Chapter 11

Scotland

This chapter analyses the discourse and political identity of the supporters of the SNP (Scottish National Party) as expressed in their responses to the tweets published on the party’s official Twitter account (@theSNP) during the 2019 European election campaign. The chapter uncovers the way SNP supporters choose to display their position vis-à-vis the different issues raised by the party’s eclectic political programme by backing, ignoring or criticising the official party line. Most posts by the SNP leadership avoided explicit mentions of independence but rather emphasised the necessity for Scotland to reject Brexit and remain in the EU. However, these posts are often re-negotiated by SNP supporters on the basis of their own identity as European or, most often, Scottish, as they foregrounded independence as the ideological backbone of their brand of populism.