EWING MARKS SNP 75th ANNIVERSARY.

EWING MARKS SNP 75th ANNIVERSARY. Veteran Nationalist Winnie Ewing today joined SNP MSP for Stirling Bruce Crawford to mark the Scottish National Party’s 75th anniversary. Speaking as she and Mr Crawford cut an anniversary cake at an event in Stirling Dr Ewing said; "It's hard to believe that nearly 10 years have passed since I had the honour of reconvening the Scottish Parliament. "It was one of the proudest moments of my political career. "That special day marked a turning point in the political story of Scotland. Even when I won Hamilton in 1967, few people would have thought Scotland would have advanced so far as to have our own law-making parliament. "To see the SNP at 75, forming our government in the Scottish Parliament is something even fewer people would have predicted never mind expected. "Yet the Party and its cause continues to go from strength to strength and I will be thrilled to see Scotland complete the journey to nationhood and equality of status in Europe." In an email to the SNP’s 15000 members party leader and First Minister Alex Salmond put the party's focus firmly on the future as he marked the anniversary; "The last 75 years have seen Scotland and the SNP journey together. Throughout, we have always stood with and for the people of Scotland in achieving our nation’s ambitions. "The last two years have seen fresh landmarks in the SNP story, with the triumph at the last Holyrood election, including the election of the late and much missed Bashir Ahmad as the first Scots Asian MSP, and then last year’s epic by-election victory in Glasgow East. "When the party was founded few could have imagined the distance we have travelled in the years since, with an SNP Government now in place and an independence referendum planned for next year. "The sad loss of Neil MacCormick reminds those of us who have the privilege of serving in the first SNP Government, that without the support of the people, and the efforts of so many members over the decades, we would not be in the position we are today. It is that support and the strength and determination of the people of Scotland that will take us forward together. "Now it is time for the SNP and the people of Scotland to move into a new era, to look to the future, and to build the smarter, wealthier, and healthier Scotland that will take us forward to our rightful place as an equal and independent nation on the European and world stage."