#SNP14: Will we find substance behind the rhetoric?

The SNP party conference begins in Aberdeen tomorrow. The two day event in the AECC is in essence a rallying call for the party’s troops. The hour the SNP have been waiting for since the party’s inception 80 years ago is almost upon them. However, this is also the last big chance before the referendum for the SNP to make their case for Independence and sway any of those undecided voters. The question is can they do it or will what the SNP have to say only appeal to party members, journalists and political geeks like myself. Reading through the list of proposed resolutions for the conference it’s clear the SNP will be playing their greatest hits: Scotland’s Future; Scotland’s Economy; Scotland in Europe and that old classic Renewables. Naturally SNP are playing to the crowd. The party faithful will be delighted with this set-list but for those on the outside, still wondering what independence could mean for them, it perhaps fails to inspire.

Where will poverty be addressed in this conference programme?

For the third sector the big issue in Scotland today and for Scotland in the future – independent or not – is poverty. According to SCVO’s Scotland’s Future’s Survey, this is the main issue the sector wants to see debated by both sides. But where will poverty be addressed in this conference programme? The rhetoric that only with the powers of independence can the Scottish Government solve Scotland’s problems is there but the substance is lacking. For example, just how will independence help the over 850,000 in Scotland living in poverty? We know from the White Paper a little of what the SNP would do - abolish the bedroom tax, ensure the minimum wage rises in line with inflation - but what an independent Scotland could mean in our fight against poverty needs greater detail. Furthermore, the outcomes section White Paper’s lengthy chapter on Finance and the Economy fails entirely to mention people. This is part of the reason for SCVO’s fringe event A New Economic Model for Scotland. While SCVO appreciates the importance of the economic debate, questions about oil and gas revenues and the currency are not to be dismissed lightly, we need look beyond these issues and consider how we can make our economy work better for people and business and promote the wellbeing of the many not just the few. If you want to hear more join us on Saturday morning @ 9am, Room 3/4, Block A. The event will be chaired by Holyrood Magazine’s Mandy Rhodes, with John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth, Ross Martin, Chief Executive of the SCDI and SCVO’s own John Downie on the panel. (There’ll be bacon sandwiches). In this referendum debate it is easy perhaps for the SNP party loyal to have faith that independence will provide the opportunity to create a fairer, more equal society and economy, built around the needs of citizens. For those of us on the outside more details on how independence will do this are needed before making any such leap.