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JIM SILLARS

Independence should come sixth on SNP’s priorities list

The Sunday Times

In May we face a choice that is condemnatory of our political society. We could re-elect an SNP government whose record in recent years has been the epitome of incompetence — ferries, hospitals, care home deaths, and “the Saudi Arabia of wind” without jobs, to mention a few — and dusted with a touch of authoritarianism, such as the named person scheme and the woke-inspired hate-crime bill. Or we could opt for one of the opposition parties whose own incompetence is staggering.

The fault lies in ourselves, in that we have become transfixed by one subject above all others: independence and how to get a referendum. These words do not signal a recantation, as I still believe Scotland’s people would be best served with full