The Scotsman's Political Correspondent Rachel Amery speaks to the SNP's campaign director Angus Robertson MSP about the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
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#SNP #SNPconference #AngusRobertson #politics #Holyrood2026 #RachelAmery
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NewsTranscript
00:00And because I did a box swap yesterday and then it recorded, I'm going to record on ESO.
00:09That's fine, I'll tell you a story about things not recording when we finish this.
00:12Don't worry, it won't be as bad as the story that I can tell you.
00:15OK.
00:19Hello, I'm Rachel Lehmann, the Scotsman's political correspondent, and I'm at day two of the
00:23SNP conference here in Aberdeen, and I'm joined by Angus Robertson MSP, who is the campaign
00:28director for the SNP's 2026 election campaign.
00:32Well, let's just start off, how is conference going?
00:35We're now one day in, we've already had some big speeches.
00:38How's it going?
00:39I think the conference is going very well.
00:41Conference is always a mixture of different things.
00:44It's what goes on in the hall, that's what people at home probably see the most of.
00:48John Swinney making speeches, Stephen Flynn making speeches, various MSPs and delegates
00:54talking about the things that one discusses at conference.
00:59I'm slightly unusual as a conference attendee this year because I'm the campaign director
01:03for next year, so I'm spending most of my time attending training sessions for candidates
01:09and organisers and local constituencies and speaking with people throughout the party
01:16because we've got a number of campaign technological developments that are really important if you want to win elections
01:23and we're in a good place with that, but it involves people learning the new techniques compared to the old ones.
01:30I was the SNP's campaign director in 2007 and 2011, so the first national election that we'd ever won,
01:37and then winning the absolute majority.
01:39So I've got a good starting point of an understanding of what it is that one needs to do to win an election,
01:46and notwithstanding the fact that the SNP is in the lead in the polls at the moment, in the run-up to the elections,
01:53you can't take anything for granted, which is why I'm spending most of my time with our candidates, our campaigners,
02:00making sure that we're doing everything that we need to do to win the elections next year.
02:04So you spoke a little bit there about some of the things you're having to think about at the moment,
02:09and what is it that you're doing this year that is perhaps different from previous years to try and get that majority?
02:15Yesterday, John Swinney very much saying that to get this second independence referendum,
02:19you're going to need that 65-seat majority.
02:21That, I mean, is arithmetically not meant to happen in Holyrood.
02:25So what is it you are going to do this year to make it different and make that win happen?
02:28Well, there's a few things. I mean, the first thing to bear in mind is that there was a total change of mentality in the SNP in the run-up to 2007,
02:37which was to believe you could win.
02:39Now, most people who are sport fans know that you have to believe in your team,
02:45and the team needs to believe in itself before it's going to win anything.
02:47And that kind of explains why the SNP, in large part, had not won prior to that.
02:52So the first thing is, do we have a winning mentality?
02:54And part of a winning mentality is you take nothing for granted and you work as if it's not given.
03:00And it's not given in a democracy. No result is pre-programmed.
03:04Nobody has an automatic right to win. Nobody should take anything for granted.
03:09So the most important thing is, does one have the right mindset? And I think we do.
03:13Then you need to work as if your life depends on it, that the result depends on it.
03:19And the political geeks who are watching this will remember that in 2007, the SNP won by one seat.
03:31And in one of those seats, the majority involved a recount.
03:36That's how close winning and not winning was in 2007.
03:40And we all know the history of what happened after 2007.
03:42We had an SNP government for the first time and, and, and, and, and.
03:47So all of that learning, we are now applying to this election campaign.
03:53And in the meantime, we've developed the ways in which we have campaigned.
03:58So we have at the heart of what we do is speaking to voters, hearing what their needs, interests, concerns, expectations are.
04:06Some people can never be persuaded, but many people can.
04:10So we're out there and we're introducing candidates and we're talking about policies that matter to people.
04:15We know what the issues are that people are concerned about.
04:18We're speaking to them about that.
04:20And we're doing a bit of appliance of science.
04:22There's only so much I can talk about that.
04:25Before the election, maybe speak to you after the election about some of it.
04:28But, you know, there's, we have a data management system.
04:31All political parties have that.
04:33So that we, we have a good idea of who is likely to vote for us, who's likely not to vote for us, who is persuadable.
04:43And we go around having the conversations that we can with people.
04:46And so, so we both have that as a system, which is based on around an app, which has been rolled out specially for this election.
04:53So that makes it really easy to know where you need to go, who you need to speak to, how you record the information.
04:59And then at the center in the campaign, we can see how we're doing right across the country.
05:05It means we, where we, we know where we're doing really well.
05:08It shows us where we need to do more.
05:11And to finally answer your question, I think one of the big differences to win big, because we need to win big to win a majority, is that we also need to win seats that we currently don't hold.
05:25So not only are we working really hard to hold all of the seats that we do, we're also working really hard to win seats that we don't.
05:34And therein lies the task at hand for us, and our candidates are in place, our candidates are working, and I'm very encouraged about what everybody's doing.
05:49And wherever we can be more encouraging to do more of one thing or less of another, a help, advice, whatever it takes, all political parties do this.
05:59I think we're quite good at it in the SNP, and we're just making sure that we can try and do as much as we can to win as many seats as we can, and win the election as big as we can next year.
06:10Without taking anything for granted, it's all about hard graft, and that is what we're doing.
06:14Now, can't not talk about some of the elections, campaigns that have not gone well for the SNP in recent years.
06:21The Hamilton by-election in June didn't go the way the SNP wanted.
06:26The general election last year, you pretty much lost all your seats across the Central Belt, particularly Edinburgh and Glasgow,
06:31because you yourself are an Edinburgh candidate, so what's your thoughts there?
06:36Are you worried about the previous election losses that the SNP has suffered in these areas, and how Scottish Labour have done quite well in those areas in recent elections?
06:45Is that a worry for you?
06:48So there's no doubt that last year the Scottish electorate wanted to get the Tories out, and they concluded that the best way to do that was to vote Labour, and that's what they did.
06:59That was a UK general election. I think a great many people who voted Labour, whether they were Labour supporters or just people who hoped to get rid of the Tories and things would be better,
07:10a lot of those people are very disappointed now. And I'd go as far as to say a lot of them are not going to vote Labour next year.
07:19And so for us, as we turn into the turn of the year, as people are thinking more about the Scottish Parliament elections,
07:28I think Keir Starmer and Labour is not going to be a solution for most people.
07:35And so if they had voted to get the Tories out, tactically voting Labour, I think a great many of those people are in play.
07:42I know so, because I'm knocking on doors. I represent central Edinburgh. I'm canvassing every week.
07:48I'm having these conversations. I think Labour's in big trouble, incidentally, having experienced many, many conversations.
07:56So you asked about the last general election. You also asked about a by-election. All by-elections are different.
08:06Are there things that in hindsight I think the SNP might have done differently in the by-election? Yes, absolutely.
08:13By-elections are in a special class of their own as opposed to national elections.
08:17That's not to say there aren't lessons. There are. And many of them are organisational, incidentally.
08:22And we have learnt those lessons and we're in the process of making the necessary adjustments.
08:27And certain constituencies are very representative of an average Scotland and some aren't.
08:36So none of that says to me an SNP win is automatic. None of it suggests that we are taking anything for granted.
08:43But the polls are very different. The polls now are suggesting that the SNP is significantly ahead of the other political parties.
08:53I think when people think about who would they rather have as First Minister, dealing with the cost of living crisis, dealing with the NHS,
09:02should it be John Swinney or any of the rest, I think most people, well we know so.
09:07We know so from the polls. Most people believe that John Swinney is significantly better than the others.
09:12And there are other factors also in this election campaign that will play.
09:17Nigel Farage's party is polling in a way that it wasn't.
09:21That is very disappointing to me because so far Scottish politics has not had right-wing populists elected in any great number.
09:34So that isn't a given. We'll be very clear in pointing out that that should not be an inevitability.
09:41And I hope the other mainstream political parties play their role in that too.
09:45But we are working very hard to make sure that we maximise our vote.
09:52And as a result of that, that will depress the vote of other political parties.
09:57And there isn't a tremendous secret anything about the electoral process.
10:06It's about more people to vote for you than vote for the others.
10:09And more of your people to turn out for you than do for the other political parties as well.
10:14And I'm often reminded when I come to SNP conferences, and in fairness to the other political parties, it's exactly the same.
10:21The people who turn up are more often than not the people who deliver the leaflets and knock on the doors and do all of the stuff that helps democracy work.
10:32And all political parties are immensely indebted to all of those people.
10:37And so should everybody.
10:38Because if we want normal, moderate, mainstream politics to continue in this country in ways, sadly, where it's being undermined in others,
10:47it really matters that we campaign well, that we turn out to vote, that we vote for people who are worth having in office.
10:58And I'm doing my bit and the SNP is doing its bit to make sure that that's the case and that the SNP is re-elected.
11:07And we want to get that majority so that we can all have a say in the country's future in a referendum, because it's coming.
11:15So with you in charge, how much is it your responsibility if the party doesn't get a majority or even doesn't get enough seats to form the next government?
11:24How much of that is down to you, essentially?
11:27You know, I'll be absolutely honest, I've not even thought about that.
11:30So thank you very much.
11:31Which was shorthand for it's your fault if it doesn't happen.
11:36And I guess the opposite is true, too.
11:41Look, we've all got a part to play.
11:45Elections are decided by the electorate.
11:48And the electorate in Scotland has in recent years elected a majority in the Scottish Parliament who are committed to having a vote about the country's future.
11:59And it should matter to all of us who are Democrats that in a democracy, when people vote for something to happen, it should happen.
12:08And we are going to the country saying very clearly, vote for us.
12:16If there is a majority elected that are supporting a referendum, that is what should happen.
12:23And that should not be contentious.
12:25People can fall out about whether they want to vote yes or no.
12:28And we can have that conversation and that will come because a referendum will come because half the population and more than half the population actually want to vote yes.
12:42And even more than that want there to be a vote if the people decide that there should be a vote.
12:47So, yes, it's on me as much as it's on any other candidate, as much as it's on any other SNP member and or voter and the rest of the country.
12:55We're all in this together.
12:57And I'll play my part in trying to make sure that we win and win well.
13:04Well, Angus Robertson, thank you very much for joining us with the Scotsman and taking us through the election strategy on day two of the SNP Conference.
13:11Thank you. I hope I've not given away too many secrets.
13:15What was that there?
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