Scottish independence could be the biggest loser on election day

As the hours tick down to polling day, Scottish nationalists are beginning to assess the damage this election campaign has inflicted on the cause of Scottish independence. Far from being a springboard to a second independence referendum, as Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf had forecast, it looks set to draw a line under the wave of Scottish nationalism that has dominated Scottish politics for most of the last two decades as the SNP’s new leader, John Swinney fails to stop the party’s relentless slide in voter support.

It’s a hard lesson in the vicissitudes of politics. As recently as November 2022, the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, still riding high in the polls, claimed the SNP could win a majority of votes and seats in Scotland in this 2024 general election – for the first time since the Tories did the double in 1955. She