Angus Robertson: ‘I’m right behind Nicola Sturgeon – not plotting to stab her in the back’

Former SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson has said he is standing in the forthcoming Holyrood seat battle with fellow Nationalist Joanna 
Cherry to “support Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership”.

Mr Robertson even appeared to pour cold water on the prospect of Ms Cherry – or himself – replacing Ms Sturgeon as leader of the party, revealing that he will back one of the “younger” generation of talent at the Scottish Parliament for the role.

The former Moray MP and Ms 
Cherry, the Edinburgh South West MP, are to contest the SNP nomination for the Edinburgh Central seat next year.

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Mr Robertson admits the showdown is being viewed by some as a “proxy contest about the future 
leadership” of the SNP, in his weekly column for the Edinburgh Evening News today.

Angus Robertson and Nicola Sturgeon. Picture: John DevlinAngus Robertson and Nicola Sturgeon. Picture: John Devlin
Angus Robertson and Nicola Sturgeon. Picture: John Devlin

“My long track record as a political team player and colleague of Nicola Sturgeon, including as her deputy over three years, should make absolutely clear that I am running to support her leadership,” he writes.

“I want to be selected as a full-time candidate for Edinburgh Central and elected as an SNP MSP to support her as First Minister in the Scottish Parliament, to secure and more importantly win the independence referendum.”

Ms Cherry has pushed for greater urgency to secure a second independence referendum and proposes that Holyrood pass legislation to stage a repeat of the 2014 vote which could then be challenged in court.

Ms Sturgeon does not support this but has said she could adopt this approach if Boris Johnson continues to refuse a transfer of power from Westminster, which has authority over the constitution in the UK, allowing a referendum to take place. Ms 
Cherry would stand down from her Westminster role if she were to win the Holyrood seat.

ngus Robertson, the SNP’s former Westminster leader.ngus Robertson, the SNP’s former Westminster leader.
ngus Robertson, the SNP’s former Westminster leader.

She made it clear that she would use the role at Holyrood to press the case for a second referendum on independence, as she confirmed at the weekend she would seek the nomination.

“We must have the right to choose our own future and we need a strategy to get us to that point of decision,” she said.

“With a large Tory majority across England, the UK is set firmly on a hard Tory agenda for the next decade.

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“Scotland will be completely ignored at Westminster, the movement for Scotland to be an independent European nation can only be realised from Holyrood and I want to offer my services where I think they can be of most use.”

Ms Cherry, the party’s home affairs spokeswoman at Westminster, is viewed as endorsing a “fundamentalist” approach to winning independence.

Mr Robertson suggests that the SNP must first “win the argument” and be sure that any future referendum is recognised by EU leaders.

“The only way we will succeed is with discipline, teamwork and focus on the prize,” he writes.

He also hints that Ms 
Cherry may find herself without a ministerial portfolio in a government run by Ms Sturgeon if the SNP, as expected, wins next year’s Holyrood election.

Mr Robertson writes: “No former or current Westminster MP should think they can just turn up at Holyrood without any direct experience of the institution and walk into any job apart from serving their constituents and 
being a good MSP. I certainly don’t.”

Ms Cherry is among the names who have been touted as a potential successor to Ms Sturgeon but Mr Robertson suggests that the torch is likely to pass to the next generation.

He writes: “Whenever Nicola Sturgeon decides to move onto new challenges many years down the line, hopefully after securing independence, I am sure there will a range of younger talents in the Scottish Parliament that I can support for their leadership skills and potential.”

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The First Minister played down speculation about her future in weekend television interview.

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme whether she will be in charge “for a few years yet”, Ms Sturgeon said: “Yes, I hope so.”

She added that commentary on the SNP’s internal rows was “slightly overblown”.

Ms Sturgeon said: “I do intend to lead my party into the next Scottish Parliament election and hopefully win that and stay as First Minister.”

She accepted that she would stand down one day but added: “That is not now, and it is not imminent.”

And she repeated that a second independence referendum had to be “legal and legitimate” in the face of demands to press ahead with a vote without a transfer of power from Westminster.