Humza Yousaf has indicated he will now back an amendment to his independence strategy when SNP conference debates the plan this afternoon.
That would change the policy of giving “democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent country” if his party wins the most seats at a general election to only doing so if they win a majority of seats.
That would mean the Scottish Government would start negotiations with whoever is in No 10 on independence or either a new referendum or devolving the powers to hold a referendum to Holyrood, if the SNP win 29 seats, 14 less than they have at the moment.
The amendment was put forward by the party's Deeside and Upper Donside Branch.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf: voters don't see independence as relevant to daily life
Joanna Cherry has also indicated that she will not push her amendment to the strategy which would require “a majority of votes cast at the General Election in Scotland” for pro-independence parties before talks would begin.
However, her Westminster colleague, Pete Wishart will push his similar amendment calling for the SNP to win a “majority of the vote.”
“I will argue that we can not seriously initiate independence negations unless we have the expressed consent of the majority of the Scottish people in a democratic event,” he wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter on Saturday night.
Really looking forward to conference tomorrow. I have a key amendment in the independence strategy debate. I will argue that we can not seriously initiate independence negations unless we have the expressed consent of the majority of the Scottish people in a democratic event.
— Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) October 14, 2023
READ MORE: SNP set to change independence strategy yet again at conference
During an interview with the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, the First Minister was asked how he could justify pushing ahead with independence talks without a majority of votes.
He said: “Your viewers should know that the SNP has had mandate after mandate to hold a referendum, a second referendum on Scottish independence particularly after Brexit.
“That is being denied to us by the Westminster Government.
“So the policy I'm proposing is that the next test of the proposition will be in a general election. At a general election the rules are the seat that wins a majority of seats, of course, ends up winning that general election.
The First Minister added: “If Westminster parties wanted to test the proposition for 50% plus one. I'm happy to do that.
“That has to be through a referendum. Every single democratic country uses a referendum to test propositions for popular support.”
Asked if he wanted a referendum, he added: “We've demanded a referendum. We've been elected on a mandate for a referendum. If you want one, bring it on. We'll do it tomorrow.
“I guarantee you independence will be here sooner rather than later.”
READ MORE: SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn contradicts his own Indy plan
Mr Yousaf was also shown a word cloud, generated after the More in Common group asked voters in Scotland what they thought the First Minister stood for.
In large letters were 'independent' and 'Scotland', but in slightly smaller text was 'useless' and 'incompetent.'
Asked to respond, Mr Yousaf said he would not pretend that things had been “entirely rosy” for him and his party over the last six months.
“My focus is making sure we deliver on the priorities, cost living crisis, of course investing in public services, our NHS in particular, and of course, making sure that we grow our economy, and independence is linked to every single one of those.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel