SNP is playing into hands of unionists, warns Sillars

Published on Friday 4 December 2009 22:10

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond needs to push full steam ahead for independence and ditch his party's damaging "step by step" approach, a former SNP deputy leader has claimed.

&#149 Jim Sillars is urging the SNP leadership to drop its step-by-step approach

Jim Sillars, a legend within the party for his famous 1988 Govan by-election victory, said the SNP government had lost control of the party's policy on an independence referendum.

He said it was time to stop "dabbling in devolution minimum or max" aimed at giving more power to Holyrood, and he urged Mr Salmond to push for a clear vote on the issue.

Mr Sillars, who was due to speak at an SNP meeting in Edinburgh last night, claimed the party's strategy on independence was playing into unionists' hands, giving them the opportunity to "sink independence for a generation".

He called on the First Minister to undertake a fundamental review of the party's strategy on independence, and said: "It's time Alex Salmond and the small group around him realise their strategy isn't working; time to realise they have become entrapped in a referendum policy over which they have lost control.

"It is now a weapon in the hands of the unionist parties, and they will choose the time, set the rules and frame the question in a manner calculated to outflank the SNP."

Citing a recent poll showing support for independence had fallen, Mr Sillars said this underlined the fact Mr Salmond's strategy of building support through his party's achievements in government, then calling a referendum on independence, was failing.

He said the SNP's plan for a referendum bill, which would include the option of enhanced devolution, would leave Scotland "shorn" of the power it needed.

His comments came at the end of a week in which the Scottish Government published its white paper on the referendum plan.

In a bid to get the bill through Holyrood, Mr Salmond has offered opposition parties the chance to frame their own question to reflect their preferred policies.

Mr Sillars, a former Labour MP, joined the SNP in the early 1980s after the failure of his pro-home rule Scottish Labour Party.

He became a high-profile party figure and was the main advocate of the party's policy on independence in Europe. He also supported direct action and once stated: "We must be prepared to hear the sound of cell doors behind us if we want independence."

Mr Sillars, who is married to former SNP stalwart and now independent MSP Margo MacDonald, has been a long-term critic of Mr Salmond's gradualist approach and last month attacked some of his key policies.

He called on the SNP to scrap its opposition to keeping Trident on the Clyde and to Nato – policies he said were "roadblocks" to independence.

Senior party figures last night rejected Mr Sillars' claims. Western Isles MSP Dr Alasdair Allan said: "The SNP government's National Conversation and white paper have energised the debate on independence and full powers for the parliament.

"With an overwhelming majority of voters now consistently backing more powers for the Scottish Parliament, this shows how far we have travelled under the SNP government."