Is the SNP falling apart?

The SNP should be basking in its recent formidable polling success. Not only does support for independence appear to be on the rise – with 56 per cent in favour, according to the latest Ipsos Mori poll – but there is evidence too that the SNP could win an outright majority in the next Scottish parliament elections. So why does the party appear to be falling apart? Three front bench resignations in as many days doesn’t look like a party at peace with itself.  

The Westminster group of SNP MPs is roiled by divisions and rancour. The palace coup by the 34-year-old Stephen Flynn against veteran Westminster leader Ian Blackford has caused a whole lot of upset. Long-time frontbenchers, like Perthshire MP Pete Wishart, are resigning en masse at the new boy and his 28-year-old deputy Mhairi Black. Wishart, the SNP Defra spokesman and former Runrig musician, declared he was ‘bemused’ by the removal of a ‘successful’ leadership team – and at Flynn’s failure to explain his ‘new direction’.