Humza Yousaf and Stephen Flynn have insisted that they are on the same page over the SNP’s independence plan.
Both men have backed a motion at next month’s party conference that states that “if the SNP subsequently wins the most seats at the general election in Scotland, the Scottish Government is empowered to begin immediate negotiations with the UK Government to give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent country”.
That means if the SNP has at least one more seat than the next largest party they will either start negotiations with whoever is in No 10 on leaving the UK or hold talks on a second independence referendum.
However, last Friday Mr Flynn said the party would need to win “a majority” of Scotland’s 57 seats.
READ MORE: SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn contradicts his own Indy plan
Speaking at a campaign event in Cambuslang, the First Minister said that the party wants to “not only” win the most seats, but also a majority of seats.
He was asked about an amendment to his motion, tabled by SNP MP Pete Wishart, which says talks should only take place only if the party wins a majority of votes in the election.
This would be close to the de-facto referendum proposed by Nicola Sturgeon. The veteran politician said this would give the policy “real democratic credibility”.
Mr Yousaf told journalists: “From my perspective, we will obviously consider amendments as they come up. I'd be quite keen if possible to look at the amendments, if there are amendments we can take, we'll look to consider that.
“I'm not going to say what amendments we will take, we’ll need to wait to see what is brought forward.
“But the entire point is that we're not scared of the debate. We're going have a really open debate.”
Mr Yousaf said he wanted party members to be “part of that discussion.”
“There's those that believe in effectively a defacto referendum positions, so getting 50% plus one, and then there's those like myself who are advocating for a different position,” he said.
“I respect Pete, I always have for a long time, but having attended many of our regional assemblies, being involved in discussions with members, I think we believe that if you're going to test a proposition for popular support, you do that in a referendum, that’s our preference, that’s Plan A.
“Of course, it's not us that is denying the Scottish people a referendum.
“If you don't have a referendum, the next opportunity to test that proposition is in the general election.
“People know the rules of a general election, the party that wins the most seats wins.”
READ MORE: Pete Wishart says Humza Yousaf independence plan not credible
Mr Flynn, who was campaigning with the First Minister in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency, said he had “very high expectations for the general election next year”.
The SNP Westminster leader said: “I don’t want to just win the most seats or a majority of seats. I want to make sure we retain every single seat we hold and I want us to go and win some other seats as well.”
He said the Moray seat, currently held by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who is stepping down as an MP at the next election, was “very much in our headlights as we look to gain more seats in Westminster next year”.
“So that's my starting point in all of this and the First Minister is spot on, it's it's important that the party comes together at conference that you have a robust debate, you disagree, but without being disagreeable,” he added.
“And we all come together on the back of that and push forward to the election and focus on the public's priorities, which is definitely the cost living crisis, energy bills, mortgage prices, food prices.”
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