Editing Scottish National Party (section)

=== Factional divisions and infighting (1980s) ===
[[File:Scottish National Party 79 Group Logo.svg|left|thumb|177x177px|The [[79 Group]] sought to define the party on the [[Left-wing politics|left]]. ]]
Following this defeat, a period of internal strife occurred within the party, culminating with the formation of the left-wing [[79 Group]].<ref name="BBC80">{{Cite news |date=11 April 2014 |title=The Scottish National Party at 80 |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26924026 |url-status=live |access-date=11 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140412104847/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26924026 |archive-date=12 April 2014}}</ref> Traditionalists within the party, centred around [[Winnie Ewing]], by this time an [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]], responded by establishing the [[Campaign for Nationalism in Scotland]] which sought to ensure that the primary objective of the SNP was campaigning for independence without a traditional left-right orientation, even though this would have undone the work of figures such as [[William Wolfe]], who developed a clearly [[social democratic]] policy platform throughout the 1970s.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

These events ensured the success of a leadership motion at the party's annual conference of 1982, in [[Ayr]], despite the 79 Group being bolstered by the merger of [[Jim Sillars|Jim Sillars']] [[Scottish Labour Party (1976)|Scottish Labour Party (SLP)]] although this influx of ex-SLP members further shifted the characteristics of the party leftwards. Despite this, traditionalist figure [[Gordon Wilson (Scottish politician)|Gordon Wilson]] remained party leader through the electoral disappointments of [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]] and [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987]], where he lost his own [[Dundee East (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundee East]] seat won 13 years prior.

Through this period, Sillars' influence in the party grew, developing a clear socio-economic platform including ''Independence in Europe,'' reversing the SNP's previous opposition to membership of the [[European Economic Community|then-EEC]] which had been unsuccessful in a [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|1975 referendum]]. This position was enhanced further by Sillars reclaiming [[Glasgow Govan (UK Parliament constituency)|Glasgow Govan]] in a [[1988 Glasgow Govan by-election|by-election]] in 1988.

Despite this moderation, the party did not join [[Scottish Labour|Labour]], the [[Scottish Liberal Democrats|Liberal Democrats]] and the [[Scottish Greens|Greens]] as well as civil society in the [[Scottish Constitutional Convention]] which developed a blueprint for a devolved [[Scottish Parliament]] due to the unwillingness of the convention to discuss independence as a constitutional option.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ex-MP: Scotland 'in trouble' if lax on constitution – The Targe |url=http://thetarge.co.uk/article/current-affairs/0165/ex-mp-scotland-in-trouble-if-lax-on-constitution |access-date=5 April 2020 |website=thetarge.co.uk}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2020}}