SNP spent too long focused on independence – MASHAHER

The SNP has spent too long focusing on the “process of independence”, Scotland’s first minister John Swinney has said.

Mr Swinney was speaking at his party’s annual conference in Edinburgh during a closed-door session to dissect their defeat in July’s general election.

His comments to delegates were recorded and leaked to The Times newspaper, ahead of his official speech to the conference on Sunday.

The SNP lost dozens of MPs in July, following 18 months of turmoil that saw three leaders at the helm and an ongoing police investigation into party finances.

Mr Swinney was also heard making apparent criticism of the strategy pursued by his predecessors, Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf.

He pledged to one delegate in the hall that he would “never treat the party membership with contempt.”

As part of the drive to regain support before the next Holyrood election in 2026, Mr Swinney said the SNP had to win back the middle-classes.

Many party members have cited Labour’s message of “get the Tories out” as the reason for the switch in support from the SNP at the July general election.

The first minister also conceded that his government’s performance was “an issue” which had harmed their chances electorally.

He said: “For most of the last 17 years the government has been a big, big asset for the SNP but things have faltered and I need to fix that.”

His party had “got to a position where we disappointed voters,” but he believed they could win again at Holyrood in 2026.

SNP leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, said his party would have fared worse in the general election if a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Green Party at Holyrood had not ended.

Former first minister Humza Yousaf scrapped the agreement over fears that Green members were set to pull out of the agreement themselves.

The decision set off a chain of events that resulted in Mr Yousaf’s resignation.

Mr Flynn – who had long made clear his discomfort with the deal – told Holyrood magazine: “It wasn’t working.

“I think if we’d still been in coalition with the Greens, there wouldn’t be nine SNP MPs.”

But Scottish Greens’ co-leader, Patrick Harvie, hit back at Mr Flynn’s comments.

He told BBC Radio Scotland it was “very odd” for Mr Flynn to defend Humza Yousaf’s decision to “throw away” a pro-independence, progressive majority government.

Mr Flynn is expected to deliver a speech later at the conference in which he will criticises the recently-elected Labour government.

He will say the UK government will “take a hammer to public services” and call on his own party to “offer hope in the face of Labour party austerity cuts and misery”.

The MP will then go on to say: “We believe that decisions made in Scotland, for Scotland can deliver a better future for all.

“That becoming a normal independent country in Europe can meet our people’s needs and their aspirations.

“That it can deliver the basic belief that the next generation can and should aspire to a higher standard of living and a better quality of life than that which has gone before.”

Scottish Labour insisted that the SNP is responsible for the cuts to services in Scotland and said “no amount of spin can hide that”.

Deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “Labour is working to clean up the mess the Tories left behind and renew our country – including setting up GB Energy here in Scotland, making work pay and prioritising economic growth.

“It’s time for the SNP to stop making excuses and set out how it will fix the mess it has made of Scotland’s public services and public finances.”