EUAN MCCOLM: As a delusional Swinney claims independence is just within his grasp, the stench of panic in the SNP is overwhelming

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

The stench of panic is overwhelming. First Minister John Swinney, humiliated by the SNP 's defeat in the recent Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse by-election, faces a revolution in his party.
There have already been public calls for him to step down while, privately, colleagues have discussed a possible coup.
In desperation, Mr Swinney is fighting back in the only way he knows how: by promising another push for Scottish independence.
In a speech in Edinburgh yesterday afternoon, the First Minister set out what aides described as 'his vision' for what Scotland could achieve if only it was no longer part of the United Kingdom.
Speaking at the Scotland 2050 conference, Mr Swinney waxed tiresome about the potential just bursting to be unleashed. It was time, he said, for Scotland 'to stand and flourish on our own two feet'.
'Independence,' said the First Minister, 'is the defining choice for this generation, have no doubt.'
Like a 'clear majority' of Scots, he believed 'our nation should have the right to choose'.
Of course, there is nothing especially notable about a Scottish Nationalist insisting the Union is in crisis.
That mantra has existed for decades. But Mr Swinney knows not only that there is no second independence referendum on the horizon but that most Scots do not think the constitutional settlement a priority.
A YouGov poll published in March showed that the question of whether Scotland should become independent sits at a lowly ninth on the list of things voters would like to see politicians deal with.
More important to the overwhelming majority are such matters as the state of the NHS, the economy, the housing crisis, and the need to tackle crime. But Mr Swinney's speech was not directed at those voters.
Facing the prospect of a destabilising leadership challenge, he was playing to the gallery of nationalist monomaniacs for whom independence must be achieved, no matter the cost.
In common with other rigid ideologues – think supporters of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn or hardcore Brexiteers – Scottish nationalists entertain no doubts about their convictions.
To the obsessive 'Braveheart', rejection by voters – whether in a Lanarkshire by-election or a national referendum – is simply proof that they've not pushed their agenda hard enough.
This crank mindset led to Corbynistas complaining they'd lost the 2017 general election to the Conservatives not because their leader was too Left-wing but because he wasn't Left-wing enough.
Similarly, many SNP politicians and activists believe their party lost in Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse because Mr Swinney had not played the independence card often enough.
There is no question that the First Minister made errors during the campaign which saw his party lose the seat, made vacant by the untimely death of sitting MSP Christina McKelvie, to Labour.
Mr Swinney's insistence that the by-election was a two-horse race between the SNP and Reform was not merely wide of the mark, it was catastrophically wrong. In fact, the numbers show it was the collapse in the nationalist vote that allowed Reform to come third.
Mr Swinney's speech in Edinburgh was straight from the Nicola Sturgeon playbook. During her nine years as leader of the SNP, Ms Sturgeon repeatedly declared that independence was just one last heave from being achieved. She promised referendums she could not deliver and she urged supporters to prepare for victory.
Unfortunately, despite the undoubted passion with which Ms Sturgeon spoken on the subject, her words could not bend reality.
Not only had she no power to deliver 'Indyref2', polls showed that the majority of Scots didn't want it.
John Swinney now stands in the delusion zone, established by Ms Sturgeon. From there, he proclaims victory is within his grasp.
The fact that the power to run another referendum remains with the UK Government is not the only bump in the road Swinney wishes to travel.
His government's record of failure is another barrier to him achieving his ambition of shattering the Union.
In yesterday's speech, the First Minister spoke of the ways in which Scotland had been held back by a 'broken' and 'failing' Westminster system.
'I have long believed,' he intoned, 'that Scotland is an afterthought to successive UK governments.
'Scotland is not on Westminster's radar in the same way, say, as London, the Midlands or the South East.
'It holds us back in ways big and small, leaving us waiting and praying, hoping that decisions taken at Westminster are not too damaging.
'We are prey to a broken system and a failing economic model – a system that delivers for a very few at
the very top, while living standards stagnate and real wages are squeezed for the vast majority.'
I have no doubt that this 'analysis' will satisfy nationalist fundamentalists for whom 'independence, nothing less' is the sole objective.
But others may, I must inform Mr Swinney, have noticed that, for the past 18 years, the SNP government has taken the vast majority of decisions relating to public services in Scotland.
Our NHS is not in crisis because of the actions of politicians at Westminster but because of the failure of the SNP to invest and reform.
Standards in Scottish schools have not plummeted because of the decisions taken by successive Prime Ministers in London but because of the neglect of the Scottish Nationalists.
Given the powers of the Scottish Government he leads, Mr Swinney's claim that Scots are 'prey' to a broken system is beyond laughable.
The First Minister's characterisation of Scotland as victim of the Union is further undermined by the latest spending review, announced last week, by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, which will see Scottish Government coffers swell with an extra £9.1billion.
When, two decades ago, the SNP moved from the fringes of Scottish politics to become the dominant force, the claim that the UK Government had forgotten Scotland had real power.
Disillusionment with Tony Blair's Labour Government was widespread in Scotland and the Nationalists, under the late Alex Salmond, had real energy.
But it's a very long time since the SNP could credibly blame 'Westminster' for Scotland's ills.
Under the Nationalists, our devolved parliament has gained greater powers, including over taxation, yet these steps on the road towards independence have not improved living standards for Scots.
Fighting to save his job, John Swinney wishes us to believe that Scotland will only truly prosper when it finally frees itself of the ties of Union.
The truth is that the SNP government is to blame for the parlous state of Scottish public services.
John Swinney and the SNP do not hold the solution to Scotland's problems. Rather, they are the cause of them.