Scottish National Party

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Scottish National Party
Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Scots Naitional Pairty
Leader Alex Salmond
Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon
Westminster Group Leader Angus Robertson
Founded 1934 (1934)
Headquarters Gordon Lamb House
3 Jackson's Entry
Edinburgh
EH8 8PJ
Student wing Federation of Student Nationalists
Youth wing Young Scots for Independence
Membership 25,000[1]
Ideology Scottish independence,[2][3]
Scottish nationalism,[4]
Social democracy[5]
Civic nationalism[6][7][8]
Political position centre-left
European affiliation European Free Alliance
European Parliament group The Greens–European Free Alliance
Colours Yellow and Heather
House of Commons
6 / 650
European Parliament
2 / 6
Scottish Parliament
65 / 129
Local government in Scotland[9]
424 / 1,223
Website
http://www.snp.org/

The Scottish National Party (SNP; Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba; Scots: Scots Naitional Pairty) is a social democratic[10][11] political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. The SNP is the largest political party in Scotland, in terms of membership, number of MSPs and local authority councillors.

The SNP was founded in 1934, and has had continuous representation at Westminster since Winnie Ewing's groundbreaking victory at the 1967 Hamilton by-election.[12]

With the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second largest party in the legislature, serving two terms as the main party of the Opposition. In the 2007 general election the SNP won the most seats in the Scottish Parliament for the first time, forming a minority government with party leader Alex Salmond elected First Minister of Scotland. In the 2011 general election, the SNP won a landslide victory[13] and became the first party to form a majority government in the Scottish Parliament since its resumption.[14]

The SNP currently holds 6 of 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and 2 of 6 Scottish seats in the European Parliament. The SNP is also currently the largest group in Scottish local government and, in coalition, forms 12 out of 32 local administrations.

Contents

History [edit]

Main article: History of the Scottish National Party

The SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party. Professor Douglas Young, who was the leader of the Scottish National Party from 1942 to 1945 campaigned for the Scottish people to refuse conscription and his activities were popularly vilified as undermining the British war effort against the Axis powers. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted.

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 a UK general glection 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.

In the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary general election the SNP emerged as the largest party with 47 seats, narrowly ousting the Scottish Labour Party with 46 seats and Alex Salmond became Scottish First Minister. The Scottish Green Party supported Salmond's election as First Minister, and his subsequent appointments of ministers, in return for early tabling of the climate change bill and the SNP nominating a Green MSP to chair a parliamentary committee.[15]

In May 2011 the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats. Overall majorities are unusual in the Additional Member system that is used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, which was specially designed by the Labour UK government in 1999 to prevent any party gaining overall control of the parliament."[16]

Party leaders [edit]

Party presidents [edit]

Scottish parliamentary leaders [edit]

Westminster parliamentary leaders [edit]

Party organisation [edit]

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, the Young Scots for Independence, as well as a student wing, the Federation of Student Nationalists. 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 vested in its National Executive Committee (NEC) which is made up of the party's elected office bearers and six 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 2010, the party had a membership of 16232,[17] up from 15,097 in 2008 and 9,450 in 2003.[18] In 2004 the party had income of approximately £1,300,000 (including bequests of just under £300,000) and expenditure of about £1,000,000.[citation needed]

Policy platform [edit]

The SNP's policy base is mostly in the mainstream European social-democratic mould. For example, among its policies are a commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament, progressive personal taxation, 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, although retaining Sterling as a part of a currency union with the UK. The SNP has historically been opposed to membership of Nato, as part and parcel of its opposition to nuclear weapons, however at its 2012 national conference a vote saw party policy change to support of Nato, on the precondition of the removal of all nuclear weapons from Scottish bases.

Contrary to the assumptions of many outwith the party, the SNP is not republican, and its general view is that this is an issue secondary to that of Scottish independence. However, many SNP members are republicans and both the party student and youth wings are expressly so.[citation needed]However, the current stance of the SNP is that an independent Scotland would retain the monarchy which it currently has as part of the United Kingdom.

Following the party's landslide victory in the 2011 Holyrood election, the SNP will deliver on its longest standing policy promise, a referendum on Scottish independence. The referendum is scheduled to take place on the 18th September 2014,[19] with the actual transition to independence in the event of a Yes vote planned for March 2016.[20]

Party ideology [edit]

By the 1960s, the party was starting to become 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 based on social democracy. 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 and 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 centre-left 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 the Labour Party. However, the party's MPs, mostly representing seats won from the Scottish Conservatives, were less keen to have the SNP viewed as a centre-left alternative to Labour, for fear of losing their seats back to the Conservatives.

There were further ideological and internal struggles 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. Members of the 79 Group including current leader Alex Salmond were expelled from the 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 political 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 the so-called SNP gradualists and SNP 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.

This grouping of "neo-fundamentalists" have their roots within the camp of the former high-profile Labour Party MP Jim Sillars who left Labour to form the short-lived Scottish Labour Party in 1976 (the party had no connection with the UK Labour Party or the current "Scottish Labour" group in the Scottish Parliament). Sillars eventually joined the SNP, winning the Govan, Glasgow, by-election in 1988 to become an SNP MP. He lost the Westminster seat at the 1992 general election and expressed his disappointment by calling the Scottish people 'ninety minute patriots'.

Many political analysts recognize that the commitment of ordinary members and leaders to independence is so strong that comments about tensions are somewhat overblown and driven by the wishful thinking of unionist sympathisers. Some commentators have suggested that there are elements of the SNP party ideology which are anglophobic, something which has been denied by spokespeople for the party itself.

European affiliation [edit]

The SNP retains close links with Plaid Cymru, its counterpart in Wales. 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 the SNP and Plaid Cymru are members of the European Free Alliance (EFA), a European political party for regionalist national-level political parties. The EFA co-operates with the larger European Green Party to form the Group of The Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament.

Prior to its affiliation with The Greens–European Free Alliance, the SNP had previously been allied with the European Progressive Democrats (until 1984), Rainbow Group (1989–1994) and European Radical Alliance (1994–1999).

Ministers and spokespeople [edit]

Scottish Parliament [edit]

See also: Government of the 4th Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government, Members of the 4th Scottish Parliament
Portfolio SNP Spokesperson
Leader of the Scottish National Party
First Minister of Scotland
Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland		 Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP
Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party
Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment		 Nicola Sturgeon MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy Bruce Crawford MSP
Minister for Public Health Michael Matheson MSP
Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport Shona Robison MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy Bruce Crawford MSP
Minister for Parliamentary Business Brian Adam MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney MSP
Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Fergus Ewing MSP
Minister for Local Government and Planning Derek MacKay MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Michael Russell MSP
Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning Alasdair Allan MSP
Minister for Children and Young People Angela Constance MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Alex Neil MSP
Minister for Housing and Transport Keith Brown MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill MSP
Minister for Community Safety Roseanna Cunningham MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead MSP
Minister for the Environment and Climate Change Stewart Stevenson MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop MSP

Westminster Parliament [edit]

Portfolio SNP Spokesperson
Westminster Group Leader
Defence and Foreign Affairs		 Angus Robertson MP
Deputy Group Leader and Chief Whip
HM Treasury and Economic Affairs		 Stewart Hosie MP
Culture and Sport; Constitution Peter Wishart MP
Business; Energy and Climate Change Michael Weir MP
Transport; Constitutional Reform Angus MacNeil MP
Fisheries; International Development; Women; Work and Pensions Eilidh Whiteford MP

European Parliament [edit]

Portfolio SNP Spokesperson
President of the Scottish National Party
Fisheries; Regional Development		 Ian Hudghton MEP
Agriculture and Rural Development Alyn Smith MEP

Elected representatives (current) [edit]

Members of the Scottish Parliament [edit]

See also: List of Scottish National Party MSPs

Members of Parliament [edit]

See also: List of Scottish National Party MPs and List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland 2010–

Members of the European Parliament [edit]

See also: List of Scottish National Party MEPs

Councillors [edit]

The SNP has 425 councillors in Local Government elected from the Scottish local elections, 2012.

Electoral performance [edit]

Holyrood elections[21] Percentage of Scottish vote Seats won Additional Information
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.
2003 Scottish Parliament Election 23.8% 27 seats (including 9 First Past the Post 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.
2011 Scottish Parliament Election 45.4% 69 seats (including 53 First Past the Post seats) Formed the first majority Scottish Government.
Local elections[22] Percentage of Scottish vote Seats won Additional Information
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
1980 District Council Election 15.5% 54 seats
1982 Regional Council Election 13.4% 23 seats
1984 District Council Election 11.7% 59 seats
1986 Regional Council Election 18.2 % 36 seats
1988 District Council Election 21.3% 113 seats
1990 Regional Council Election 21.8% 42 seats
1992 District Council Election 24.3% 150 seats
1994 Regional Council Election 26.8% 73 seats
1995 Council Areas Election 26.1% 181 seats
1999 Council Areas Election 28.9% 201 seats
2003 Council Areas Election 24.1% 181 seats
2007 Council Areas Election 29.7% (first preference) 363 seats Largest party in local government (first ever Scottish local elections to be held under the Single Transferable Vote).
2012 Council Areas Election 32.33% (first preference) 425 seats Received largest number of first preference votes.
Westminster Elections[22] 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.
1979 General Election 17.3% 2 seats Poor performance compared to the two 1974 elections caused internal ructions during the 1980s.
1983 General Election 11.7% 2 seats
1987 General Election 14.0% 3 seats
1992 General Election 21.5% 3 seats
1997 General Election 22.1% 6 seats
2001 General Election 20.1% 5 seats
2005 General Election 17.7% 6 seats
2010 General Election 19.9% 6 seats
European elections[22] Percentage of Scottish vote Seats won Additional Information
1979 European Parliament Election 19.4% 1 seat
1984 European Parliament Election 17.8% 1 seat
1989 European Parliament Election 25.6% 1 seat
1994 European Parliament Election 32.6% 2 seats
1999 European Parliament Election 27.2% 2 seats
2004 European Parliament Election 19.7% 2 seats
2009 European Parliament Election 29.1% 2 seats The first European Parliament elections in which the SNP won the most votes within Scotland[23]

Criticism [edit]

Accusations of Anglophobia [edit]

The SNP have been accused of 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 FIFA World Cup) bid on its official website".[24] 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".[24]

Prominent figures in Scottish politics such as Labour's George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock[citation needed] and the Liberal Democrats' Jamie Stone[25] (and subsequently Danny Alexander[citation needed] - the current Chief Secretary to the Treasury) have publicly apologised for calling the SNP "xenophobic". SNP MSP Ian McKee has by contrast pointed out his own status in the Scottish Parliament chamber as an Englishman[26] as evidence of there being no such anti-English feeling. Indeed, McKee is one of six SNP MSPs born in England, along with other prominent figures such as Christine Grahame and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Mike Russell.

The SNP's founder, R.B. Cunninghame Graham is famously quoted as saying: "The enemies of Scottish Nationalism are not the English, for they were ever a great and generous folk, quick to respond when justice calls. Our real enemies are among us, born without imagination."[27] Graham was, along with close friend Keir Hardie, one of the founders - indeed, the first president - of the Scottish Labour Party in 1888.[27]

Accusations of "cash for policies" [edit]

The party has been criticised over a £500,000 donation from the socially conservative 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.[28] Opposition politicians suggested that the donation and policy shift were linked and that it was a case of "cash for policies", although no official accusations have been made.[29]

Souter went on to make a further donation of £125,000 to the SNP, making him their single biggest donor at that time.[30] 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.[31] 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.[32]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Custom byline text:  James McKillop (1999-01-09). "SNP pours scorn on critic Nationalists ridicule claims of dangerous links to white supremacists in the United States". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  3. ^ "Storm over MP Ian Davidson's SNP 'neo-fascist' remark". BBC News. 22 June 2011. 
  4. ^ Hassan, Gerry (2009), The Modern SNP: From Protest to Power, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 5, 9 
  5. ^ Hassan, Gerry (2009), The Modern SNP: From Protest to Power, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 4–5 
  6. ^ Brubaker, Rogers (2004), Ethnicity Without Groups, Harvard University Press, p. 134 
  7. ^ Mitchell, James; Bennie, Lynn; Johns, Rob (2012), The Scottish National Party: Transition to Power, Oxford University Press, pp. 107–116 
  8. ^ Keating, Michael (2009), "Nationalist Movements in Comparative Perspective", The Modern SNP: From Protest to Power (Edinburgh University Press): 214–217 
  9. ^ "http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/uklocalgov/makeup.htm". Gwydir.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  10. ^ SNP social democracy pledge | SNP - Scottish National Party[dead link]
  11. ^ Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  12. ^ "About SNP". Snp.org. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  13. ^ Barnes, Eddie (21 August 2011). "Salmond's Government in focus: 100 days is a long time in politics". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
  14. ^ Carrell, Severin (11 May 2011). "MSPs sworn in at Holyrood after SNP landslide". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2011. 
  15. ^ "SNP and Greens sign working deal". BBC News Scotland. 11 May 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2013. 
  16. ^ "alex-salmonds-snp-wins-majority-in-scottish-elections". channel4.com. Retrieved 12 July 2011. 
  17. ^ http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/119450/Scottish-National-Party-SoA-2010.pdf
  18. ^ SNP's membership surges by 60%, The Scotsman, 1 January 2009
  19. ^ "Scottish independence: Referendum to be held on 18 September, 2014". BBC News. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013. 
  20. ^ "Scottish independence: Transition plan' outlined". BBC News. 05 February 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013. 
  21. ^ "The Scottish National Party". Historylearningsite.co.uk. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  22. ^ a b c "The Scottish National Party". Historylearningsite.co.uk. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  23. ^ "Salmond hails 'historic' Euro win". BBC. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009. 
  24. ^ a b "SNP's German support condemned". BBC News. 30 January 2000. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  25. ^ "Lib Dem MSP Jamie Stone to quit Holyrood at election". BBC News Online (British Broadcasting Corporation). 2 June 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010. 
  26. ^ "The Scottish Parliament - Official Report". Scottish.parliament.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  27. ^ a b "The Cause: A History of Scottish Nationalism". BBC Radio Scotland. Retrieved 21 May 2013. 
  28. ^ "SNP under attack after bus U-turn". Business.scotsman.com. Retrieved 20 April 2010. [dead link]
  29. ^ "SNP accused of dumping bus plan to please millionaire backer". Sundayherald.com. 21 April 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  30. ^ Swanson, Ian. "SNP faces hovercraft dust-up". Edinburghnews.scotsman.com. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  31. ^ Paul Hutcheon (3 November 2007). "SNP donor in £3.3m hovercraft subsidy plea". Sundayherald.com. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  32. ^ "Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Row over Forth hovercraft freeze". BBC News. 19 February 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 

Further reading [edit]

External links [edit]

Scottish National Party MSPs

Elected in the 2011 election

Former SNP MSPs
MSPs in the Scottish Parliament (129)
MPs in the UK Parliament (59)
MEPs in the European Parliament (6)
Councillors in local government (1,223)
Other registered parties
Defunct parties
Members of the European Free Alliance European Union
Elected to the
European Parliament
Other members
Observers
British
Organisations
National entities of the british isles.png
Cornish
Organisations
English
Organisations
Irish
Organisations
Scottish
Organisations
Ulster
Organisations
Welsh
Organisations
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scottish_National_Party&oldid=556713470"