Scotland may need new pro-independence party, says ex-SNP MP

A new pro-independence party may be required in Scotland as a result of the “rot” that was revealed in the wake of the Alex Salmond trial, a former SNP MP has said.

Nationalist veteran Jim Sillars said the aftermath of the case last month - in which the former first minister was cleared of all charges - was like a “volcanic eruption” within the party.

The former MP for Govan said there is a “need for a complete clear-out of the highest levels of the party before it is again fit to lead”.

Writing for the forthcoming edition of the Scottish Left Review, due to be published in May, the former SNP depute leader criticised “the cult of personality, the obsessive desire of leaders for complete control of the membership and parliamentarians, the growth of a clique of acolytes, one-person rule” within the party.

Marchers make their way through Glasgow during a pro-independence rally in January

“There has been a rot growing at the heart of this organisation for years,” he said.

The former MP said while the trial of Mr Salmond - who was acquitted of a total of 13 charges at the High Court in Edinburgh - is now over “the trial of the SNP both at party and parliamentary level is yet to begin”.

He added: “It is unavoidable.”

With talk of two different factions within the SNP - one supporting the former first minister and the other backing his successor Nicola Sturgeon - Mr Sillars said he is in neither camp.

But he added: “It is the effect of that coming volcanic eruption on the SNP as a party, as the electoral wing of the independence movement, that matters.”

Mr Sillars wrote: “Not being in the Salmond camp but in the SNP and having devoted the major part of my political life to the cause of independence, I see a need for a complete clear-out of the highest levels of the party before it is again fit to lead.”

But he warned the party might be so tainted by what is revealed in the aftermath of Mr Salmond’s trial that a new party will have to be set up to take its place.

Mr Sillars, who set up the breakaway Scottish Labour Party in the 1970s, said his experience shows this is “not easy” - with the SLP collapsing after the 1979 general election.

He said while it is “better to cleanse a sword than discard it” he questioned what will happen “if the sword can not be cleansed enough”.

Mr Sillars said: “The independence movement is not just the SNP but the movement as a whole has much invested in the party as the instrument to achieve democratic success.

“As the rot is uncovered, the temptation - already being thought of by some - will be to set up something new, untainted, in its place. That might need to be done if the damage to come proves fatal.

“I hope not, because it is not easy to replace and fill the electoral space of a long established organisation. I speak from experience of an attempt to do so in the mid to late-1970s with the Scottish Labour Party.

“It is better to cleanse a sword than to discard it in the hope of finding another. But if the sword cannot be cleansed enough ... well ... we shall see.”

Mr Sillars added: “There is enormous strength, and ability, in the independence movement.

“Whatever direction is taken, it will eventually succeed.”

Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray said: “The SNP civil war is a ticking time bomb that puts the interests of Scotland last.

“The Nationalists have spent so long trying to divide the people of Scotland, it appears they now want to divide themselves as well.”

He added: “When the coronavirus crisis is over, the idea that people in Scotland will want to go back to the business as usual politics of constitutional division is laughable.

“As we all seek to deal with the long-term impact of coronavirus, we need to work together to focus on what matters - our NHS, our communities, people’s incomes and the economy.”