How could I back anyone but the SNP and the bolshie, buoyant Scotland it stands for?
John Swinney launches the SNP's manifesto, 19 June. Photograph: Lesley Martin/Reuters
Just a few weeks ago there were 43 SNP MPs at Westminster, almost three-quarters of the total Scottish seats. It would be hard to argue that wasn’t a mandate for revisiting the vexed question of Scottish independence.
At the 2019 election, as we made our way to the polling booths, there was still a bolshie, buoyant feeling in the country, at least among those of us who believe the country’s best future lies in becoming one of the small, socially progressive European nations within the family of the EU. Independent of the UK, obviously.
OK, the SNP had lost a tranche of seats since the high-water mark of 2015, when the SNP won 56 out of 59 seats, leaving Labour, Tories and Lib Dems with one seat apiece.
At that time, Labour in particular was shocked that Scots voters hadn’t run away from the SNP after the failed referendum. In spite of their best efforts, an overwhelming majority of Scottish voters still voted for a party committed to the fight for independence.
I was one of that majority. I voted unhesitatingly for a party that promised the kind of country I wanted to live in. A lot of water has flowed under the Forth Bridges since then – incidentally now three magnificent crossings instead of two, thanks to an SNP government – and much has changed in the Scottish political landscape.
Some of it has come from within; much of it has come from outwith our borders. The seismic shocks of Covid and Brexit; the disgraceful and growing gap between super-rich and grindingly poor; the fiscal insanity of the Liz Truss government; the unemployment that accompanies globalisation; the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and their spin-offs: all these have dealt staggering blows to the economy, which in turn has had a severe impact on people’s lives and life chances.
And now we see Nigel Farage claiming he’s going to mount a takeover of the Tories, which will only align them more closely with the far right. The Tories themselves are a busted flush. And Keir Starmer’s Labour party is cleaving to policies that will align it with English voters who absconded to the right in the last election – tough on immigration, talking about increasing privatisation of the NHS, backing the opening of new North Sea oil and gas exploration, welcoming bolting Tories into the party. We even hear Labour figures admit their admiration for Margaret Thatcher.
None of this is what the Scottish people seem to want.
We back the Scottish Child Payment for all our children, the most ambitious measure anywhere in the UK against child poverty. We refuse to implement the iniquitous bedroom tax. We support the baby box, given to every infant born in Scotland. We support free prescriptions, free dental care for people under 26, free parking at hospitals, free university tuition.
I could go on, but I’m not delivering a party political broadcast and I’m not suggesting for a nanosecond that the SNP is without its faults. That, frankly, would be absurd.
But they do have the freedom to put Scotland’s interests first.
Labour, Tory, Lib Dems? Not so much. They’re branch offices. They do what they’re told. Whatever Anas Sarwar or Douglas Ross claims, they remain under the thumb of their Westminster bosses. That’s not gone so well for Scotland in recent years. As soon as they return to power, they’ll forget all about Scotland again.
Even if the SNP loses as many seats as the Unionist-leaning media have suggested, it might be no bad thing. Maybe we can learn something from our auld alliance with the French. They’ve got a great expression: reculer pour mieux sauter – take a few steps back to make a better jump. A few years at the edges of power could give the next generation of leaders time to learn their trade.
The SNP ship of state has sprung some serious leaks in recent years – but compared with the alternatives, how can I not vote SNP?
Val McDermid is a Scottish writer. Her latest novel is Queen Macbeth