Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry insists John Swinney's independence referendum plan is 'doomed to failure'

By MICHAEL BLACKLEY SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 01:09, 23 April 2026 | Updated: 01:09, 23 April 2026 John Swinney’s strategy for securing another independence referendum is ‘doomed to failure’, a former Nationalist MP has claimed. Joanna Cherry launches a scathing attack on the SNP leader’s election strategy in a new book published today. She compares his bid to secure an SNP majority to the tactics used by the Jacobite army at the Battle of Culloden, which resulted in it losing ‘miserably’. In Keeping The Dream Alive, Ms Cherry said the SNP is in a ‘mess’ and accused the current leadership of adopting a ‘back to the future strategy’ that sets an outright majority as the mandate for an independence referendum. Joanna Cherry has launched a scathing attack on the SNP leader’s election strategy  She said the current situation is ‘totally different’ to the strategy used by Alex Salmond to secure the 2014 referendum, and also said the SNP’s popularity ‘has plummeted’ since the last Scottish parliament election in 2021, while the majority of voters ‘believe the Scottish government is not doing a good job’. Ms Cherry wrote: ‘There is more than a whiff of Culloden – where the Jacobites chose the wrong ground on which to fight the government forces and lost miserably – about the SNP strategy. It fails to take account of the ground we are fighting on now. ‘By going for an “all of our yesterdays” approach the leadership have totally failed to address any of the relevant facts about what is happening today. It is a strategy that is doomed to failure.’ Asked yesterday whether he would be reading Ms Cherry’s book, Mr Swinney said: ‘I don’t intend to.’ No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.