Time for Nationalists to fight dirty with negative campaign, says former SNP leader

Published on Saturday 17 October 2009 19:50

SCOTLAND'S Nationalists were urged by a former leader of their party to fight dirty by campaigning hard on the theme of "Bankrupt Britain".

The call at the SNP conference came from Gordon Wilson, leader of the SNP from 1979 to 1990, in a keynote Donaldson lecture on the history of the party.

Dr Wilson said the SNP had to offer a vision of the future that neither unionism nor devolution could satisfy.

But he went on: "Let us never forget that negative campaigning has its place."

He focused on Labour's tactic in last year's Glenrothes by-election, when it highlighted care charges increased by SNP-led Fife Council – or the "grievance politics" deployed in the current Glasgow North East by-election.

"Labour are past masters at this," Wilson said. "Again and again in its early days, the SNP was far too positive and visionary for its own good.

"We had to learn from Labour to be more streetwise."

Labour was portraying public spending cuts as "SNP cuts" and concealing its own responsibility for them, he added.

"Let's go further than blaming Labour," he said. "A perfect storm lies ahead for the next ten to 20 years as the British state is submerged in public debt. What about blaming the union itself?

"A Britain is Bankrupt campaign, along the lines of It's Scotland's Oil, or Say No To The Poll Tax."

To loud applause he said: "Destroy faith in Britain, and the only sensible alternative is independence."

Dr Wilson told activists to learn lessons from the party's experiences of the 1970s.

"As we go into the independence referendum, do recall what happened to Scotland's oil wealth, and the procrastination and double-dealing by London's establishment over it and devolution," he said.

"London has the template in the drawer ready to use. Be prepared – whatever the decisions taken by the Scottish Parliament, do not ignore Downing Street.

"Number 10 is clever and unscrupulous – there is more than Mandelson at work. The British establishment will be mobilised – count on it."