NB The following article is the view of an SNP activist, not Wings Over Scotland. Although we do agree with large parts of it.

Let’s be clear on some things. In most of Scotland that unsatisfactory election result had little to do with Brexit, or with “we don’t want another referendum”. It had nothing to do with the potential merits or otherwise of independence.

What gave us the result were chiefly two things.

(1) The SNP’s strategy of getting pro-indy Labour votes was completely sunk by the Corbyn bounce. There was no time to do anything about this as our whole limited strategy was worked around this.

But our own strategy sank us. We got pulled into the binary choice between Labour or Tory in Westminster and implied that Labour would be better than Tory. I’m not blaming anyone. Nobody was to know that Corbyn would bounce and that her own political vacuity would destroy May. But we must understand: the only long term position of any advantage to us is that NO Westminster government is best for Scotland.

(2) In many constituencies (including Argyll & Bute) the Tories and Lib Dems came to an accommodation. Several of our losses, and some near-losses, show a massive and sudden transfer of Lib Dem votes to the Tories in seats where the Lib Dems have been dominant for decades with the Tories nowhere.

We were fortunate in Argyll & Bute – the Tories were starting from just too far behind the former Lib Dem MP Alan Reid to catch us from third place this time – but rest assured that if there’s another election soon the seat will be in grave danger.

(Also, quite the worst candidate that I have seen in any election anywhere – Labour’s Michael Kelly – still increased the Labour vote share by a fifth on the Corbyn bounce, probably at the SNP’s expense).

But the vast sums of money that were spent putting in Tory and Lib Dem candidates in SNP held seats needs to be flagged up. In unionist target seats we were faced by deluges of Tory or Lib Dem leaflets (not both) POSTED to every household.

The Lib Dems in particular have no money and virtually no members in Scotland but I received thirteen – yes thirteen – Lib Dem leaflets through the post and this was seen across the constituency. If this was the same in the other target seats – and I hear similar stories – there’s been a postal expenditure of over £100,000 in some of them. What we just faced was an expensive, London-funded campaign against Scotland.

It also has to be said that several seats we lost narrowly may have been lost because there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the SNP campaign. The SNP support and the SNP activist base marches to an independence beat. No matter whatever tactical choices are made or what other policies are offered, unless independence is included prominently we disincentivise our campaigns.

But what will happen now?

First of all our opponents will distort the result to say that it proves there’s no appetite for another referendum. This is rubbish. The result was all about whether we had a Labour or Tory Government in London this week. The fact is that there’s no appetite for another referendum from those who are frightened of the probable result of it.

There was of course no referendum on offer last Thursday. And I marched with over 20,000 people in Glasgow last week calling for one. But what will follow is that some on our side (and some who appear to be on our side but really aren’t) will call for the referendum to be taken off the table.

This of course is exactly what the unionists want – the referendum off the table with us arguing about it. The mandate remains and the sooner we appoint a team to lead a new independence campaign the better (there are one or two guys available now whose time might be better used doing that than having the limited effect that they could as Westminster MPs).

(And just an aside here: Not going to Westminster – working from home, as it were – doesn’t appear to have harmed Sinn Fein’s political progress in any way.)

If we take the referendum off the table we do exactly as our opponents want and signal capitulation. Politics change anyway and the next couple of months will see many twists and turns and all the while respect for London government dissipates. Boris for PM anyone?

Nicola’s leadership, and the position of her husband, will also be called into question. By some considerable way she is the best we have, but it’s happening already in the press, through the prism of unnamed “insiders” and “former advisers”.

I’ve been in the SNP for nearly sixty years and have not at any point agreed with everything the SNP has said or done or the direction it has taken. But I know if I value the organisation I belong to and fight for I don’t take my concerns to the papers. I go to the party. People who go to the media are not our friends.

A final point. We live in a democracy. To be a Tory is a democratic right in it – not one I’m likely to exercise, but I know many normal and decent people who would describe themselves as Tories. And I know of many Tories in parts of the country we have just lost who voted SNP for decades. Whoever got the bright idea that it would be a good idea to drive them away from us and make them hate us?

The absurd notion that we can win independence by muddling about in the quicksands of tactical voting is entirely flawed. We win independence when we persuade the majority of our people –and that includes our Tories – that independence is the best thing for their country and its future. To spend months attacking “Tories” instead of attacking “Unionists” is counter-productive in any long-term strategy.

We need to educate on the benefits of independence every day. I could go on.