CONSTANCE BACKS SINGLE PRO-INDEPENDENCE CANDIDATES FOR WESTMINSTER 2015 Angela Constance today welcomed the fact that the SNP branch of which she is a member has called on the party to agree a joint election strategy with other pro-independence parties. The Topical Motion, approved by the Breich Valley Branch, calls on the SNP to work with other parties, groups and individuals with a view to returning as many pro-independence MPs as possible in the 2015 General Election. Angela said: We need as many MPs as we can get, so they can put maximum pressure on whatever Westminster government emerges in 2015 to deliver a proper package of increased powers for the Scottish Parliament. It would be counter-productive for pro-independence parties to take votes from each other. We worked together in a spirit of friendship and unity during the referendum campaign, and we should go into the 2015 election in the same spirit. This is a hard ask for any political party, because it demands a degree of self-sacrifice for the greater good. But I believe this is what the wider Yes movement will wish to see, and I trust my party can be large-hearted enough to accept it. I hope that over the next weeks other SNP branches will put forward similar motions to show that this idea has wide support at the grassroots level of the party. Text of Breich Valley Branch Motion to SNP Annual Conference: Conference applauds the spirit of unity and friendship developed between pro-independence parties, groups and individuals during the course of the Yes campaign. Conference recognises the urgent need to maintain that spirit of unity in an effort to return as many pro-independence MPs as possible to Westminster in the 2015 General Election to ensure the strongest possible pressure for delivering additional powers to the Scottish Parliament is applied on whatever Westminster Government emerges in its wake. Conference therefore mandates the leadership of the Scottish National Party to initiate an election strategy, together with other pro-independence parties, groups, or individuals, with a view to putting forward a single pro-independence candidate in 2015 for all Scottish seats currently held by anti-independence incumbents.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 18:47:04 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015