Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Has the SNP got an independence problem? Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil says colleagues should ‘stop preaching’

Senior SNP figures such as First Minister Humza Yousaf and Pete Wishart are struggling to keep the movement united behind their party.

MP Angus MacNeil
Former SNP MP Angus MacNeil. Image: UK Parliament

The SNP’s challenge to hold on across Scotland at the next election is only being made more difficult by splinters in the nationalist movement.

Veteran nationalist Pete Wishart said he was bemused by the possibility of three other pro-independence candidates contesting the seat he holds.

Now, Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil, thrown out of the SNP last August, says its the SNP that should stand aside to give him a free run on an independence ticket.

“The SNP think solidarity is a one-way street, and arrogantly refuse to work with anyone, but make demands throwing their toys out of the pram,” he told the P&J.

“The SNP aren’t even making this election about independence but about asking Keir Starmer a question, wasting votes when Starmer inevitably says no.”

‘Stop preaching’

He added: “I do think the SNP should practise what they preach and put independence first or stop preaching.”

First Minister Humza Yousaf fuelled the row in recent days, saying votes for the Greens and Alba Party will be wasted since neither party has a hope of winning anywhere.

First Minister Humza Yousaf. Image: PA.

He warned splits in the nationalist vote could help unionist parties clinch some key seats when voters go to the polls.

Yet while support for independence and the SNP used to go hand-in-hand, that’s no longer the case, according to polling.

Mr MacNeil said his old party will struggle to be “taken seriously” in his island constituency due to a “conveyor belt of nonsense laws”.

Highland Councillor Karl Rosie joined Alba last month, saying his former party had neglected the needs and priorities of the Highlands.

Highland Councillor Karl Rosie joined Alex Salmond’s Alba Party. Image: Alba Party

For those like Mr Rosie in Alex Salmond’s party – which will run at least a dozen candidates in the election – vague promises of a second referendum are no longer enough.

Alba has had no electoral success whatsoever since being founded in 2021, but small margins could define who wins tightly contested seats.

The Scottish Greens – who share power at Holyrood – plan to run a record number of candidates when the election is finally called.

To frustrated SNP figures, this is a waste given the two parties are allied and share much in common.

To the Greens, it’s a natural way to continue boosting their profile after record successes in 2021.

North East MSP Maggie Chapman.

“No party owns anyone’s vote,” said North East regional Green MSP Maggie Chapman. “In the Scottish Greens, it is up to local branches to decide if and where to stand in elections.”

Green insiders said there was “frustration” at the SNP trying to corner the market for pro-independence votes.

“Pro-independence voters are not a monolith,” one said. “They have a wide variety of things to motivate them at the ballot box.

“Independence, while really important, is not the prescient thing on the minds of the voters. No political party owns a voter.”

The insider pointed out the SNP were once in a similar position to the Greens, before they achieved major breakthroughs.

With independence unlikely to be on the agenda even if Mr Yousaf would prefer otherwise, the Greens and Alba are unlikely to be cowed.

But nowhere better exemplifies how lingering feuds threaten the nationalists at the ballot box than the Western Isles.

Labour candidate Torcuil Crichton already stood a strong chance of winning the seat anyway.

Now he is almost a dead cert to come out on top, given Mr MacNeil and the SNP will be taking votes from each other.

But Mr MacNeil remains bullish about his chances – and if anything thinks being kicked out of his old party might help him.

“Daily I conclude that it is an increasing electoral asset for me to have been expelled from the SNP,” he said.


Listen to The Stooshie – the weekly Scottish politics podcast from the Press and Journal

Keep up to date with all our regional and national politics coverage on our dedicated pages here.

And stay informed by signing up to our daily politics newsletter.

Conversation