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SNP rift deepens with two senior MPs 'openly goading' Sturgeon over strategy

Doubts were raised over Ms Sturgeon's approach to winning the right to hold a new independence referendum, which Boris Johnson has said he would refuse - Jane Barlow/PA
Doubts were raised over Ms Sturgeon's approach to winning the right to hold a new independence referendum, which Boris Johnson has said he would refuse - Jane Barlow/PA

Nicola Sturgeon’s is facing claims that she has lost authority over “huge swathes” of her party, after two senior SNP MPs launched thinly-veiled public attacks on her approach to independence.

Joanna Cherry, the prominent lawyer, and Kenny MacAskill, the former SNP Justice Secretary, both criticised SNP strategy in their newspaper columns on Thursday.

Ms Sturgeon has said repeatedly that she does not want to engage in a constitutional debate or political point-scoring while dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. However, writing in The National, Ms Cherry urged her party not to “fall into the trap of conceding the fight against the coronavirus and dealing with its economic fallout precludes pursuing the goal of independence”.

Meanwhile, Mr MacAskill suggested that party activists were losing faith in the SNP and described its response to the emergence of a rival pro-independence party as “misguided to say the least, veering from panic to authoritarian diktat.”

Annie Wells, the deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said senior SNP MPs were “now openly goading Nicola Sturgeon about her leadership”.

She added: “If she didn’t have coronavirus to deal with, this would be an all-out crisis for the First Minister.

“She’s clearly lost authority over huge swathes of her party and movement. And these columns prove that the SNP has always been and will always be more interested in independence than the welfare and security of ordinary people.”

Ms Sturgeon has said a recent rise in support for independence and the SNP while she lays aside constitutional campaigning “maybe has a lesson in it for my own party”.

However, Ms Cherry said: “Politics is plainly not on hold. The Tories are continuing to pursue their constitutional agenda. We must do likewise.”

The Edinburgh MP said it was “vital” that policy papers, addressing issues such as the border with England and the process of joining the EU in the event of independence, are “progressed and published”.

Nicola Sturgeon has insisted the constitution will be set aside while she deals with Covid-19 -  Jeff J Mitchell/PA
Nicola Sturgeon has insisted the constitution will be set aside while she deals with Covid-19 - Jeff J Mitchell/PA

In what will be interpreted as another swipe at Ms Sturgeon, who has said a refusal by the UK government to grant another independence referendum would be “unsustainable”, Ms Cherry added: “A strategy which rests solely on the assumption that Boris Johnson will grant a Section 30 order if the SNP win just one more mandate is a risky one.

“For now, it may be a comforting thought that his position is unsustainable, but it’s a hope at best and that hope should not prevent us from looking at what other leverage we might have. I have suggested that we should test the legal argument that is within the competence of the Scottish Parliament to hold an independence referendum, and I was delighted earlier this year when the FM indicated that was a route which might be pursued.”

Ms Sturgeon has said she would "consider all options", including a legal challenge, if the Prime Minister continues to reject her demand for a Section 30 Order. However, she has also warned her party there are “no shortcuts” to another vote.

In his own column in The Scotsman, Mr MacAskill, the East Lothian MP, branded the response of “senior party figures” the emergence of a new independence party as “misguided to say the least, veering from panic to authoritarian diktat.”

The Alliance for Independence has said it will stand regional list candidates at next year’s Holyrood election, in an effort to take advantage of Holyrood’s electoral system to deliver a “super majority” of pro-Yes MSPs.

At the weekend, Ms Sturgeon said she would be urging voters to back the SNP with both votes at next year’s election, while other party figures have also criticised the new party’s tactics.

But Mr MacAskill said: “Strident insistence that ‘Both Votes SNP’ always delivers maximum electoral success is arrant nonsense, denying electoral reality under the hybrid system.

“A better strategy would be to think about why some are considering an alternative vote in the first place and seek to engage persuasively with them.

“Some are doing so over actions such as failing to implement rent controls or policies like the Gender Recognition Bill and the Hate Crime Bill. As an election nears, it’s not rocket science to try to unite the party and clear the decks of divisive legislation.”

He added: “But the real disgruntlement has been over independence. It’s incredible that the Scottish National Party has got itself into a position where some stalwarts question its commitment to the cause. That’s more deeply worrying, and these people need engaged with and indeed treated with respect, not disdain.”

Mr MacAskill, who served alongside Ms Sturgeon in government for seven years, also described the SNP’s Growth Commission report, ordered by Ms Sturgeon to deliver a new blueprint for independence and published in 2018, as “a lifetime out of date”.

“Simply pointing to opinion polls and assuming everything thereafter will fall into place is naive,” he said. “Many independence supporters just don’t buy that another election victory will see Boris Johnson wilt and where then for the cause?

“Threatening to stamp your feet and shout unfair isn’t reassuring for members fed up with supine responses to Tory attacks on Scotland.”

Earlier this month, Ms Sturgeon called on her party to adopt a “show not tell” approach to making the case for independence.

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The criticism comes days after she issued a plea for party unity ahead of next May's elections, saying she wanted the SNP to be “united” ahead of the 2021 election.

The SNP leader added: "History is littered with examples of political parties that start talking to each other as opposed to the public. I don't think that's where the SNP is generally.

"I haven't had the head room to think about it [due to the pandemic] but… there does seem something odd about a political party that is sitting after 13 years in power, with record opinion poll ratings and the biggest ever support for independence, agonising over what's gone wrong."