Leaders: SNP’s ticking timebombs

THE Scottish National Party will celebrate its 80th anniversary in April 2014, the year in which it will finally fulfil its ambition to deliver a binding ­referendum on independence to the Scottish electorate.

An awareness of that historic moment hung heavily upon its annual conference – which rolls to a close in Perth today. The SNP gathering has long been a forum in which eccentrics of every stripe felt free to indulge in alternative politics, protest votes and the fringe antics that, in the past, caused them to be dismissed as “kilted loons” and citizens of Brigadoon. This time, the eyes of the outside world were upon them and it behoved them to behave as a serious party of government. Its Perth conference also had to be the Nationalist equivalent of New Labour’s historic assembly when, in the interests of electability, it divested itself of such socialist totems as Clause IV and the Red Flag.

The SNP’s Clause IV was its past commitment to withdraw an independent Scotland from Nato. This originated from its ­opposition to Trident and any other nuclear deterrent on Scottish soil. Over the past half century, unilateral nuclear disarmament has become a litmus test of whether a political party belongs to the mainstream. The fact that the West stood firm and eventually saw off the Soviet Union destroyed the credibility that unilateralism had enjoyed in the days when people listened fearfully for the four-minute warning of a nuclear attack. Today, most voters associate unilateralism with duffel coats and Aldermaston marches; it is not part of contemporary political discourse. So, although the SNP was discussing many other ­issues at Perth, Nato was the potential game changer.

In the event, the modernisers won in Friday’s impassioned debate, but so narrowly as to leave a question mark over their victory. In the first key vote, the leadership won by 394 to 365; when the “payroll vote” of 21 ministers is factored in, it was almost a dead heat. This raises two ­issues. The first is the deep division exposed within the SNP on Nato: the narrowness of the vote contrasts with the overwhelming majority by which Labour ditched Clause IV in 1995 and, as we report today, the aftershocks will rumble on. The other issue is the unrealistic basis of the entire debate, which was only about membership of Nato. This was endorsed, but without the SNP abandoning its opposition to nuclear weapons based in Scotland. As things now stand, the SNP is committed to Nato membership – but with the proviso that Nato’s nuclear weapons are not hosted on Scottish soil. To remain anti-nuclear while professing loyalty to Nato is an untenable position.

The SNP has two years – realistically, 18 months – to revisit all the areas of its programme that are voter-unfriendly. If electability is the goal, there are other problematic issues to be addressed. The reassuring pledge to continue with the monarchy still seems too much an Alex Salmond policy, not sufficiently a party commitment. The EU issue needs spelled out, chapter and verse. Can the SNP secure a guarantee of retaining the pound and EU membership? It would help it enormously if it could. Its commitment to renewable energy is too extravagant a goal for a small nation when many other countries are rowing back on this. And the baffling decision to provoke an unnecessary controversy over same-sex marriage, which is now clearly a vote-loser, may not do the party any favours if it wants maximum support at the referendum. Ideological purity is a luxury of opposition; winning a referendum requires flexibility and compromise.

Brave act by Hollie

HOLLIE McRae was just nine years old when her ­famous father was involved in a helicopter crash near their Lanarkshire home in 2007. At the time, Colin McRae was the most famous rally driver in the world, his exploits on the tracks of his native country and further afield lauded across the globe. He was a hero to many and a family man made wealthy not only through his undoubted driving skills and performance under pressure in a highly competitive sport but, also from the adrenaline-fuelled computer games created in his daredevil image.

Two boys – including Hollie’s six-year-old younger brother Johnny – and one of McRae’s best friends died alongside him that grim Saturday afternoon. Those left behind, including ­Hollie and her mother Alison, had to pick up the shattered threads of their life and did so by helping to raise money for a charitable foundation in McRae’s name. As we report today on page three, Hollie, now 14, has written a moving foreword to a new book that marks the fifth anniversary of her father’s death. In it, she describes the immensity of her personal loss and how the memory of her father and brother inspires her every day. If the book spurs more donations to the foundation that at least brought some good out of the tragedy, then Hollie’s bravery in revealing her innermost thoughts deserves our applause.