THE SNP urgently needs to decide its direction and purpose after failing to advance the cause of independence under Nicola Sturgeon, a former cabinet secretary has said.

Kenneth MacAskill said his party had become too cautious and preoccupied with middle-class concerns and was “at a crossroads in terms of where’s it going and what’s it for”.

He said: “More than four years into Nicola Sturgeon’s tenure and the constitutional cause is no further advanced and the political narrative has been blurred.”

He also said the First Minister’s legislation paving the way for a second independence referendum in late 2020 was “most certainly not” confirmation that it would happen.

“It’s simply about being seen to be doing something, even though there’s neither required consent from Westminster nor a strategy to get around that impediment,” he said.

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Calling it “indicative of Nicola Sturgeon’s closed inner circle”, he criticised the SNP’s Growth Commission for taking “years to come up with a currency policy that was hugely unpopular with many and has left the party’s position arguably even less clear than before.”

Writing in the new issue of the Scottish Left Review, the former Justice Secretary said the SNP was too focused on “identity inequality rather than wealth and land disparity”.

He said: “Winning hearts and minds on the doorstep of housing schemes is now supplanted by professional focus groups and opinion polls.” That wouldn’t deliver independence “as the votes to be won over are ignored or abjured”.

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He said: “A debate on SNP policy and strategy is urgently needed – not sound bites and piecemeal actions. The British state is in political meltdown and may never be weaker, yet those who challenge party orthodoxy like Joanna Cherry and Chris McEleny are traduced and side lined. Let the abuse of centralised power cease and debate begin for time is short.”

Ms Cherry QC, an SNP MP, and Mr McEleny, the leader of the SNP group on Inverclyde Council, both advocate a faster push for independence than the SNP leadership.

Mr MackAsill cited the recent European elections, where the SNP won 37 per cent of the vote, as an example of losing sight of its core goal.

“In many ways, the SNP’s now all dressed up but with nowhere to go. Whilst it’s clarified the party stance on Brexit, it opened-up questions on where it goes on independence.

“As the new SNP leadership comes under more general review, questions on direction and policy are also only going to increase.”

He said the SNP’s ‘lend us your vote’ appeal to Unionist-Remainers last month was successful and “no crime” but raised questions “about just what the strategy is for independence, never mind what the policy narrative is for the party more generally”.

The SNP’s European campaign focused on aspects of the EU that would be lost “and yet benefit the better off, rather than wider social and economic consequences”.

He said: “Free movement and issues in academia are of more concern to those at a senior level in the education sector or those that have the means to enjoy regular travel abroad than they are to those already marginalised in Scotland and for whom access to university never mind city breaks to Europe are but a distant dream.”

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Mr MacAskill, who was Alex Salmond’s justice secretary for seven years but quit when Ms Sturgeon took over in 2014, has become a frequent critic of the First Minister and her husband, the SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.

In his new article, he also criticised the SNP Growth Commission, set up by Ms Sturgeon under her friend Andrew Wilson in September 2016.

It took almost three years for its ideas on the economy and currency to be translated into SNP policy - and only after antagonising many in the party, Mr MacAskill said.

The Commission recommended keeping the pound for the first decade after a Yes vote, with public spending reined in to cut the inherited deficit in half.

SNP members rebelled at last month’s party conference, demanding a new Scottish currency “as soon as practicable”, subject to a six economic tests.

“The Growth Commission perhaps best encapsulates her reign,” he said of Ms Sturgeon. “What was required were arguments and options; confirmation that keeping the pound was perfectly credible, suggestions that joining the euro was not the end of life as we know it, and that an independent currency was also perfectly feasible.

“Instead a tightly knit group, indicative of Nicola Sturgeon’s closed inner circle, took years to return with a policy position that was hugely unpopular with many and has left the party’s position arguably even less clear than before.”

Tory MSP Maurice Golden said: “This is the cost of Nicola Sturgeon caring about nothing other than her own legacy. Over the last four years she’s infuriated pro-UK voters and alienated those who don’t agree with her.

“Now even senior figures in her own party have had enough of her narrow-minded agenda.”

Responding for the SNP, MSP Tom Arthur said: “Under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership of the SNP, we’ve won our best ever constituency result in a Holyrood election, our best ever Westminster results, our best ever result in a European poll and the most votes for the SNP in a local election since 1999. On top of that, Scotland overwhelmingly backed the SNP’s position to remain in the EU in 2016. By any measure, that’s an incredible track record.

“The First Minister could not be clearer – Scotland will have the choice over our future and we will win our independence.

“The chaos of Brexit and the prospect of Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt becoming Prime Minister underlines the need to make decisions for ourselves here in Scotland – rather than having our voice silenced by Westminster.”