THE SNP's now embarrassing slogan ''Free by 93'' was well and truly
buried at the party's national executive committee at the weekend when
leaders decided to adopt a fresh four-year plan for victory.
Taking a more realistic longer-term view, leader Alex Salmond said
afterwards that the party's task over the next four years was to build
on the increased vote in the General Election and the increase in seats
won at the district elections while capitalising on the popular support
for independence in Europe.
Perhaps significantly he made no mention of attempting to be more
socialist than the Labour Party which appeared to be the campaigning
ethos of part of the SNP at the General Election.
As for political campaigning, Mr Salmond is giving his troops a summer
break, with a two-month period of rest and recuperation before the party
goes back on the offensive at the end of August, building up to the
annual conference in Perth in September.
Party morale had faltered after the General Election when the
breakthrough never came, despite the increase in votes. Since then, the
improved showing in the district council elections, where the
Nationalists managed to break Labour strangleholds on councils such as
Kilmarnock and West Lothian, has helped raise heads a little.
The SNP also sees the European Summit in Edinburgh at the end of the
year as a means of putting itself back in the public eye. As national
secretary John Swinney said yesterday: ''People will see that despite
the European Summit being in Edinburgh, there will be no Scottish Prime
Minister sitting at the table.''
The four-year plan, building up to the next General Election, is not
just a political one. The party's organisation and funding will also be
examined.
Recruiting new members will continue to be a priority. In the past,
there has always been a flurry of new members leading up to an election,
with little recruitment done in between.
The task now will be to persuade more of the 600,000 or so people who
voted SNP at the General Election to join the party.
There is also a general feeling that the party has to sharpen up its
organisational techniques. The way the other parties conducted their
election strategies will be studied to see what lessons can be learned.
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