A TOP strategist in the campaign for an independent Scotland has questioned whether the country would “want or need” an SNP after a Yes vote in the 2014 referendum.
Stephen Noon, who has worked for the Scottish National Party for much of the last two decades, argued that a vote in favour of independence would free Scotland from the 50-year-old constitutional question, paving the way for a “fresh start” for the country and its politics.
Mr Noon, the chief strategist of the Yes Scotland campaign, described a “new world” after such a vote, in which traditional dividing lines would be erased and SNP supporters could give their backing at the ballot box to Labour, and vice versa.
In an essay, he also talked of a new political landscape beyond 2014 with a “multitude of coalition choices”, including a “currently inconceivable” Labour and SNP partnership.
Mr Noon said he has worked for the SNP for most of the past 18 years, but it was only in 2007 that it became the party he had voted for most often.
The former floating voter joined the party because of his belief that gaining independence is “essential if we are to create a more successful and fairer Scotland”.
In a Sunday newspaper, he wrote: “But, after a Yes vote in 2014, that position is transformed.
“In 2016, Scottish politics will be freed from the constitutional question.
“The issue that has dominated political discourse for at least 50 years will be no more.”
Patricia Ferguson, Scottish Labour’s constitutional spokeswoman, said: “Given this government has ground to a halt and seems out of ideas, and that most Scots reject their core policy of independence, many people will be asking, ‘what is the point of the SNP now?’
“It is dishonest of Yes Scotland to suggest a border at Gretna will somehow free us of tough policy decisions.”