SNP gathers for spring conference
The Scottish National Party’s annual spring conference opened in Aberdeen today.
The two-day conference is taking place less than two months ahead of the local council and European elections on June 10th and the SNP intends to use the event to modernise the party.
Party leader John Swinney said he hoped the conference would agree to a new constitution aimed at refocusing the party towards modern electioneering.
“Internal reform has been put off by the SNP for the best part of the last 20 years,” he said. “I have come to the conclusion that our internal organisation and our constitution are holding the party back.
“I want to liberate the party to do what it was set up to do, to win Scottish independence.”
Most of the internal reforms proposed by SNP politicians are expected to be approved by delegates.
However, the conference is likely to be overshadowed by continuing speculation about Mr Swinney’s future, after the party saw its share of the vote last year’s Scottish Parliament elections. A new centralised membership system has seen numbers fall to around 7000, compared with around 16,000 last year.
The proposals unveiled by Mr Swinney in his opening speech to delegates included plans to introduce one member, one vote for the election of the party’s leader, deputy leader and selection of candidates, a proposal to make it harder to mount a leadership challenge and a plan to ensure “a balanced list of candidates, particularly in regard to gender”.
Some of the proposed reforms, such as the appointment by the party leader of a business convenor to chair the national executive and oversee the running of the party, are expected to provoke heated debate.
Under new plans, the formal goal of Scottish “self-government” would be replaced by a commitment to full-blown independence, Mr Swinney announced, while its national executive would be slimmed down from 32 seats to 21.
Mr Swinney saw off a leadership challenge last year from Dr Bill Wilson with an 84 per cent majority.
The SNP leader defied his critics this afternoon and told delegates he would lead the SNP into the 2007 Holyrood general election campaign.
Some reports suggest that the conference may be marred by poor attendance after two letters and an email were issued from SNP headquarters this week urging members to attend.
