SNP’s future at stake as Angus Robertson and Joanna Cherry go head to head – Ian Swanson

NOMINATIONS have not even opened yet in the selection process to choose the SNP candidate for Edinburgh Central at next year’s Scottish Parliament elections.

But the fact two of the party’s most prominent figures have declared their intention to bid for the seat has put the contest centre stage, not least because the contenders represent opposite sides in the SNP’s current internal battle over the best approach to winning another independence referendum.

Angus Robertson, the Nationalists’ former Westminster leader, election campaign organiser and firm Nicola Sturgeon ally, was first to say he wanted to fight the seat, using his Evening News column to reveal his plans.

Joanna Cherry, the MP for Edinburgh South West who won the Supreme Court ruling against Boris Johnson over prorogation and a leading advocate of a bolder approach on indyref2, announced her interest a few days later.

Unusual but not unprecedented

Edinburgh Central was previously held by the SNP but at the last Holyrood election it was snatched from their grasp by the then Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson.

The SNP would probably have a good chance of winning the seat back next time anyway but with Ms Davidson standing down it is almost certain. Little wonder big SNP names aiming to get into Holyrood are keen to get this nomination.

It is unusual to have two senior figures from the same party vying to get elected in the same seat, but not unprecedented.

Ahead of the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999, Tories in Edinburgh Pentlands had a choice between David McLetchie, a key player behind the scenes in the party, and Paul Cullen, former Solicitor General.

Whoever won not only had the chance of becoming MSP for what seemed one of the Tories’ most promising seats in Scotland, but was also expected to become first leader of the Tory group in the new parliament. Mr McLetchie duly won the nomination and the leadership, though he did not win Pentlands, getting elected an MSP via the Lothian list instead.

Both Mr Robertson and Ms Cherry have been tipped as possible successors to Ms Sturgeon. Neither has ever been based at Holyrood, though both have obviously served at Westminster – and Ms Cherry still does.

Since the advent of devolution there have been relatively few examples of MPs or ex-MPs making the switch to Holyrood – and it has not always been a smooth transfer.

Best-laid plans

Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997, paving the way for devolution two years later, also saw Lib Dem Donald Gorrie finally win the marginal Edinburgh West seat from the Tories. But no sooner had he been elected to Westminster than he announced his ambition to be a member of the first Scottish Parliament. His local party thought otherwise and chose Margaret Smith as their Scottish Parliament candidate, leaving Mr Gorrie to fulfil his ambition by becoming a Central Scotland list MSP.

The contest for the SNP nomination in Edinburgh Central looks like it will be a hard-fought and interesting battle with the future direction of the party very much on the table.

As ever in politics, there are no guarantees that even the best-laid plans of those involved will work out as intended.

But there is no doubt this is a high stakes fight with lots to play for and two very determined characters.