A PLEA has been issued to the SNP leadership candidates to focus the last days of the contest on a “battleground of ideas and policies” instead of internal party politics.
The SNP’s policy development committee has written to Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf saying there is a “multitude of subjects” that members still want to know their opinions on.
The letter has put a list of questions to the candidates on issues around the economy and independence as well as on the governance of the party.
Toni Giugliano, the SNP’s policy development convener, said it was time to focus the contest on issues that matter as “parties that talk about themselves don’t win”.
“We need to make this a battle of ideas and political direction of the party and not what we have seen over the past 10 days or so,” he added.
The letter which has gone out to all three candidates stated: “We want to hear your priorities and plans to lead the Scottish National Party and the people of Scotland through the many challenges we face both as a party and a nation.
“From party governance to pandemic recovery, cost of living crisis, and looking forward to the road to independence, there is a multitude of subjects our members want to know your opinions on.”
It added: “This is a crucial time for the future of our party and our nation and it is incredibly important that due attention is given to matters of policy at this time.”
The questions include whether the candidates will continue to follow flagship SNP policies such as free prescriptions, free tuition, and baby boxes at a time of further austerity from the UK Government.
The contenders are also asked which economic development pathway they want Scotland follow – the Sustainable Growth Commission of 2018 or that of a wellbeing economy.
They are asked to give an example of an SNP policy that hasn’t gone far enough and what they would do to further it.
The committee has also put forward a series of questions on the candidate’s independence plans, including what they will do to ensure it is “democratically backed by the party membership”.
They have also been asked to outline what lessons they would take from Brexit in order to prepare for independence and avoid an “unnecessarily prolonged and difficult negotiation process”.
Other questions ask if the candidates will invest in an independence unit, publish a full archive of party policy agreed upon at past meetings for SNP members to access, and what steps they would take to improve the transparency of the party’s policy development process.
Giugliano said the letter had been issued to candidates to urge them to focus on policy and how to strengthen internal democracy within the party in the last days of the leadership race.
“It is on what are we going to do for people in Scotland as opposed to focusing on ourselves – as parties that talk about themselves don’t win,” he said.
“We know that about the Labour party and we’ve known that for a long time. We need to be careful we don’t step too much into that space.
“We are in a leadership race and we need to talk about lots of other things, but what is really important is that as a party of government, we go back to talking about the things that matter to people.
“That is how they can get through this cost of living crisis, how we can make their lives better, how we can improve public services, and also how we can move forward in our journey to independence.”
Giugliano also pointed to recent polling which suggested Labour’s lead over the Tories narrowed in the past week and said the SNP would have to reunite immediately following the announcement of the new leader.
“The SNP must really quickly get itself onto an election footing as we could find ourselves almost in a bit of a kingmaker position in Westminster if the polls continue to narrow and we get to hung parliament territory,” he said.
“It is possible - so the sooner we get ourselves ready for that election, the better.”
