Joanna Cherry calls for SNP strategy to deal with anti-IndyRef2 'dirty tricks' from Conservatives

The SNP should ‘war game’ its own strategy for dealing with “dirty tricks” by the Conservative party if they try to delay a second Scottish independence referendum, a leading SNP figure has said.

Joanna Cherry has called on the SNP to come up with a plan to deal with 'dirty tricks' to delay Scottish Independence

Joanna Cherry, writing in The National, has called on her own party to create a strategy group for Scottish independence which includes all aspects of the party, from the more gradualist approach towards independence to the more fundamentalist ‘independence now’ voices.

The firebrand MP who has been at the centre of the internal battle in the party has previously said her bid to run as a candidate to become an SNP was “hobbled” by internal rule changes.

Following reports that the Conservative party has been ‘war gaming’ its own plans to combat a second independence referendum, Ms Cherry said the SNP must work to combat “dirty tricks” that will be employed to delay another vote.

Calling for a fresh “copper-bottomed strategy” to deal with the delay, the MP for Edinburgh South West also said the party should use their annual conference to elect an national executive committee which “reflects the views of the membership”.

She said: “Some of the brains in the SNP who are not employed full time dealing with the Covid crisis would like nothing more than to contribute to the development of strategy but feel left out in the cold without an obvious avenue for such contributions to be meaningful.

"Wouldn’t it be great if these brains could be brought together to devise a strategy to be employed to deal with the inevitable Tory dirty tricks when yet another mandate is secured?”

Ms Cherry also said it was time for the party to “challenge the narrative” of there being two camps within the SNP, either backing Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon.

She said: “We need to move beyond the childish assumption that anyone who questions what is understood to be the leadership orthodoxy is disloyal or wants to replace the leader.

“Let’s also challenge the narrative which seeks to label us all as either Salmondites or Sturgeonites. Most of us actually have a mind of our own and what we all have in common is the desire for independence. We are on the verge of realising our dream and we need to work together to ensure that we do.”

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