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Former SNP MP Alyn Smith admitted that his party has failed on its own goal to break up the UK, ahead of what will be a heated conference this weekend. The Nats are gathering in Aberdeen on Saturday to debate John Swinney's independence plan, with numerous amendments being submitted.
He also confessed that Scexit is not the way to fix pressing issues within the NHS and housing, and that more needs to be done to prove the SNP can run an independent Scotland. His comments will pile more pressure on the First Minister ahead of a testing weekend for him.
It will be a tough few days for Mr Swinney who wants his party to back his proposals which will see him push for a referendum if the SNP win a majority of MSPs at the next Holyrood Election. There have been at least six amendments proposed to this motion, and it will be debated on Saturday.
A defeat for Mr Swinney would show signs of rebellion within the SNP and will put his job as leader at risk. It will also set the course for the entire three-day summit as he will need to close it on Monday.
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Mr Smith, who is attempting to become an MSP next year in Stirling, admitted in a column with the National that the SNP has not been doing enough to break up the UK. He did insist that this would change in the coming months, and that the only way Scexit will happen is if the SNP win the election next year.
He wrote: "There are palpable frustrations in the party and the wider movement. Some are more justified than others, but all are underpinned by the feeling that the party has not delivered on its raison d'être. It is that that we need to address and I believe that under John Swinney, we have started to do that.
"But this frustration is a symptom of the inherent paradox of the SNP, and our involvement in devolution. We're simultaneously a responsible party of government and an anti-establishment movement. We're not just a party, we're a cause. The party's strategy for nigh on 30 years has been to win power, and use that power well to make the case for independence.
"If you're on the doorstep talking to someone in a mouldy house or stuck on an NHS waiting list, no, the immediate answer to their problems isn't independence in Europe, it's the hard graft of digging in to get them a result. People are relying on us. This isn't wheesht for indy, it's being serious about the jobs we asked to take on."
"But you know what? If the SNP don't win seats and elections, nothing happens at all. In a remarkably short time, we have brought independence from the fringes to the mainstream, and the SNP, even after all the heartbreak of the last few years, are a network, a family, of tens of thousands of people the length and breadth of Scotland.
"Conference is going to be important and I've no doubt it will be a cracking debate. But then the line will be set and after that, we need unity. These grim times require unity, focus and hard work. People are relying on us."
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