There is a question doing the rounds in Scottish political circles that nobody quite expected to be asking: should the SNP seriously consider working with Nigel Farage if it meant getting another independence referendum?
It sounds like the setup to a bad joke. But after SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn made some eyebrow-raising comments last week, the idea has suddenly become a genuine talking point.
Flynn suggested that if Reform UK were willing to support the conditions for a second independence referendum, the SNP would not automatically rule out some form of arrangement. The remarks landed like a grenade in an already chaotic political landscape, and the reaction was swift and fierce from all directions.
For many SNP supporters, the very thought of cosying up to Farage feels like a betrayal of everything the independence movement stands for. The SNP has built much of its modern identity on being the progressive, pro-European, socially inclusive alternative to the hard-right politics that Farage represents. Reform UK wants to slash public spending, pull up the drawbridge on immigration, and dismantle much of what Scotland holds dear in terms of public services and social values.
So how on earth could any deal with that lot be justified?
The argument from the other side goes something like this. Scottish independence is the goal above all goals. If a path to indyref2 exists, even an uncomfortable one, then a serious political party has to at least think about it. Farage has shown he is willing to use devolution and constitutional chaos as a lever when it suits him. If Reform were ever in a position of influence at Westminster, and if breaking up the union became something they could weaponise for their own reasons, then the SNP might find itself with an unlikely and deeply awkward opening.
But there are serious problems with this logic. For a start, Farage does not actually support Scottish independence. He has made that clear repeatedly. Any suggestion that Reform would back indyref2 as a matter of genuine principle is fantasy. Whatever noises Farage makes about Scotland having the right to choose, he has no interest in seeing the union dissolve. His brand of politics is built on a very particular version of British nationalism that has no room for an independent Scotland.
Then there is the question of what such an association would do to the independence movement itself. The Yes campaign in 2014 was broad, energetic and optimistic. It brought together people from across the political spectrum, but it was largely driven by a vision of a fairer, more progressive Scotland. Linking that cause, even loosely, to the politics of Reform UK would alienate a huge chunk of the people the SNP needs to win over. Soft No voters who might be persuaded by arguments about democratic self-determination are not going to be convinced by a movement that has been seen shaking hands with the hardest of hard-right politicians.
There is also the matter of trust. The SNP has spent years arguing that Westminster cannot be trusted to act in Scotland’s interests. Doing a deal with Westminster’s most disruptive force, a man whose entire political career has been about tearing things down rather than building anything up, would hand critics a gift they would use for years.
Stephen Flynn is not a stupid politician. It is possible his comments were more about keeping options open and generating headlines than about any real strategic direction. The SNP is in a difficult position right now. It lost ground at the last general election, Labour has taken back Scottish seats, and the path to a second referendum looks longer and harder than it did a few years ago. In that context, even floating an unconventional idea can be a way of showing the party is still thinking boldly.
But bold thinking and reckless thinking are different things. The SNP’s best route to independence remains what it has always been: winning the argument with the Scottish public. That means making the economic case, the democratic case, and the social case for independence in a way that brings more people on board rather than driving them away.
No shortcut through Farage’s political circus is going to do that. If anything, it would set the cause back. The independence movement does not need strange bedfellows. It needs a clear, credible and compelling vision for what an independent Scotland would actually look like.
That is the hard work. And there are no deals that get you out of doing it.