A FORMER deputy leader of the SNP has issued an open letter to the independence movement warning the war in Ukraine has made talk of another referendum “foolish”.

Jim Sillars said the “ignorance” at the top of the SNP and Greens about how Russia’s war had profoundly changed the decision facing Scots was “staggering”.

He attacked Nicola Sturgeon and her Green allies in the Scottish Government after they maintained Indyref2 could still be held by the end of next year.

He said the war had made Scotland’s strategic importance to the UK, Europe and America far greater, and the Yes movement needed new policies in response.

Mr Sillars, who was deputy to Alex Salmond in the early 1980s, was particularly scathing about Scottish Greens co-leader and minister Patrick Harvie.

Mr Harvie last week said that, unlike the SNP, his party was opposed to an independent Scotland being in the Nato defence alliance because of its first strike nuclear policy.

He and Ms Sturgeon also said they had not changed the Scottish Government’s plan to have Indyref2 by the end of 2023, provided the Covid crisis has passed. 

Mr Sillars said: “Patrick Harvie has demonstrated how unfit he, and those who promoted him, are to lead Scotland to independence. Their obsession with Indyref2 has promoted means over end. Their ignorance of the geopolitical consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine, which will bear upon the decision Scots will have to make, is staggering.

“The prime objective of the independence movement is not to hold a referendum now, but to create an overwhelming majority for independence. Only when that is achieved do we want a referendum, because that will be one we can win. That is not the case today.”

Warning Ms Sturgeon and Mr Harvie cannot ignore the geopolitical consequences of the Ukraine war, he concluded: “Putin’s mad gamble has the consequence for Scotland of changing the relative importance of the components in the case for independence. New policy is required, and until that work is done any talk of a referendum is foolish.”

READ MORE: Neil Mackay - SNP should stop taking Scotland for fools and admit Indy is over for now

It emerged earlier this month that Mr Sillars donated £2000 to Labour MSP Jackie Baillie’s re-election campaign in the 2021 Holyrood election.

Ms Baillie’s successful defence of her marginal Dumbarton seat against the SNP helped deny an overall majority at Holyrood, potentially tipping the balance against Indyref2.

“If that was a consequence of it, so be it,” he said.

A  fequent critics of Ms Sturgeon, Mr Sillars was a Labour MP before joining the SNP and securing a return to the Commons in 1988 when he won a famous by-election in Govan.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “After donating to Scottish Labour’s election campaign and agreeing with the Tories when it comes to denying climate science, Jim Sillars already has one foot in the Better Together camp, so we shouldn’t be surprised that his enthusiasm for independence has waned.

“The public elected a majority in favour of holding an independence referendum during this parliamentary term, which is why the Bute House Agreement commits to this and will be delivered by Greens in government.

"To play a positive role in the world, Scotland is not too poor or too wee to emulate other successful independent countries of a similar size, whether that is Ireland’s approach to welcoming Ukrainian refugees or Denmark’s leadership on oil and gas.”

An SNP spokesperson added: "Jim Sillars recently called for independence to be ‘deprioritised’ – and donated cash to keep Scotland under Westminster control.

"Any claims he has to support independence are contradicted by his own words and deeds."


Open Letter to the Independence Movement 

By Jim Sillars

Although he has a good tip for himself, Patrick Harvie has demonstrated how unfit he, and those who promoted him, are to lead Scotland to independence. Their obsession with indyref 2 has promoted means over end. Their ignorance of the geopolitical consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine, which will bear upon the decision Scots will have to make, is staggering. 

The prime objective of the independence movement is not to hold a referendum now, but to create an overwhelming majority for independence. Only when that is achieved do we want a referendum, because that will be one we can win. That is not the case today. 

The world, particularly the Western region, will now undergo profound changes in every sphere of economic activity with energy security at the forefront of policy. All European states will start to recast their defence and foreign policies and will do so in the context of questions about the medium and long term continued reliance on United States leadership, a leader which has long wished to pivot to the Asia-Pacific, rather than anchor itself in Europe and Nato. China, not Russia, is what matters most to America, and the longer it is immersed in Europe, the more China’s power develops in Asia. A view widely expressed in recent weeks from within the US foreign policy establishment. 

If Patrick Harvie and Nicola Sturgeon believe the geopolitical consequences of the Ukraine war can be ignored as though they have no bearing on the issue of Scotland’s constitutional future, they are living in a world that has gone. Take a look at the geography. With Russia now changed from a potential adversary to an aggressor state, Scotland’s importance to the defence of Gt. Britain and Western Europe, in terms of its strategic position in preventing a Russian fleet gaining access to the Atlantic sea lanes, has been transformed in importance. 

For European defence purposes, if Scotland didn’t exist, it would have to be invented. How European states, and the USA, look at our case for independence will now change from a minor interest to a strategic one. Do we make that a plus, or do a Patrick Harvie and pretend they don’t matter?

Where previously the debate about independence was focused on domestic matters and held among a people grown used to European stability, today defence, foreign policy, allies will be factored in by a Scottish society that now has cause for anxiety, and will demand assurances about its safety in any policy advanced by the independence movement. 

Putin’s mad gamble has the consequence for Scotland of changing the relative importance of the components in the case for independence. New policy is required, and until that work is done any talk of a referendum is foolish.