Leader: SNP’s firm start to a campaign, but for what no-one is sure

THE SNP’s conference has been full of bravura, but slightly odd rhetoric. Yesterday, the nation learned from Angus Robertson MP, the party’s campaign manager, that the drive to win independence has begun.

This followed the speech from Alex Salmond, party leader and First Minister, announcing that the SNP will campaign for independence “full square”. Naturally, this had the party faithful in Inverness in raptures.

But the discerning voter will have thought it a little odd, if only for the rather important reason that Mr Salmond has not said what independence means. He has quite rightly said that, in the modern world, there is no place for 19th-century stand-alone independence. Modern nationalism is about achieving the ability to decide what degrees of inter-dependence a country wishes to have with its neighbours, allies, and the rest of the world.

In tune with this philosophy, the SNP has been wrestling with the notion of independence-lite where, in the broadest of terms, Scotland might get its hands on levers of power, but share the management of those levers with others, principally the rest of the UK.

This means, for example, that Scotland will keep the pound as its currency. But even this apparently simple statement raises difficult questions. If Scotland becomes an independent member of the EU, as the SNP says will be the case, for how long can it avoid having to adopt the euro? And as part of the sterling zone, how will Scotland influence decisions by the Bank of England on interest rates?

Mr Salmond may well have judged that right now, voters are not interested in these questions. Indeed, judging by recent opinion polls which seem to indicate that more support independence than oppose it, there may well be enough emotional momentum to carry the SNP’s campaign forward for some time. The party, thanks to Edwin Morgan’s bequest, certainly has enough money for it.

But the tactics for this campaign also seem a little odd. Mr Robertson said it will begin internally, aimed at enthusing and galvanising its own membership. Why? One would have thought that SNP members had joined the party because they wanted independence.

Perhaps it is because Mr Salmond’s apparent intention is that the referendum, after inviting a yes/no answer to independence, will also offer a yes/no question on maximum devolution, taken to mean that Scotland controls pretty much all taxes including those on North Sea oil.

This seems to be causing some unease within party ranks as some think, with quite a lot of justification, that it makes it easy for voters to reject independence in favour of what looks like a middle option between two extremes.

Thus, while the party faithful who gathered in Inverness may well have had a great time, the rest of Scotland is entitled to be perplexed. Nothing certain is known about when the referendum will be or what it will be about, an odd way for a campaign to begin.