Debate is good for us and SNP members remain optimistic for the future

It has been good to see the SNP leadership election knuckle down to some serious discussion of policy and strategy after the nastiness of the first week of the campaign. The first lot of hustings were a credit to the party and all three candidates. I am delighted Kate Forbes has remained in the race. Resilience is a quality which our next FM and leader will need, and Kate has certainly shown she has it in spades.

It is important never to give into bullies and I am pleased and relieved that Kate has toughed out the sort of pile-on that I hope will cease to be a feature of our party going forward. I support Ash Regan but Kate would also make an excellent FM and in our STV election I expect many members will vote Ash 1, Kate 2. I am to the left of Kate on economic policy, and I do not share her personal religious beliefs, but she’s an impressive politician. Moreover, it is quite clear she has no intention of imposing her personal beliefs on the rest of us via legislation or rolling back the law on same-sex marriage. In this I prefer her approach to those of politicians from all parties at Holyrood who were happy to impose their belief that sex is a feeling as opposed to a material reality on the rest of us, in both the Gender Recognition Reform Bill and the as-yet-not-in-force Hate Crime Act.

The Scottish Government and Parliament need to get off identity politics and turn their focus onto bread-and-butter issues. Dealing with the cost of living and the problems in our NHS and education system need to be top of the new FM’s in-tray and, as leader of the SNP, she needs to reset our independence strategy.

I cannot give Humza Yousaf my support because he is the continuity candidate and the one preferred by those close to the previous leadership. As such I do not think he is able to acknowledge the things that need to be fixed and I cannot subscribe to the “Nothing to see here. Business as usual” approach. This overlooks the fact that many flagship policies have recently hit the buffers, that support for independence is not as high as it should be post-Brexit, Johnson, and Truss, and that our strategy for delivering independence has faltered.

I am supporting Ash for several reasons. Firstly, I admire the courage and leadership qualities she showed last year when she resigned her ministerial post on a point of principle. Secondly, her background as a Common Weal policy wonk means she will ensure that many of the issues the grassroots membership is passionate about will be discussed during the contest, for example, a Scottish currency. Her background in business is also useful in ensuring the party and government listen to business in a way they have not done in recent years. It is perfectly possible to take a left-of-centre approach to socio-economic policy while still valuing business and enterprise, many political parties elsewhere in Europe do just that. Most importantly, Ash wants to bring the independence movement back together and involve it in developing a strategy that will deliver independence.

Ash is also prepared to address the question of internal party democracy. Two issues in the past week have highlighted how important that is. First, the unnecessary debacle over access to the party’s hustings. I understand why some members might have preferred privacy to ask some challenging questions about the activities of HQ, the NEC and some members but equally the idea that the process of questioning the people who are vying to be Scotland’s next FM should happen behind closed doors is untenable and an affront to democracy. The 24 hours during which the party tried to maintain this position allowed one journalist to claim we have an “allergy to transparency”. It was not a good look.

Secondly, questions have been raised about the secondment of employees of the party to the campaign of the establishment candidate and the use of party resources to assist him. Potentially, there has been a breach of the rules on organisational neutrality contained in chapter nine of the rules the NEC have established to govern the leadership race. If any breach is left unaddressed, that could call the validity and indeed the legality of the election into question. I am sure the party’s national secretary will be alive to the risk here but nevertheless, I support the claims for independent monitoring of the election process particularly as the SNP’s next leader will also be Scotland’s next FM. I believe other parties follow this practice.

Last weekend, I had a wonderful opportunity to take the temperature of the party’s membership when I went on a pre-arranged speaking tour of the north-east hosted by SNP branches in Arbroath and Fraserburgh and Yes Stonehaven. Before I left, I also spoke to Pentlands West, a very well-organised and active branch in my constituency. I owe its members a considerable debt for my three election wins in a row and their door-to-door work even managed to topple a Tory councillor and install another SNP councillor at the last local elections.

Here is what I took from the four meetings I attended. The good news is that the SNP still have a substantial number of engaged activists. There is a degree of bewilderment at how unexpectedly this leadership race has been thrust upon us and regret that the truncated nature of the contest and other practicalities mean that MPs cannot put themselves forward.

There is a lot of concern about the de facto referendum policy and a desire that such things should be properly debated and worked through before they are announced in future. In parallel with that, people want the governance of the party reformed and made more transparent and accountable. Many members are heartily sick of identity politics and shocked by orchestrated social media attacks, particularly on female parliamentarians. They want the party to focus on governing well and delivering independence. Yes, they want an end to the infighting but not at the cost of failing to address some of the problems that have led to our current leader’s resignation. But there was a mood of positivity and indeed that is how I will remember my trip. It was bookended by the launch of Ash Regan’s campaign and my last speaking engagement at Fraserburgh.

Ash’s launch took place at a hotel overlooking the Forth bridges. It was a gloriously sunny morning and as we looked out over the iconic view including the new Queensferry Crossing, I was reminded that when the SNP govern well they can deliver huge infrastructure projects like this on time and within budget.

In Fraserburgh, I met some veterans of the rise and fall of the SNP in the 1970s and they reminded me of how far we have come. The party may have fallen back a bit in the polls slightly but now there are more people in Scotland who support independence than vote SNP, and that, of course, is our raison d’etre. It is also an excellent basis upon which to maximise the SNP vote and to realise our dream.