Lesley Riddoch: The SNP's usual attack lines won't work now

The National

a day ago

Joani Reid must possess steely determination to be Labour MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven. But then she is grand-daughter of the shipyard legend and independence campaigner Jimmy Reid.
And he must have been birling in his grave yesterday as his lass contemptuously stuck it to the SNP during Prime Minister's Questions.
'Can I ask the Prime Minister, has he seen calls from within the SNP for John Swinney to resign? And does he agree with me that a leader who's only ever lost elections to the Labour Party should stay put?'
This prompted gales of laughter from the Labour front bench.
And that hurt. There wasn't even a cutaway showing a furious Stephen Flynn.
With just nine MPs, the SNP is now treated as a spent force at Westminster (even though they have a bigger parliamentary group than Reform UK). And as a friend of mine observes, 'no-one kicks a dead dog'.
So, the fact a Labour MP saw fit to take game at a recent moment of weakness, suggests they know fine well the SNP is still tipped to become the biggest party in the 2026 Holyrood elections.
Yet it felt as if she had just kicked sand in nobody's face. Hard to watch.
But then mockery is just one of the things that come your way when you lose. And defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election was certainly a loss, no matter how much the SNP dresses it up otherwise.
The other thing that happens is public questioning of the man in charge and his suitability to lead.
READ MORE: SNP minister responds to 'secret meeting to discuss John Swinney leadership' reports
This was turbo-charged by news that 25 'senior SNP figures' held a secret meeting on Monday where the removal of John Swinney as party leader was discussed. According to this paper: 'Attendees said the First Minister has two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence or face a 'bloodbath' at the SNP conference.'
For those of us bemoaning the indy-free nature of the Hamilton by-election campaign, such straight-talking and muscular movement within the party is long overdue.
And it's tempting to join the ranks of those commenting on Swinney's leadership.
But there's a more important question that needs greater focus.
What will boost support for independence through the 2026 election and beyond?
When that is answered, we can see who is right for the tough task of inspiring a new, more engaged and more combative SNP.
First Minister John Swinney is facing unrest within the SNPJust challenging the current leader with no clear vision of what lies ahead, risks upending the boat without a canny new captain and prompting more barbed remarks at Swinney's expense. And that actually helps no-one but his Unionist opponents.
As it is, the terrain leading to 2026 brings to mind the Battle of Flodden Field, fought in 1513, where the Scots were exposed on all sides and suffered heavy losses, including the death of their king.
Let's be clear, it's not going to come to that. But the SNP finds itself politically outflanked on all sides.
And it'll take energy, purpose, dynamism and a clear unapologetic strategy for independence to fight clear, and as Jonathan Shafi notes, that means more than occasionally intoning the I-word.
Why?
Because after years and even decades in the doldrums, Labour is out confidently gunning for the SNP. And if they don't hit their mark, there's every chance Reform will.
READ MORE: 'Everything for Keir Starmer is England': Brian Cox calls for Scottish unity
The polls still suggest the SNP will be the largest party in 2026 and many supporters will feel there's no need to panic. But a year is a very long time in politics. And it's been ages since the SNP faced challenge from two parties 'on the rise'.
Let's take Labour first.
In yesterday's spending review, the Chancellor pledged defence spending cash for the Clyde and Rosyth and finally gave the thumbs up to the Acorn carbon capture project near Peterhead, thus pledging jobs for the oil and gas-focused Grampian area while also stealing one of the SNP's biggest grievances about the Westminster Labour Government.
Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison was right to tell Radio Scotland she fears that 'only development and not delivery costs are being covered. If there was a big figure to come, I think they'd be giving it now'.
That's a fair point, but right now it can easily look carnaptious.
The SNP have got what they wanted and are still not happy. You can see Ian Murray's script already.
Scottish Secretary Ian MurrayOf course, there IS a critical position on Acorn but the CCS-supporting SNP can't make it.
According to Oil Change International: 'CCS (carbon capture) has been failing for half a century and its only significant success has been the billions pocketed by industry in public subsidies.
'With the decision to grant funding for the Acorn and Viking carbon capture projects, Rachel Reeves has added to that track record. Instead of funding real transition policies like training for workers, port upgrades and investments in the UK wind industry, the Chancellor chose to funnel more money to the oil and gas industry's latest distraction tactic.
'The Government still has an opportunity to get serious about a just transition and put money where it is really needed, which is not the pockets of oil and gas bosses.'
I'd say that is very fair comment. But it's not a defence line the SNP can use unless they get real about the very marginal part CCS can play in a future without fossil fuels.
Other SNP attack lines were also closed down by yesterday's review.
READ MORE: UK Government announces funding for Acorn carbon capture project in Scotland
Scotland will now host the UK's most powerful supercomputer following a U-turn on the University of Edinburgh project. It was selected to host the project years ago by the Tories who promised £800m. But last August, Labour scrapped that plan claiming it was an 'unfunded commitment'. Cue academic fury.
But now that faux pas has been corrected.
So, like the Winter Fuel Payment U-turn which lets the brass-necked Scottish Secretary accuse the SNP of failing pensioners (breath-taking cheek), so the new £750m 'landmark' investment is being larged up by Labour as 'placing Edinburgh at the forefront of the UK's technological revolution'. Which means SNP complaints will sound like sour grapes.
That is the intention.
Ditto £250m for the Faslane nuclear base which fits into Murray's Radio Scotland pledge on nuclear power in the wake of Rachel Reeves' £14 billion to complete Sizewell C. 'If Labour wins in 2026, we'll reverse the SNP's veto on nuclear energy.'
Now nothing nuclear would be needed in Scotland if we could develop our own energy mix. But we don't. And more engineering jobs pleases unions like the GMB.
It works for substantial nuclear industry and pressure groups. And it works for some climate change activists willing to overlook the facts of exorbitant cost, decade-long delays, Fukushima-like safety concerns and Dounreay-like radioactive contamination.
The Faslane nuclear base will undergo a major renovation (Image: PA) Yip, it's crazy, but if the Scottish Government wants to maintain its nuclear veto, it must make the arguments instead of resting on CND laurels and fight for its right to party. It needs a wholesale critique of a UK energy system that was privatised to within an inch of its life by Thatcher 30 years ago. A system that doesn't work for Scotland.
But we don't hear a peep.
Without some coherent attack lines, Scots may think the hardware piling up in our landscape extracting energy for southern shareholders is done at the behest of the Scottish Government, since they are last in the food chain giving planning consent.
It's not true. Energy, grids, pylons, cables and turbines are all reserved to Westminster. But if the SNP does no serious work to reallocate responsibility, the underwhelming jobs and tiny income boosts of the green transition will all be blamed on the SNP.
And if people don't come to that conclusion themselves, you can bet your bottom dollar Nigel Farage will be there to help them.
So, the SNP's old attack lines are almost gone. Claims of success belong largely to the old glory days.
There's the problem.
Who in the SNP has the courage, energy and collaborative spirit needed to unravel it?