Senior SNP MP warns party hasn't made independence '˜relevant'

The SNP's deputy leader at Westminster has warned her party that they have failed to make a relevant case to the Scottish people for independence.
Kirsty Blackman. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA WireKirsty Blackman. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire
Kirsty Blackman. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire

Kirsty Blackman, the MP for Aberdeen North since 2017, said that the SNP needed to realise that for the vast majority of Scottish voters, the constitutional question is not paramount.

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Ms Blackman told Business Insider: “There is a framing issue around it - a lot of people don’t get up in the morning and think about the union and how wonderful it is for their lives or how wonderful independence would be for their lives.

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“Even ardent supporters of independence or unionism don’t think about those things.”

The former councillor, who has been mentioned as a potential future leader of the party, suggested that the SNP, which lost 21 MPs at the snap election amid a backlash against plans for a second referendum, said the party has struggled to make a relevant case for independence.

She added: ““What we need to do is make the arguments relevant to people. That’s something politicians have struggled with and haven’t done well enough.

“We need to be talking about the economic benefits of independence — because I believe there are lots of them — and how that would impact on people’s daily lives. Ways independence would improve their lives.”

Ms Blackman had noted in a previous interview that most Scots ‘don’t give two hoots’ about independence.

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