Scottish National Party

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
SNP logo

The Scottish National Party (SNP; Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) are a nationalist political party in Scotland who advocate that Scotland should rescind the political Union with England that formed the United Kingdom.[1] (Déja vu, Quebec?)

Rather than being a "blame Westminster for everything" one-issue party, they have numerous other policies as well. However, many Unionists consider Scotland to be too small, too poor and too stupid to achieve that on its own. The SNP is a centre-left party (although, unofficially speaking the behaviour is often likened to right-wing, you'll only understand if you're Scottish) who advocate unilateral nuclear disarmament and are quite pro-environment (apart from their leader Alex Salmond loving oil [2]).

They are social democrats who hugely support the National Health Service and free higher education (as long as your parents pay taxes in Scotland [3]). They are big supporters of the European Union.

In 2003 the SNP had 9,450 members,[4] that increased to just over 15,000 by 2009[5] and by 2013 membership had increased to more than 25,000 individuals.[6] By the end of 2014 membership was over 90,000.[7] About 10 percent of the party membership is English.[8] The SNP is the largest political party in Scotland, in terms of membership, number of MSPs and local councillors.

They currently hold two seats in the European Parliament, six seats in the House of Commons (the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom) and over 350 local council seats in Scotland. They also hold 65 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and are the first majority government (originally winning 69 seats) in Scottish Parliament's history (starting 1999). but are largely expected to shake up British politics in 2015.

While advocating independence for Scotland, they are also reluctant supporters of the British monarchy, and the British Army, and the British Broadcasting Corporation, etc., etc., and intend to keep all these things following independence. The party is also quite keen on renewing Scottish culture by eliminating right wing capitalist views.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. Scotland’s Constitutional Future: Views, opinions and questions, The Law Society of Scotland
  2. Alex Salmond: Extra North Sea oil tax could cost 10,000 jobs
  3. Scotland's uni funding system faces legal challenge
  4. Who are the SNP Members?, Economic and Social Research Council
  5. SNP's membership surges by 60%, The Scotsman
  6. "How to marshal support of SNP's new recruits?", Sunday Herald
  7. SNP membership soars to 90,000 after 10,000 attend rally at Glasgow Hydro
  8. Meet the campaigners leading the fight for Scottish independence who come from.. England, Daily Record
Political parties of the United Kingdom
British Freedom Party - British National Party - Christian Party - Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) - Conservative Party (UK) - English Democratic Party - English Democrats - Green Party of England & Wales - Islamic Party of Britain - Labour Party - Liberal Democrats - Liberty GB - National Front - New Communist Party of Britain - Official Monster Raving Loony Party - Plaid Cymru - Political parties of the United Kingdom - Respect Party - Scottish Green Party - Socialist Party of Great Britain - Socialist Workers Party - United Kingdom Independence Party - Workers Revolutionary Party -
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support