SNP Councillor Joins Labour

The Herald reports here that South Lanarkshire SNP Councillor John MacNamee has left the Nationalist Party and applied to join the Labour group on the Council

MacNamee's stated reasons for leaving the SNP are instructional;

He says he no longer believes in independence and that he has become disillusioned with the approach he claims the Scottish Government has taken to the west of the country.

He also

cited the decision to axe the proposed Glasgow Airport Rail Link as a crucial factor

and

the impact of the global financial collapse on small nations such as Ireland and Iceland.

He has also criticised ...

the lack of leadership and talent within the SNP at town hall level, describing the two years he has been an elected member as being riddled with in-fighting and that he has been “operating in a political vacuum”.

Mr McNamee said

I no longer believe in independence. I’ve lived abroad a bit.........and come to the belief that economies of small nations really do struggle.

All of MacNamee's stated reasons seem understandable to me. In fact I, and of course many others, have used them many times on this blog and others and in discussions and arguments with nationalists, so it's good to see that some of it is getting through to at least some who thought independence was a panacea for all ills.