A CALL to end the SNP’s boycott of the House of Lords has been dismissed by one of the party’s top politicians.
Chris McEleny, former top aide to Alex Salmond as leader of the Alba Party, said it was “time for Scottish nationalists to take up their seats to bring a dose of disruption to the House of Lords”.
He told The Times it was “inconsistent” for the SNP to “remain mute on the self-anointed meritocracy that rules over the most important aspects of Scottish public life today” – pointing to the quangos which run transport and water infrastructure and the position of Lord Advocate – while refusing to participate in Westminster’s unelected second chamber.
But his suggestion was shot down by the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart (below).
The top MP, who once ran to be the Commons speaker, tweeted: “Absolutely hilarious, and I don't think we'll be taking any advice from them. But finally a route to Parliament for the Albists.
“A place in the House of Lords certainly gets them over their tricky never being elected to anything problem.”
McEleny pointed to the SNP’s support for the monarchy as evidence of inconsistency in their opinion.
He said: “Being opposed to the House of Lords on the principle that it is unelected while simultaneously being at ease with supporting a policy of maintaining an unelected head of state and swearing an oath of allegiance to King or Queen is not coherent.”
And he claimed that Salmond was “not opposed in principle” to getting nationalists into the second chamber were he still alive.
There was “simply just no need for it when he was leading the national movement because he was leading us away from Westminster towards independence”, McEleny (below) added.
Former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford found himself under fire last year after he suggested the party should drop its opposition to entering the House of Lords, though he insisted he had no personal ambitions to join.
Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, have peers and one of their members in the second chamber, Carmen Smith, told The National last year the SNP's position should be reviewed to get independence "in as many rooms as we can”.
McEleny was sacked as Alba’s general secretary during a fractious leadership race which resulted in the election of Kenny MacAskill.
The latter previously saw off a bid by McEleny to suspend him.
