Journalist calls for a Nicola Sturgeon comeback to the SNP (Image: Getty)
Despite leaving office in 2023 and being under police investigation, calls to reverse s exit can be heard from Scottish journalists who believe “the should ask her back”.
According to the Nationalist writer, Neil Mackay, both the party and the country had it the best when the Glasgow MSP was in power.
Ms Sturgeon served as a member of the Scottish Parliament since its establishment in 1999, going on to become the First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party from 2014 to 2023 – after Alex Salmond’s failed independence referendum campaign.
Her long service came to an abrupt end in 2023 when she resigned from the post, yet Mr Mackay wrote in The Herald that “there are many members still loyal to Sturgeon, who wish that like some ‘queen over the water’ she would return”.
Despite many viewing things as having gotten worse under over a decade of rule, many of her fans believe, somewhat delusionally, that she could restore Scotland to greatness, despite polls showing the Nats are headed for a similarly poor Scottish election result following their annihilation at Westminster on July 4.
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John Swinney is the current Leader of the Scottish National Party and First Minister of Scotland (Image: Getty)
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He supports his claims with her election performances as proof she would do a better job than John Swinney who oversaw the General Election, which saw the Nats reduced to a handful of MPs in the Commons. The writer also raises the point of party membership plummeting since her resignation which is partly due to the finance investigation.
He highlighted Ms Sturgeon’s “almost cult-like following among a certain type of nationalist” and said he is only “half joking” when suggesting “the should ask her back”.
Mr Mackay adds how the has become a “poor imitation of its former self” and “stumbles from stupid scandal to stupid scandal, defending the indefensible whether that’s Michael Matheson running up enormous bills on the public purse or plotting against another politician”.
“Now, compare that rotten state of affairs to the fortunes of the party when Nicola Sturgeon was in charge. Under Sturgeon, the nationalists never had it so good,” the journalist says.
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The SNP won 2.3 million votes under Ms Sturgeon in the 2021 Scottish election (Image: Getty)
Mr Mackay points out that the won 2.3 million votes when Ms Sturgeon was in power during the 2021 Scottish election – this was the highest number of votes ever achieved, surpassing Alex Salmond.
In his piece for The Herald, he continues to say that she “made the careers of deadweight MPs who rode to Westminster on her coat-tails, then fell once she departed”.
Ms Sturgeon was arrested and interviewed in connection with Operation Branchform, although she has never been charged. The investigation has since cast a shadow over the party, contributing to its potential wipeout.