I FEAR for John Swinney. Leading your party and being First Minister doesn’t work. Humza, Nicola, Alex, Jack, Henry couldn’t do it and it killed Donald. It is also a British custom which hasn’t worked since Clem Attlee in 1945; it only worked for him as he had a host of battle-hardened lieutenants from the war coalition to help him and he still didn’t manage to abolish the House of Lords. Do we really want to follow the system that resulted in Liz Truss?
The only way you are likely to succeed is by delegating. The post of FM, though important, should not be a priority for the leader of the SNP, because, as we have seen with Westminster overriding Holyrood law, our “wee, pretendy” parliament is but a bauble offered to Scots to keep them distracted while being plundered. All that our parliament can offer the independence movement is an opportunity to showcase that we can govern ourselves sensibly, and that is not enough to swing the scale decisively towards independence. So delegate the job of FM.
READ MORE: John Swinney backs Humza Yousaf's Scottish independence strategy
But, if not FM, what will John do? Well there is Westminster, where in addition to making life hell for the Brits we should be using our questioning powers to find out what running those reserved powers for us really costs, so we can tell what having our own government would cost. Then there are our relations with other Scots. Will Alba fold if the SNP gets serious about independence again? How do we get to the third of Labour supporters who are not against indy? At what level of popular support will the US come out in favour of indy? Or the EU? Does our policy of joining Nato help or hinder? Where will we set up embassies? Who are our friends?
And all of the above comes with the overriding question of “How do we get indy?” In the absence of agreement on a referendum, which we have to take as read, then the answer lies in our Claim of Right of the settled will of the Scottish people. But that raises the question of what share of public opinion constitutes the settled will. It is unlikely to be less than 67%, so set that as a target and enthuse SNP members to get out on the doors and persuade fellow Scots of the benefits. The Overton window on indy is open, what Scots need now is the what, how, when and where of indy and they need those answers fast.
Leaving out the job of First Minister, just coping with the tasks above will be a job and a half.
Randall Foggie
Kirkcaldy
IN Tolkien terms, it seems that the age of Yousaf is now over and we are now entering the age of Swinney. I suppose we must offer congratulations to John on his elevation (certainly not election) to the post of First Minister and leader of the SNP. I am of an age to be able to remember his previous time in the leadership post 20 years ago and can only hope that we are not in for a repeat performance.
There will hopefully be a bounce in the SNP’s level of support in the opinion polls. It desperately needs that bounce. We must hope that the bounce will last long enough to rescue some SNP MPs from the unemployment queue after the coming General Election.
READ MORE: John Swinney says SNP must work 'very hard' to win back independence supporters
History is written by the victors and we will perhaps never know which of Ash Regan’s conditions, put to Humza Yousaf, the SNP leadership most objected to: 1. Independence, 2. Women’s rights, 3. A return to competent government. Perhaps it was all three. The very sad fact of the matter is that the current leadership of the SNP seem to hate Alex Salmond more than they love Scotland.
If recycling political leaders from 20 years ago is now the fashion, in light of the Tory local election losses perhaps Rishi Sunak will resign and Iain Duncan Smith will become the Tory leader again. Tony Blair might be just a phone call away if the UK General Election is not a landslide for Keir Starmer.
When Humza Yousaf was made First Minister, the SNP said he was the man to rebuild the party. The SNP are now saying that John Swinney is the man to rebuild the party. I think this rebuilding is being done by the same people trying to build the ferries and the A9.
John Baird
Largs
JOHN Swinney’s acceptance speech focused on his priority of tackling child poverty. Mr Swinney has a credible record on this issue, but in his speech was acknowledging that more can and must be done.
Under the SNP and with John Swinney in Cabinet, child poverty has been an ongoing issue at the forefront of economic policy at Holyrood. But it is very difficult to deal with head-on when Scotland does not have full welfare powers. The Westminster government is still in control of 86% of welfare spend in Scotland.
READ MORE: John Swinney's full speech after becoming SNP leader
The SNP in government at Holyrood with Mr Swinney in Cabinet have to be commended for the introduction of the “baby boxes”, and to date 292,720 have been issued, giving each child an equal start. Also, with Mr Swinney in Cabinet the SNP introduced the Scottish Child Payment, worth £26.70 per week per eligible child, something that is not available anywhere else in the UK. Again with Mr Swinney in Cabinet, the SNP in government abolished tuition fees for our students.
Poverty is something no child should experience and I commend our new First Minister-in-waiting for prioritising this issue, because Scotland’s future depends on our upcoming generations.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
WHAT a lovely, heart-wrenching piece (May 6) by OOR Ash, the rock to build bridges on and take a united independence movement forward ... except SHE voted alongside the Tories, Labour and LibDems in a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Government.
Is that how “we can put Scotland back on a solid foundation”? Oh that is right kind of you, Ash.
Ken McCartney
Hawic
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