Scottish MNers - with Sturgeon gone, what comes next?

[RalIy]

Just wondering if more informed Scottish MNers could give me some idea of what comes next in Scottish politics?

From my perspective, there is no obvious successor to Sturgeon in the SNP. No one with any charisma or significant name recognition. Can anyone who does come along hold the party together (I always felt the SNP would split after independence)?

Does this mean the independence movement gradually dies down, especially as it looks likely we will have a Labour government next year?

It seems reminiscent of how the Brexit/Reform party sort of died down once Farage left and how the Québécois independence movement sort of gradually faded away. (Although I respect the fact that there is, and will continue to be, a huge proportion of staunch independence supporters in Scotland).

Or am I misreading the situation?

I think Hamza Yousaf will get the job.

he - or whoever - will have a tough job building up momentum for independence again.

he's.a disaster. Sturgeon kept him on because he was loyal.I would like to see the party disintegrate and blow away in the wind.
I think what will actually happen is that they will destroy themselves infighting but no one will care because they have lost all credibility.The trans contortions have seen to that, along with all their other failures.
There is no obvious successor among that crowd of half wits at Holyrood.

Given the party won't support Jo Cherry, Kate Forbes looks most likely to get them out of the trans morass. But Angus Robertson would have been Nicola's choice, so we'll see.

I’m not Scottish but why is anyone who supports independence described as “staunch”? It makes them sound like an extremist group, maybe some are (whatever that means) or maybe most just think life might be better. I’d personally like Scotland to to remain in the UK but can well imagine reasons why people don’t and ultimately it’s for them to decide. Just find the language around it interesting.

We'll only have a labour government if Keir figures out that nobody wants trans people in the wrong sexed spaces.

There's really not a huge pool of talent to choose from IMO. Think it will come down to Robertson or Swinney, although the latter possibly tainted by his spell as Education Sec. Kate Forbes seems perfectly capable but her religious alignments are hugely problematic. I don't think Yousaf will be popular enough to get it.

For the independence movement it's obviously going to be a blip, but think that will be short term and is likely to recover momentum again.

Agree the party will fade away once independence happens, and tbqh I think the only chance Labour have of gaining any meaningful power again in Scotland again is either to back independence (which they won't) or wait until after independence when they're likely to become the main party again.

That's my tuppenceworth anyway, but I'm probably completely wrong 😅

@BankOfDaveTo be honest I don't think all independence supporters are described as staunch (that's generally a reference up here to a certain football team supporter), although the Salmond supporters who broke away to form Alba are considered 'staunch' I suppose, and they're certainly more firebrand. But haven't heard it applied to more mainstream indy supporters, although possibly by sections of the English media that don't understand the make-up of independence support in Scotland.

@BankOfDave I wasn’t calling all independence supporters “staunch”. I was saying there was a proportion who are staunch. The same applies to Unionists on the other side of the debate. And then there are some floating voters or those who “lean” slightly one way or the other. Same with Brexit imo.

I’m quite worried how this is going to play out. If the SNP get it wrong, and judging in their recent performance alone it’s likely that they will, it could really have serious implications for the Scottish independence movement.

I just hope it’s not fatally wounded.

A conga round George square, apparently!

I hope it puts a dent in the independence movement so we can all have a bit of peace and focus on the matters of sorting the NHS and education issues out.

Sadly the SNP are one hell of a broken record so this is unlikely and they have their bizarre special conference next month where they will be making plans to use elections as a illegal stand point to saying oooo referendum.

There will always be hardline independence and Union people but middle are fed up with the divsiveness and want them to focus on the very real issues here rather then ignore or sticking plaster them

Firstly, cracking open the champagne…

SNP need to get on with the day job and start actually improving Scotland because at the moment they've made a mess of everything they've touched.

That's the only way to convince people that we'd be better alone. Personally I think a hard border at Carlisle will be a nightmare.

The SNP have a track record of self harm, so likely they'll choose the absolute worst person for the job from their point of view. Let's hope so anyway.

Whoever it is is unlikely to live up to Salmond and sturgeon, so hopefully we can move on from the cult of personality that's plagued Scottish politics.

I've said this for a long time. Get on with actually governing and I think independence would be an easier sell.

Not everything needs to be about independence. And the quicker they realise that the better.

Sturgeon and her husband of convenience have ruled that party with an iron fist. Dissent, until the GRR nonsense, was barely ever heard. We know very little about the characters, personalities etc of the other MSPs as all they've done for the last 8 years is parrot what Sturgeon told them to.

I really don't know what's next for us, but I know I'd like to see less of the divisive language and for the business of governing to be front & centre. Not all about independence.

Schools are a horrendous mess, the SNHS is not as good as they'd like you to think, the roads are a disaster, taxes need reducing to the same as the rest of the UK, the current free university tuition polucy that then limits the number of Scottish students the HEIs will take needs sorting, prescriptions don’t need to be free. I could go on.

Yes there are lots of things that need undone in Scotland.
Who ever takes it on is going to have to actually listen to their own back benchers and run the country forget Independence get the country on the up.

Or catch the next ferry out the place

Don't get excited. A whole bunch of hee-haw while they all infight.

There are no charismatic characters of any party that fill me with sense of confidence on any front.

Scottish politics seems to be really toxic (along with a fair percentage of the voting population) so even if there were such personalities they'd be giving the whole thing a wide berth.