The Scottish National Party (SNP; Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba; Scots: Scots Naitional Pairty) is a social democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom.
The SNP was founded in 1934, and has had continuous representation in the Parliament of the United Kingdom since Winnie Ewing's groundbreaking victory at the 1967 Hamilton by-election.
With the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second largest party in the devolved chamber, serving two terms as the main party of the Opposition. In the 2007 elections, the SNP won the most seats in the Scottish Parliament for the first time, governing as a minority administration, with party leader Alex Salmond as First Minister of Scotland. In the 2011 elections, the SNP won a landslide victory and became the first party to form a majority government in the Scottish Parliament since its resumption.
The SNP currently holds 6 of 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and 2 of 6 Scottish seats in the European Parliament. The SNP is also currently the largest group in Scottish local government and, in coalition, forms 12 out of 32 local administrations.
Read more about Scottish National Party: History, Party Leaders, Party Presidents, Scottish Parliamentary Leaders, Westminster Parliamentary Leaders, Party Organisation, Policy Platform, Party Ideology, European Affiliation, Electoral Performance
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“I have hardly begun to live on Staten Island yet; but, like the man who, when forbidden to tread on English ground, carried Scottish ground in his boots, I carry Concord ground in my boots and in my hat,—and am I not made of Concord dust? I cannot realize that it is the roar of the sea I hear now, and not the wind in Walden woods. I find more of Concord, after all, in the prospect of the sea, beyond Sandy Hook, than in the fields and woods.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation.”
—French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (Sept. 1791)
“If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death. ... “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan,”controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.””
—George Orwell (1903–1950)