SNP urged to ‘come together’ by its former Westminster leader
Story by By Dan Barker, PA Scotland • 1h ago
The SNP has been urged to “come together” by its former Westminster leader now the party has selected Humza Yousaf as First Minister.
Ian Blackford’s comments came just 24 hours after SNP president Mike Russell told The Herald newspaper that Scottish independence cannot be secured in the immediate future amid the ongoing police investigation into party finances.
Mr Blackford told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Monday that Mr Russell was signalling that the party is facing “a very challenging period”, and warned that “political parties that aren’t united tend to face electoral challenges”.
The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber added: “I would appeal to everyone in the party to come together now the election contest for the leader and the First Minister is over.
He said: “I’m optimistic but we need to make sure that we show that we’re worthy of the support of the people of Scotland.”
He added: “If we look at support for independence, it’s still hovering around about or close to the 50% level.
“We need to demonstrate that we are worthy of the trust of the people and it’s about, I would say, the Scottish Government delivering across all the devolved areas and doing the work that we need to do to demonstrate that the best answer for Scotland is to become an independent country.”