UK Edition
Unseated SNP MP wants Sturgeon to apologise for election losses
Nationalists saw their ranks in the Commons fall from 48 to nine – and some, like Joanna Cherry, hold the former leader responsible
An ousted nationalist MP has demanded that Nicola Sturgeon apologise for her part in the SNP’s general election disaster.
Joanna Cherry was among dozens of SNP MPs to lose their seats on Thursday, with Labour coming from third place to win a majority of more than 6,000 in her former Edinburgh South West constituency.
She said that it had become “difficult to persuade people to vote SNP” and suggested Ms Sturgeon, who stepped down 15 months ago, was the main culprit for the devastating defeat.
The former First Minister is facing anger from those within the SNP who believe her blunders led to Thursday’s result.
She has also been criticised for “pontificating” over the SNP disaster in an appearance – believed to have been lucrative – on ITV’s election night coverage, when she denied blame.
Asked on Sky News whether Ms Sturgeon owed voters and defeated former SNP MPs an apology, Ms Cherry said: “I think she does.” She added that there had been a “huge strategic failure” to progress independence.
Ms Cherry said: “I don’t think you can ever blame a setback like this on one person, however, Nicola Sturgeon was a very strong leader who brooked no debate and no dissent, as I know to my considerable cost.”
Ms Cherry said the party’s core support had become disillusioned over a lack of progress on independence and a failure capitalise on the opportunities presented by Brexit and Boris Johnson’s tenure as prime minister.
She added: “And on the other hand there were a lot of people who voted for us in the past in Scotland who didn’t necessarily support independence but saw us as a strong and competent government at Holyrood, and also a party that governed with integrity.
“But I am afraid to say and ashamed for my party, that both our reputation of governing competently and for integrity has taken a severe battering in the last couple of years.”
Swinney urged to quit
John Swinney has faced some calls from within the nationalist movement to quit as SNP leader, just a few months after he took over from Humza Yousaf.
Ms Cherry said she did not believe it was fair to blame those “left holding the baby when Nicola Sturgeon suddenly resigned” for the defeat but that Mr Swinney must now respond to the catastrophic reversal.
She said the current First Minister should “acknowledge the enormity of the setback and address the reasons why it happened” if he was to maintain his “widespread support” within the SNP.
Power struggles ahead
Several MPs who lost their seats are now expected to seek Holyrood candidacies, which could cause bitter internal selection contests ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election.
Ms Cherry did not rule out seeking a Holyrood seat, while Ian Blackford, the party’s former Westminster leader who stood down as an MP, also hinted he could run.
Mr Blackford told the Sunday Mail that there was no point in the SNP attempting to “sugar coat” the scale of its defeat, after the party fell from 48 seats to just nine while Scottish Labour claimed 37.
He backed Mr Swinney to remain in post but suggested this was because there was no-one else to take over.
“It’s up to John and what the party does but the electorate have delivered a very clear message to us – primarily they’re p-----d off,” he said.
“I don’t think anyone is pointing the finger at John and saying he has to go. He’s inherited this and he has to own it in terms of fixing it.”
Asked if he thought Swinney was the right person to do that, Mr Blackford hesitated and said: “Time will tell but there isn’t really anybody else, so he’s the man for it.”
Police investigate Sturgeon
Ms Sturgeon remains under police investigation as part of the probe into SNP finances which has seen her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, charged with embezzlement of party funds.
She has denied wrongdoing, while Mr Murrell has not addressed the accusations against him.
Ms Sturgeon, who was part of ITV’s general election coverage, said on air that while she took her share of blame for SNP losses, it would be the “easy solution” for people to “take refuge in somehow it’s all my fault”.