A United Independence Front? Policy Divergence between the Scottish Pro-independence Parties in the Context of the 2016 Scottish Parliament Election

This article examines policy divergence between the main pro-independence parties in Scotland (the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Greens, and two socialist parties/alliances: RISE and Solidarity) in the context of the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. Even though those parties are all pro-independence and leftwing, the election campaign was defined in a large part by the policy differences between them, as one of the only unknowns of the election was the scale of the SNP's expected victory and whether the smaller pro-independence parties might cost the SNP its overall parliamentary majority. The article analyses the campaign strategy of the smaller pro-independence parties and the SNP's reaction to this strategy. It then looks into three issues which were at the heart of the election campaign and which are major areas of policy divergence between the SNP on the one hand, and the smaller pro-independence parties on the other hand, namely income tax, fracking and the issue of a second independence referendum. The underlying aim of the article is to examine to what extent the Scottish pro-independence parties concur beyond their convergence on the general policy aim of independence, and to question the existence of a united independence front in Scotland