Ahead of the game: SNP party overview

[Image credit: Peter McNally]

On 19 September the result was crystal clear – Scotland voted against becoming an independent country.

The Better Together parties celebrated the continuation of the United Kingdom and when Alex Salmond announced his decision to stand down as First Minister, many must have thought this would put the brakes on the SNP.

And yet, in the weeks following the referendum, the party recorded an amazing growth in party membership, from 25,000 on 18 September to 100,000 at the last count. Nicola Sturgeon formally became First Minister and in November, she addressed a 12,000 strong rally at the Glasgow Hydro arena.

“Democracy rocks!” she told the assembled crowd after thanking them for attending.

She added: “I know we did not win the referendum but don’t the parties on the other side look for all the world like they lost?”

Speaking to Holyrood in January about her transition from deputy to First Minister, Sturgeon said: “I was very conscious of not becoming obsessed by being different to Alex and very much letting what makes me different to Alex show itself over time because I think it’s always a mistake to define yourself by who you are not, as opposed to allowing people to see who you are. 

I know we did not win the referendum but don’t the parties on the other side look for all the world like they lost?

“I suppose the things I was conscious of most, though, which was nothing to do with Alex but from drawing on my experiences as Deputy First Minister, was not assuming for a second that the step up to First Minister wouldn’t be anything other than big and significant because it is.

“I think you can have all the experience as a deputy in the world but I don’t think anything ever completely prepares you for stepping into the top job. Suddenly, you have got nobody else above you so you can’t just say I don’t want to make this decision, let somebody else make it. That can feel quite scary, no matter how senior you have been before. There is part of my brain that thinks I’m still 18, but when you are First Minister, you can’t give into that part of your brain very often.

“I was also conscious, following on from my first point, of being myself, to avoid the danger of trying to be what the media expects me to be and I’ve learned, sometimes the hard way, over the years that the most important thing you can do is be yourself, follow your instincts and learn to trust your own instincts. Sometimes you will get it wrong but hopefully, more often than not, you will get it right.

“In some respects, I guess it’s the same in any walk of life where someone goes from being in a deputy role or a role where they had a boss into being the boss, that there are lots of things you do in the deputy position that prepare you and that you draw on in terms of experience but it’s different once you are there.”

The party’s massive increase in membership presents its own problems. With so many extra bodies, how does the party keep control? The SNP’s supporters are particularly passionate, especially on social media and not always to their credit. The other parties have been quick to label them ‘cybernats’ and point to instances of SNP supporters trolling opposition members on Twitter and Facebook.

I don’t want to keep anyone ‘in check’

A few months ago, Holyrood asked deputy leader Stewart Hosie how he planned to keep new members in check. He said: “I don’t want to keep anyone ‘in check’. I also don’t envisage any difficulty keeping people engaged.  Many of our new members came to the SNP from the activism of the Yes campaign, the SNP now needs to focus on the next challenge – the 2015 General Election – and harness the campaigning energy our new members bring.”

In the months since the referendum, the SNP has turned its eye to that election. After much speculation it was confirmed Salmond would be fighting to return to Westminster. As May approaches, the country’s politicians have been whipped into a frenzy by consecutive polls which suggest the SNP are going to greatly increase their number of MPs.

Speaking at his adoption meeting as candidate for the Gordon constituency, Salmond said: “It is now clear that neither Tory nor Labour will win an overall majority. Neither are fit to govern. It is also clear that Scotland is swinging behind SNP candidates the length and breadth of the country. In that situation, Scotland can call the tune in the next Westminster Parliament.

“Now thoughts should turn to what that tune should be. Nicola Sturgeon has laid out a clear strategy and key priorities. We cannot give any support, formal or informal, to the Tories because of their track record of hostility to Scottish interests and the total bad faith of David Cameron towards the Scottish people the day after the referendum.

“However, support for any other administration comes with the condition of progress for Scotland. Progress to fully deliver the promises on real powers that were made to the Scottish people during the referendum. Progress to signal an end to austerity economics with all the damage that this is doing to the country and finally, common sense progress in stopping the waste of countless billions on new nuclear weapons.”

Some polls suggest the SNP could take over 50 seats at the General Election. In 2010 the SNP returned six MPs; the most it ever had was 11 seats, in the autumn election of 1974.

Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative peer and pollster, has suggested the 2015 election may be heading for a dead heat, with Labour and the Tories on 272 seats each and the SNP with as many as 56 MPs.

Sturgeon has said the SNP would not do a deal with the Conservatives but has suggested she might prop up a Labour minority government in return for three main policy commitments: more power for the Scottish Parliament; an end to austerity; and a decision not to renew the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system, which is based on the Clyde.

A recent piece of work for Ashcroft found that a government involving Labour and the SNP remains the most popular option, with 32 per cent of those polled favouring that. The current arrangement of a Tory/Lib-Dem coalition only has six per cent support in Scotland.

Other findings were 62 per cent would definitely not vote Conservative, while 73 per cent would definitely not vote Lib Dem.

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP said: “SNP MPs are there to stand up for Scotland, so we’ll make sure those things that most matter to the people of Scotland – jobs, the NHS, education and pensions – are not forgotten in Westminster. People want to empower Scotland, and they want to vote positively for a party 100 per cent focused on Scottish interests – and see the SNP as the only party which stands for that.”