 | 'I don't think NATO is such a big deal for the SNP; it is not the organisation it once
was.' Nicola Sturgeon MSP, 9 th July 2004. |  |
| 'I don't think NATO is such a big deal for the SNP; it is not the organisation it once
was.' Nicola Sturgeon MSP, 9 th July 2004. | |
THE SNP will ditch its opposition to NATO if leadership challenger Mike Russell is able to
win his party's support.
Mr Russell, one of three candidates to replace John Swinney, said yesterday it was time for the
SNP to rethink its approach to NATO and defence. The SNP has always been suspicious of the
alliance, principally because of its reliance on nuclear weapons.
Official party policy is against an independent Scotland signing up to NATO. But Mr Russell
believes that policy is out of date and should be scrapped. "This is a policy which was born out
of the Cold War and has never been substantially revisited," he said. "We are in a different
world and one in which most of the new nations of Europe have been clamouring to be part of
NATO.
"As long as we can be a non-nuclear member, as Canada and Norway, and indeed most other
countries, are, this will not only give our defence policy relevance but ensure we can explain
our stance, which is hard to do at present. The party needs to discuss it and come to a
conclusion."
Mr Russell's declaration in favour of NATO marks the first real policy split between the three
main candidates.
Roseanna Cunningham was one of the architects of the current policy, which is against NATO
membership but in favour of co-operating with other European nations on defence.
A spokeswoman for Ms Cunningham said she had no intention of changing her mind over the
issue.
Nicola Sturgeon is also in favour of the current policy.
She said: "It's only been a couple of years since we had a review of our policy on NATO. I
don't believe we should go on re- visiting the same issues."
She added: "I don't think NATO is such a big deal for the SNP; it is not the organisation it once
was."
However, Ms Sturgeon's running mate for the leadership, Kenny MacAskill, does not share
her views on NATO.
Mr MacAskill made it clear earlier this year that he favours a rethink on the SNP policy towards
NATO.
In Holyrood Magazine, Mr MacAskill said: "Time has moved on, alliances have changed and
the Soviet Union has collapsed. NATO has expanded its membership to take in nations with
whom we are politically aligned, and the matter should be debated."
He continued: "It might be a solution to play a role inside the organisation instead of outside it."
The NATO issue has highlighted a potentially serious problem for Ms Sturgeon in the battles
for the party's leadership.
While she gains the advantage of Mr MacAskill's support by standing on a joint ticket with
him, disagreement between the candidates on issues such as this will confuse the party
members and present her opponents with ammunition with which to attack her.
Mr Russell has also started to promote a novel approach to boost the party's flagging
membership.
He has proposed what he calls a "one-for-one" recruitment plan, which would see every SNP
member recruit one new member.
Mr Russell said: "In the 1970s, the party membership was more than 50,000. In the 1990s it
hovered around 15,000.
"Now, unless the trend is reversed, it could drop within a year or so towards the 5,000 mark.
That must never be allowed to happen.
"Here is how we can stop it happening and change decline into progress. First of all, we must
encourage every existing member to recruit one new member within the next three months.
"And then we will do it again - one for one, aiming to take the total upwards."
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