Scottish Parliament
Unlike his wife, Sillars called for abstention on the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum, He accused Salmond of having no strategy for full independence and claimed the referendum was a fraud as "the SNP says it is a stepping stone to independence and Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar insists it will strengthen the Union", adding "Abstention is the best form of contempt". SNP chief executive Mike Russell, however, shut down Sillars claims: "Jim's view is clearly not shared by the membership. Our National Council voted overwhelmingly by over 300 to 6 for the clear and constructive Yes, Yes strategy. The alternative that Jim seems to support is the politics of despair."
In June 2004, Sillars called for the resignation of John Swinney as SNP leader and also claimed that the party's acceptance of devolution had been a tactical blunder. He told BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Live programme: "Devolution has parochialised Scottish politics and marginalised Scotland at Westminster. I would challenge any of your listeners. Turn to your partner, wife, friend and say 'name me 12 Westminster members of parliament' and they'll be hard pushed to do that. Not because they're dummies, but the Scottish media hardly gives them any coverage from a Westminster point of view, so the people in the big league, they don't really count." In a 2019 interview with Tribune magazine, Sillars said that he felt vindicated over his decision to oppose devolution. "The creation of Holyrood has narrowed the political intellectual spectrum in Scotland, and provincialised the nation," he claimed. "They seem to be happy arguing about gender equality, smacking children, and who spends enough money in the health service. Where is the imagination?"
On 3 March 2022, the Daily Record revealed that Sillars had donated £2,000 to Labour MSP Jackie Baillie during the 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign. According to the Electoral Commission, Sillars made two separate donations of £1,000 in the weeks before polling day. Baillie retained her seat in Dumbarton, thus depriving the SNP of a majority at Holyrood. Explaining his decision, Sillars said he believed Baillie was "a very impressive member of Parliament" and that he had been impressed with her performance on the Holyrood committee scrutinising the Government's unlawful probe into sexual misconduct allegations into Alex Salmond. "She was a stand out on that committee," he said. "I would prefer her in the parliament to a clone on the backbenches. I don't think there is any doubt she is an asset to the parliament. My concern, in donating to Jackie Baillie, was to have a very able person in parliament. I didn't want someone with considerable ability to disappear." When asked if his donation could have helped Baillie win and ultimately deprived the SNP of an outright majority, Sillars responded: "If that was a consequence of it, so be it." Responding to the revelations, Toni Giugliano, the SNP candidate whom Baillie defeated at the election, said: "Mr Sillars has more in common with Jackie Baillie than he does with the SNP these days - so I'm not surprised. It's only a matter of time before he's asked to be the frontman for the next Better Together campaign."
