National park: 'Decision to ditch plan is helpful to SNP opponents in Galloway and West Dumfries'

ITV News

2 days ago

On the steps outside Bute House in summer 2021, a deal between the SNP and the Greens was hailed as a marriage made in heaven.
Nicola Sturgeon – remember her? – said it would provide stability and, crucially, a shared policy platform for the coming five years.
One of the most eye-catching plans was for a new national park with Galloway eventually being chosen as the location.
But, much like the park plan, the Bute House Agreement collapsed when Humza Yousaf sacked the Greens from the Scottish government in a bid to strengthen his position as Ms Sturgeon's successor.
The political divorce cost him his job.
But it did strengthen the hand of John Swinney when he replaced Mr Yousaf as First Minister.
Why? Well, there was a feeling amongst large chunks of the SNP that the previously mentioned shared policy platform was letting 'the green tail wag the yellow dog' and proving unpopular with voters.
And a series of policies have been dumped or kicked into the long grass since Ms Sturgeon left office, including the deposit return scheme, gender reforms, highly protected marine areas, the expansion of heat pumps being installed in homes, and now the new national park.
You'll probably have noticed something. All of those schemes have a decidedly green tinge to them. In fact, all of them were previously seen as big wins for the Scottish Greens in government.
It's a bit like dividing up belongings after a break-up. There are some things that end up in the bin.
And the SNP has decided to get rid of everything that reminds them of their former partners while they try and woo the electorate.
Remember, support for the party has fallen by more than 10 percentage points over the last five years even if it remains ahead of its rivals in Holyrood polls.
Strategists at the top of the Scottish government believe the policies that have been shelved over the last year were at best divisive, at worst unpopular.
And Mr Swinney – who as deputy first minister was both key to negotiating the Bute House Agreement and central to its running – is looking to only take forward plans that will prove less controversial with less than a year to go until the Holyrood election.
See the scrapping of peak rail fares (which was, in fact, pushed heavily by the Greens) and the reinstatement of some form of winter fuel payment for every pensioner in Scotland, even if it is not universally at the same level as previous UK government payments.
It's essentially the same tactic used by Sir Keir Starmer in the run-up to the general election: get out of your opponents' way while they are making mistakes and don't make any of your own.
Since Labour arrived in power at Westminster, it is the prime minister who has been regularly shooting himself in the foot.
Having said all of that, the decision to ditch Galloway National Park is perhaps most helpful to the SNP's direct opponents in the Galloway and West Dumfries seat, the Scottish Conservatives.
Contests in the seat have been incredibly tight between the two and the rise of Reform UK has left a good few Tories worried that this could be the year the seat turns yellow.
But there would have been another disruptor providing Conservative candidate Finlay Carson with a headache had the park gone ahead.
I have it on very good authority that an explicitly anti-park candidate, who is a well-known figure locally, would have stood on that singular platform, almost certainly drawing support away from Mr Carson in the process.
John Swinney has decided the SNP is much better served as a political singleton. In the process, he has dumped not just the Greens but also some of their most controversial policies, of which Galloway National Park is just the latest.