This weekend, the SNP will have their 90th party conference. Debate will surely focus on the last election and the dramatic loss of 39 seats across Scotland. There will be hot takes from all sides trying to argue their view on why Labour gained so much ground so quickly in Scotland.

We’ve already seen this from the First Minister, who, in a speech, regretfully claimed that the SNP need to rebuild trust with the Scottish people, and work harder to deliver independence. But I speak for myself and young people across the country when I say that this misses the mark: it’s not the constitution that changed my vote, it’s the SNP’s track record of rhetoric and failed action over 17 years.

Since I can remember, the SNP have been a progressive voice in Scotland and Westminster. I was too young to remember 2007 when the SNP first came to power, or 2011 when they won a seemingly impossible majority on the back of a wholly optimistic campaign. The SNP promised change, they promised a new politics of public investment, social development, and hope.

Back in 2010, then leader Alex Salmond promised us 100,000 green jobs delivered by 2020; in 2019, Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government rightfully declared a climate emergency; in 2023 and through 2024, Humza Yousaf promised to put green growth at the centre of his government.

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What we’ve seen in more recent years, however, is the SNP continuing to spout rhetoric with no real plan for delivery. After 17 years in power, we have less than half the promised green jobs, the public energy company was quietly shelved after the 2021 election, and the SNP have continuously met with oil and gas companies through the past five years.

For any young person hoping the Scottish Government would act on the crises we've been living through our whole lives, it has been a disappointing decade in which we are promised everything but been given empty words and a continuation of the status quo.

At the most recent election, we saw the SNP for what it is; a party for international corporations, oil and gas, and rhetoric over action. This was no more obvious than John Swinney and Kate Forbes’ continued use of 100,000 job losses as a warning of Labour’s climate plan. A figure taken directly from fossil fuel lobbyists. A figure not based in reality.

Their self-proclaimed ‘in-between’ position on new oil and gas was less ‘pragmatic’ and more anti-science. Claiming that any new licences would need to meet stringent climate compatibility standards means nothing when the science is so clear – any new oil and gas project would fail these tests. This new position will be great for the profits of oil and gas companies; but this comes at the expense of communities in the North East of Scotland.

These lies are dangerous in the long term, playing into the hands of climate delayers and deniers. To see the SNP go from climate leaders to parroting oil and gas lobby lines is devastating for a one-time supporter of this party. If the SNP are serious about winning back voters like me and my generation, they need to act quickly and work to put things right.

We need to see an SNP taking action on the crises we face. The real test will not be the conference coming up, but in the bills put to parliament in the next few months. First, the climate bill coming up must be as close to a Green New Deal as devolution will allow, with increased funding for housing, public transport, and social care instead of cutting services even further.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes is seen as being pro-businessDeputy First Minister Kate Forbes is seen as being pro-business (Image: Jeff J Mitchell)

Second, the SNP need to clearly and unequivocally reaffirm their presumption against oil and gas in Holyrood and work co-operatively with other parties in Westminster to ensure Rosebank does not go ahead.

Finally, if the SNP are really serious about winning people like me back, they need to show by ending the revolving door of their government for the fossil fuel industry. Time and time again we see how little these companies care about the climate crisis. By keeping their company, and parroting their lines, the SNP are no better than the climate delayer ousted from Westminster at the last election.

The SNP have a choice in the coming months: continue with the status quo, over promise and fail to deliver, and continue to be the mouthpiece of oil and gas; or change now, actually act on the climate, and use the powers they do have to build a world for people and planet and secure my future. The former will lead to electoral oblivion, the latter will save their government.

Naroa Hammerson, 22, is a member of Green New Deal Rising