there was an age gap, that support for Yes was stronger in the younger age groups and we didn’t do enough to address this.

“Older people tended to be small c conservative and therefore more likely to back the Union.

“I felt at the time we needed to do more to engage with older people because of what was being said by the No side about issues such as pensions.

“So the lesson is that we need to pay much more attention, we might not end up getting a majority of them but if we can close the gap it would make a big difference.”

Elsewhere Mr Neil said a Yes vote would be in jeopardy if Nicola Sturgeon promises to take Scotland back into the EU. He said: “Decoupling the issue of EU membership from independence is crucial, there was about one million people voted for Brexit and it is estimated around 400,000 were Yes supporters.

“Some of them will not vote for Yes if it means going back into the EU – are we going to say to the fishermen we’re coming out of the EU, but we’re then going to take you back into the common fisheries policy?

He added: “I think we’ll end up applying for membership European Free Trade Association and back in to the single market that way but with a promise that in the future a Scottish Government could ask the question about EU membership in a referendum.”