Fergus Ewing is SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn and a former cabinet minister

For example, I heard this in the reaction from the public in Nairn in my own constituency, when Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop spoke at a public meeting we both attended.

She sought to blame the lack of any progress on the Nairn by-pass on Westminster. Promised by the SNP Government in 2009, not an inch of tarmac has been ever been laid.

Her blaming the London Government met with an audible collective groan from the audience.

There is , however, one enormous political thunder cloud that has been hanging over both the SNP and the Scottish Government for the past 18 months: That is the possibility of criminal charges being pursued against the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and/or her husband and former Chief Executive of the SNP, Peter Murrell.

That political cloud has been hanging overhead for 18 months. It ain’t going anywhere soon.

The uncertainty surrounding these matters, and the endless media coverage, has had a serious detrimental effect on both the party and its finances.

The film of the police tent in the garden of the former First Minister’s home will have been seen by millions; the picture lingers in the mind.

Unless and until these events are brought to a conclusion, it is difficult to see how the SNP can progress.

Many of the defeated SNP MPs in the recent General Election have spoken out stating that this was the chatter on the doorsteps as they canvassed. Far more of them say so in private .

Major simple but serious questions have not been answered or answered credibly. For example, what happened to the £600,000 referendum war chest?

Where has it gone? Why did a political party need a campervan – never mind a top of the range one? In the old days , the party made do with a ramshackle open-decked converted milk cart, which we dubbed “the snappy bus”.

It was donated by volunteers. Candidates spoke from the back and the cart trundled round housing schemes and our candidate boomed out the political message over a loudhailer.

That did the job just fine, when Jim Sillars won the 1988 Govan by election.

Until these questions are answered, the party is stuck in a rut. Who, for example, in business will donate money to a party which is under investigation for alleged financial fraud? Virtually no one – as the past 18 months have already proven.

The party made, in my view, the biggest mistake in its history by failing to elect Kate Forbes MSP, head and shoulders above the rest.

The narrow winner, Humza Yousaf, had the opportunity to do four things to distance himself from past events and problems – to “make his own weather” and escape from underneath the shadow of that dark cloud.

First, clear out the senior staff at SNP HQ. Discontent with HQ amongst membership rumbled beneath the surface for many years , but after the criminal investigation began, they now , sadly, have little credibility.

Second, reshuffle the old faces in the Cabinet closely allied to Sturgeon.

Third, immediately despatch the extremists Greens from Government and send them back to their wine bars to sip Chablis whilst plotting the revolution.

Fourth, ditch the dud Green polices and the absurd focus on gender reform.

Instead, he did none of these things.

He got almost everything wrong. He said the deal with the Greens was “worth its weight in gold:” but then eventually terminated that ‘brilliant’ deal in an utterly cack-handed manner. He finished the deal.

Then it finished him. Even then , there were signs of shabby internal party tricks leading to the departure of Humza – “Humza the brief” as Alex Salmond pithily described him.

Instead of showing he was his own man, he chose to continue with the approach of a semi- cult of the personality of his predecessor.

Our message then as a party was about as comprehensible or interesting to people as quadratic equations or a trainspotter’s memoirs.

Even now, under new management, none of essential steps have been taken – steps in my view key to recovery.

If one lesson and one alone should be learned from the 2014 referendum defeat for YES, it was that we must now have a relentless focus on the economy.

Persuading Scots that we have a strong economy – and we do – and that we can working with business closely make it even stronger – is what we needed to do, failed to do, and now must do.

We’ve wasted ten years of huge electoral success, in neglecting that essential task of building a stronger economy and assisting our businesses to grow further.

We must also fundamentally reform our public services, now more bloated than an over inflated Zeppelin.

A pathetic illustration of the Scottish Government’s warped focus came just last week. When the catastrophic news broke, that the Grangemouth refinery, vital to our economy, is set to close , what did we announce:

That kids would no longer need to wear school blazers. It’s hard to conceive just how far removed now the SNP priorities are from those of the Scottish public.

The gulf between what the SNP has focussed on over the part three years in particular, and what is of real concern to the people has been wider than the Atlantic Ocean.

Ludicrously complex Deposit return schemes, Banning our fishermen from vast swathes of the sea, fancy ferries that do not work, sending rapists to women’s prison, and most corrosive of all, the endless fixation with gender reform ; All of these have totally scunnered and baffled the bemused electorate. Yet no one is saying “Sorry – we got it wrong.”

The failings of the Scottish Government leadership over the past three years led inevitably to the loss of 39 seats in July.

Even now, the SNP leadership press on with many of the policies from the failed Green deal – the Bute House Agreement.

They continue to peddle gender reform, teaching gender identity in schools and recommending “gender neutral” school clothing.

They are therefore in denial, though our FM hates that being. pointed out. ( Maybe , dear Reader, I should put in a bid for the campervan for a week in case I will be suspended again for the crime of speaking out…..)

It’s as though the Scottish Government is a patient in intensive care, but pretending he just has a nose bleed..

Much of the past decade has been spent on the “how”, the process of gaining independence instead of the “Why”: Why it is vital. Until we win the “Why” the “How” is almost irrelevant.

As wise heads such as Alex Salmond, Jo Cherry, Jim Sillars in different ways have all pointed out, the legacy from 2014 has been squandered, blown.

Nicola Sturgeon , though electorally successful till 2021, has in political terms been a kind of prodigal daughter.

No-one in the SNP leadership will quite spit it out, but there is no chance of a second independence referendum following the landslide labour victory.

Recovery can happen. But not by denying reality. I have supported Independence for Scotland all my life and worked and campaigned for it.

The dream will never die. But to make that dream a reality – we now need to wake up, and smell the coffee.