01-08-2025
SNP rebels challenge John Swinney with radical independence plan
Rebel SNP members have laid down the gauntlet to John Swinney by rejecting his independence blueprint and setting out their own radical alternative.
They have unveiled a plan to open independence negotiations with the UK Government if nationalist parties get a majority of the popular vote in next year's Holyrood election.
A motion outlining the plan has been submitted for discussion at the SNP conference in October, and has been backed by 43 regional branches, The Herald reported.
If selected for discussion, it will rival Mr Swinney's motion outlining his new independence plan, which the First Minister unveiled earlier this week.
Mr Swinney said the SNP winning an outright majority at Holyrood should force Sir Keir Starmer to drop his opposition to allowing another independence referendum.
He argued a precedent had been set at the 2011 election, when Alex Salmond led the SNP to a majority win and David Cameron, the then prime minister, authorised a vote.
But Alex Neil, a former SNP health secretary, told The Telegraph Mr Swinney was 'living in cloud cuckoo land' given the current level of public support for the SNP.
It has previously emerged that some of the rebel group of SNP members want to oust Mr Swinney as party leader amid concerns he is not doing enough to achieve independence.
The motion setting out their alternative blueprint is a direct challenge to his authority by the rebel group, which will meet in Perth on Aug 9.
It invites the conference to instruct 'the Party to prioritise obtaining a mandate from the sovereign Scottish people to deliver independence.'
This will be possible if the independence-supporting parties – the SNP, the Greens and Alba – together achieve a majority of the ballots cast in the regional list vote for Holyrood, it states.
Graeme McCormick, one of the people behind the strategy, told The Herald: 'If we get a majority of pro-independence votes on the list, we'll open negotiations with the UK Government around independence. If the negotiations aren't successful, then we'll move to dissolve the union. It's perfectly legal to do so.
'Our plan is coming from members with experience of how states work – we aren't just dewy-eyed 'the dream will never die' nationalists. We've invited John to come and speak with us, and look forward to discussing this with him. I think the strength of what we have requested is clear.'
But a party source predicted that the motion would not be selected by the party's conference committee, which decides what will be discussed at the Aberdeen gathering.
The provisional conference agenda will be published on Aug 8 after the committee has considered all the submitted motions.
Successive UK governments have repeatedly turned down SNP calls for a second referendum, with the UK Supreme Court ruling in 2022 that only Westminster can allow another poll.
Sir Keir said last month that he could not imagine another referendum being staged while he is prime minister, and an SNP victory in the May 2026 election would not change his mind.
When she was first minister, Nicola Sturgeon claimed there should be another referendum if there was a majority of independence-supporting MSPs, including SNP and Green members.
But Mr Swinney's new benchmark of an outright SNP majority is much more difficult to achieve under Holyrood's electoral system, which is partly based on proportional representation.
Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Tory deputy leader, said: 'This spat just demonstrates how out of touch John Swinney and the SNP are with ordinary Scots. Under the nationalists, our public services are in meltdown and taxes are sky high. But instead of fixing the mess they've created, they're fighting about how best to push their independence obsession.'
Alastair Cameron, the chairman of the Scotland in Union campaign group, said: 'Imagine if the SNP spent as much time exploring how to save the NHS rather than fighting over different wheezes for an unwanted second referendum. This is a party that has lost its way and is detached from the people of Scotland.'
