The Scottish National Party won a resounding, third successive victory in the 2016 Holyrood elections last week, though you could have been forgiven for not noticing such was the negative press coverage. And some in the independence movement appear bent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. There has been a great deal of recrimination on the internet because Nicola Sturgeon did not win an overall majority, and some unfair criticism of the independence-supporting Green Party for allegedly 'stealing' votes from the SNP.

But as everyone should now know, the Scottish parliament voting system makes single party overall majorities extremely difficult to achieve. The SNP vote actually went up not down – it won a million constituency votes, which has never been done before by any party. There is not a single Labour MSP left in Glasgow. Independence-supporting MSPs retain a majority in Holyrood. A repeat referendum is no less likely now than it was last week.

Ruth Davidson beating Labour into second place naturally received a lot of attention, but the Tory revival is oversold. You have to wonder how she would have fared if either a picture of David Cameron, or the words “Vote Conservative” had appeared on her election literature. All that happened was that the unionist vote was redistributed away from Labour, which now appears to be in terminal decline across Scotland.

What is not in doubt is that the SNP is the dominant force in Scottish politics, commanding the centre left and ensuring that independence remains the crucial dividing line in Scottish politics. That will be confirmed every week at First Minister’s Question Time when Nicola Sturgeon takes on the leading unionist voice, Davidson, now clearly identified with UK Conservatism.

The SNP leader now has the personal mandate she sought to promote her version of moderate social democracy. If the presence of the six Green MSPs helps to bolster her radicalism on issues like fracking, council tax reform and land reform then that is all to the good. There were signs that the Scottish Government was showing establishment tendencies, and losing its edge. This election result may be just the thing to counter complacency and put the lead back in its pencil.

What will not help the cause of independence is squabbling and recrimination among the wider independence movement. Some of the SNPs supporters on the internet can be their own worst enemies. The guardians of nationalist purity should recall that it was the cross party nature of the Yes campaign that made it such a success in 2014. The SNP could not have done it on its own. So keep calm - in the early days of a better nation, there is no place for factionalism.