Scottish National Party

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Scottish National Party
Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba
 
Scottish National Party Logo
 
Leader Alex Salmond
 
Founded 1934
Headquarters 107 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NW
 
Ideology Scottish independence, Social Democracy, Democratic socialism
European affiliation European Free Alliance
European Parliament Group Greens-EFA
Official colours Yellow, "Heather
 
Website
http://www.snp.org

The Scottish National Party (SNP) (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is a centre-left, Social democratic political party which campaigns for Scottish independence.[1] In the last few decades, the SNP has normally polled the second highest number of votes for a political party in Scotland. As a result of the 2007 elections, it is the largest party in the Scottish Parliament,[2] and is currently running a minority administration in the Scottish Government.

The SNP holds 47 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 2 of 7 Scottish seats in the European Parliament, and 6 of 59 Scottish seats in the UK Parliament. They also have 364 of 1223 Councillors in Local Government, helping form 12 out of 32 local administrations.

Contents

[edit] History

Main article: History of the Scottish National Party

The SNP was formed in 1934 from the merger of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party. The SNP first won a parliamentary seat at the Motherwell by-election in 1945, but Dr Robert McIntyre MP lost the seat at the general election three months later. They next won a seat in 1967, when Winnie Ewing was the surprise winner of a by-election in the previously safe Labour seat of Hamilton. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of the Kilbrandon Commission. The high point in UK General Elections thus far was when the SNP polled almost a third of all votes in Scotland at the October 1974 general election and returned 11 MPs to Westminster, to date the most MPs it has had.

[edit] Party organisation

The SNP consists of local branches of party members. Those branches then form an association in the constituency they represent (unless there is only one branch in the constituency, in which case it forms a Constituency Branch rather than a constituency association). There are also eight regional associations, to which the branches and constituency associations can send delegates.

The SNP's policy structure is developed at its annual national conference and its regular national council meetings. There are also regular meetings of its national assembly, at which detailed discussion (but not finalising) of party policy takes place.

The party has an active youth wing as well as a student wing. There is also an SNP Trade Union Group. There is an independently-owned monthly newspaper, The Scots Independent, which is highly supportive of the party.

The SNP's leadership is invested in its National Executive Committee (NEC) which is made up of the party's elected office bearers and 10 elected members (voted for at conference). The SNP parliamentarians (Scottish, Westminster and European) and councillors have representation on the NEC, as do the Trade Union Group, the youth wing and the student wing.

According to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission for the year ending 2004, the party had a membership of 10,854 in 2004, up from 9,450 from 2003. It had income of about £1,300,000 (including bequests of just under £300,000) and expenditure of about £1,000,000. [3] A high profile and controversial donor to the party is the founder of the Stagecoach Group, Brian Souter.[4]

By March 31, 2008, the party's membership had increased to 14,183[5].

Polling on support for independence has been inconsistent of late. However, an April 2008 poll had shown support for independence at 25% and support for "staying within the United Kingdom" at 59%. A multi-option question within the same poll reported 19% support for independence, 34% for the status-quo and 38% for a Scottish Parliament with additional responsibilities.[6]

[edit] Policy platform

The SNP's policy base is, by and large, in the mainstream European social democratic mould. For example, among its policies are a commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament, progressive personal taxation to redistribute wealth from rich to poor, the eradication of poverty, free state education including support grants for higher education students and a pay increase for nurses. It is also committed to an independent Scotland being a full member state of the European Union, to the country joining the single European currency at the appropriate exchange rate and is against membership of NATO.

Contrary to the expectations of many outside the party, the SNP is not expressly republican and its general view is that this is an issue secondary to that of Scottish independence. Many SNP members are republicans though, and both the party student and youth wings are expressly so.

The SNP is committed to maintaining an independent Scotland within the Commonwealth of Nations.

[edit] Party ideology

Although it is widely accepted that the SNP is now a moderate left-of-centre political party, this has not always been the case. Almost from the party's foundation there have been internal ideological tensions. This was largely a product of the way in which the left-of-centre National Party of Scotland amalgamated with the right-of-centre Scottish Party. Nowadays, ideological tensions within the SNP have mostly been resolved.

However, by the 1960s, the party was starting to be defined ideologically. It had by then established a National Assembly which allowed for discussion of policy and was producing papers on a host of policy issues that could be described as social democratic. Also, the emergence of William Wolfe (universally known as Billy) as a leading figure played a huge role in the SNP defining itself as a left-of-centre social-democratic party. He recognised the need to do this to challenge the dominant political position of the Scottish Labour Party.

He achieved this in a number of ways: establishing the SNP Trade Union Group; promoting left-of-centre policies; and identifying the SNP with labour campaigns (such as the Upper-Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in and the attempt of the workers at the Scottish Daily Express to run as a cooperative). It was during Wolfe's period as SNP leader in the 1970s that the SNP became clearly identified as a social-democratic political party.

There were some ideological tensions in the 1970s SNP. The party leadership under Wolfe was determined to stay on the left of the Scottish political spectrum and be in a position to challenge Labour. However, the party's MPs, mostly representing seats won from the Conservatives, were less keen to have the SNP viewed as a left-of-centre alternative to Labour, for fear of losing their seats back to the Conservatives.

There was further ideological strife after 1979 with the 79 Group attempting to move the SNP further to the left, away from being what could be described a 'social-democratic' party, to an expressly 'socialist' party. This produced a response in the shape of the Campaign for Nationalism in Scotland from those who wanted the SNP to remain a 'broad church', apart from arguments of left vs. right.

The 1980s saw the SNP further define itself as a party of the left, for example running campaigns against the poll tax. It developed this platform to the stage it is at now: a clear, moderate, centre-left political party. This has itself not gone without internal criticism from the left of the party who believe that in modern years the party has become too moderate.

The ideological tensions inside the SNP are further complicated by the arguments between gradualists and fundamentalists. In essence, gradualists seek to advance Scotland to independence through further devolution, in a 'step-by-step' strategy. They tend to be in the moderate -left grouping, although much of the 79 Group was gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the SNP should not take a clear left or right position.

The position of fundamentalists within the SNP is further complicated by the fact that modern fundamentalists are unlike the old-style. They tend to be on the left of the party, critical of both the gradualist approach to independence and what they perceive as a moderation of the party's socio-economic policy portfolio.

This grouping of "neo-fundamentalists" have their roots within the camp of the former Labour MP Jim Sillars.

[edit] European Free Alliance

The SNP retains close links with Plaid Cymru and MPs of both parties co-operate closely with each other. They work as a single group within the House of Commons, and were involved in joint campaigning during the 2005 General Election campaign. Both are in the European Free Alliance (EFA), which works with the European Green Party to form a grouping in the European Parliament: the Greens - European Free Alliance. Although there is no coalition in the Scottish Parliament (the SNP having run a minority government since May 2007) the Scottish Greens supported the appointment of the government under an agreement which also specified areas of common policy and gave the Greens input to the budget process and convenorship of the parliamentary committee on transport, infrastructure and climate change.

[edit] Ministers and spokespersons

Portfolio SNP Spokesperson
Leader of the Scottish National Party
First Minister of Scotland		 Alex Salmond MP/MSP
Deputy-Leader of the Scottish National Party
Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing		 Nicola Sturgeon MSP
Minister for Parliamentary Business Bruce Crawford MSP
Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture Linda Fabiani MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney MSP
Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Jim Mather MSP
Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Stewart Stevenson MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop MSP
Minister for Schools and Skills Maureen Watt MSP
Minister for Children and Early Years Adam Ingram MSP
Minister for Public Health Shona Robison MSP
Minister for Communities and Sport Stewart Maxwell MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill MSP
Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead MSP
Minister for Environment Michael Russell MSP
President of the Party Ian Hudghton MEP
SNP Westminster Group Leader, Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and for Defence Angus Robertson MP
SNP Westminster Deputy Group Leader and Chief Whip Stewart Hosie MP
SNP Westminster Work and Pensions, Trade and Industry and Energy spokesman Michael Weir MP

[edit] Party leaders

[edit] Electoral performance

Election Percentage of Scottish vote Seats won Additional Information
1935 General Election 1.1% 0 seats
1945 General Election 1.2% 0 seats
1950 General Election 0.4% 0 seats
1951 General Election 0.3% 0 seats
1955 General Election 0.5% 0 seats
1959 General Election 0.5% 0 seats
1964 General Election 2.4% 0 seats
1966 General Election 5.0% 0 seats
1970 General Election 11.4% 1 seat
1974 General Election (Feb) 21.9% 7 seats
1974 General Election (Oct) 30.4% 11 seats High water mark, until 2007. Increased presence contributed to Labour holding a devolution referendum in 1979.
1974 Regional Council Election 12.6% 18 seats
1974 District Council Election 12.4% 62 seats
1977 District Council Election 24.2% 170 seats
1978 Regional Council Election 20.9% 18 seats
1979 General Election 17.3% 2 seats Poor performance compared to the two 1974 elections caused internal ructions during the 1980s.
1979 European Parliament Election 19.4% 1 seat
1980 District Council Election 15.5% 54 seats
1982 Regional Council Election 13.4% 23 seats
1983 General Election 11.7% 2 seats
1984 District Council Election 11.7% 59 seats
1984 European Parliament Election 17.8% 1 seat
1986 Regional Council Election 18.2 % 36 seats
1987 General Election 14.0% 3 seats
1988 District Council Election 21.3% 113 seats
1989 European Parliament Election 25.6% 1 seat
1990 Regional Council Election 21.8% 42 seats
1992 General Election 21.5% 3 seats
1992 District Council Election 24.3% 150 seats
1994 European Parliament Election 32.6% 2 seats
1994 Regional Council Election 26.8% 73 seats
1995 Unitary Authorities Election 26.1% 181 seats
1997 General Election 22.1% 6 seats
1999 Scottish Parliament Election 28.7% 35 seats (including 7 First Past the Post seats) First election to the re-constituted Scottish Parliament. Finished second to Labour and became the official opposition to the coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrats.
1999 Unitary Authorities Election 28.9% 201 seats
1999 European Parliament Election 27.2% 2 seats
2001 General Election 20.1% 5 seats
2003 Scottish Parliament Election 23.8% 27 seats (including 9 First Past the Post seats)
2003 Unitary Authorities Election 24.1% 181 seats
2004 European Parliament Election 19.7% 2 seats
2005 General Election 17.7% 6 seats
2007 Scottish Parliament Election 32.9% 47 seats (including 21 First Past the Post seats) Largest party in the Scottish Parliament; formed the Scottish Government.
2007 Unitary Authorities Election 29.7% (of seats) 363 seats Largest party in local government (first ever Scottish local elections to be held under the Single Transferable Vote).

[edit] Criticism

The SNP have been charged with being "Anglophobic". In 2000, the Labour party said that two SNP members of the Scottish Parliament were anti-English after they "registered their support for Germany's (2006 Football World Cup) bid on its official website".[7] The SNP responded that they "have no position on where the World Cup is held" and that it was "silly to describe the website entry as anti-English".[8]

In 1999, the comedian Billy Connolly was quoted as saying, "the Scottish Parliament is a joke", and of the SNP, "it's entirely their fault, this new racism in Scotland, this anti-Englishness".[9] The SNP responded that Scots "are enthusiastic about the parliament and will dismiss his absurd remarks about the SNP for the nonsense they are."[10]

Prominent figures in Scottish politics such as Labour's George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock and the Liberal Democrats' Jamie Stone and subsequently Danny Alexander have publicly apologised for calling the SNP "xenophobic".[11] SNP MSP Ian McKee has by contrast pointed out his own status in the Scottish Parliament chamber as an Englishman[12] as evidence of there being no such anti-English feeling.

The party has been criticised over a £500,000 donation from the transport businessman Brian Souter. One month later, in April 2007, the SNP's commitment (made at the party's 2006 conference) to re-regulate the bus network was not included in their 2007 manifesto, although the SNP denies any direct link.[13]. Opposition politicians suggested that the donation and policy shift were linked and that it was a case of "cash for policies". [14]

Brian Souter went on to make a further donation of £125,000 to the SNP, making him their single biggest donor [15]. Souter made approaches to the SNP government for a £3 million subsidy for his company, Stagecoach, to develop a hovercraft service between Kirkcaldy and Portobello in Scotland[16]. The service had already received subsidy from the previous Labour administration for the pilot scheme, but was put on hold pending "clarification" of the public sector's involvement[17].

[edit] References

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
  1. ^ Independence — SNP - Scottish National Party
  2. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | SNP begins coalition discussions
  3. ^ electoralcommission.org.uk
  4. ^ Stagecoach tycoon donates to SNP
  5. ^ "SNP Press Release 2008-04-04"
  6. ^ "YouGov poll - 24-28 April 2008"
  7. ^ SNP's German support condemned
  8. ^ SNP's German support condemned
  9. ^ UK Scots 'anti-English' - survey
  10. ^ UK Scots 'anti-English' - survey
  11. ^ The Scotsman
  12. ^ The Scottish Parliament - Official Report
  13. ^ SNP under attack after bus U-turn
  14. ^ SNP accused of dumping bus plan to please millionaire backer
  15. ^ SNP faces hovercraft dust-up
  16. ^ SNP donor in £3.3m hovercraft subsidy plea
  17. ^ BBC NEWS | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Row over Forth hovercraft freeze

[edit] Further reading

  • SNP:The History of the Scottish National Party, by Peter Lynch, 2002
  • The Flag in the Wind, by John MacCormick, 1955
  • Scotland Lives: the Quest for Independence, by Billy Wolfe, 1973
  • Scotland: the Case for Optimism, by Jim Sillars, 1985
  • Stop the World; The Autobiography of Winnie Ewing, 2004

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Scottish National Party MSPs

Elected in the 2007 election
Brian Adam · Bashir Ahmad · Alasdair Allan · Keith Brown · Aileen Campbell · Willie Coffey · Angela Constance · Bruce Crawford · Roseanna Cunningham · Nigel Don · Bob Doris  · Fergus Ewing · Linda Fabiani · Joe Fitzpatrick · Kenneth Gibson · Rob Gibson · Christine Grahame · Chris Harvie · Jamie Hepburn · Fiona Hyslop · Adam Ingram · Bill Kidd · Richard Lochhead · Kenny MacAskill · Tricia Marwick · Jim Mather · Michael Matheson · Stewart Maxwell · Ian McKee · Christina McKelvie · Stuart McMillan · Alasdair Morgan · Alex Neil  · Gil Paterson · Shona Robison · Michael Russell · Alex Salmond · Shirley-Anne Somerville · Stewart Stevenson · Nicola Sturgeon · John Swinney · David Thompson · Maureen Watt · Andrew Welsh · Sandra White · Bill Wilson · John Wilson
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Scottish National Party MPs