Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
SNP leader John Swinney has been accused of setting out a “confused” Scottish independence strategy after publishing the party’s general election manifesto.
Mr Swinney said a majority of seats in Scotland next month would allow a second independence referendum to be held.
That would leave the SNP with just 29 seats, down from the 48 they won in the last election, and prompt Mr Swinney to demand new elections be negotiated with the next UK government. But the latest YouGov poll predicts the SNP could lose 28 seats, reducing its overall number to 20.
Some SNP members are keen to use the issue to shore up the party’s support base, but some insiders believe a general election is too early to call for secession.
One SNP source said: I“There is no clear strategy [on independence]”…They are making a fool of us.”
“Even if we win 29 seats, we have no mandate for independence. We have zero credibility. We can’t make major constitutional changes on that basis. Keir Starmer will have a good laugh.”
They said Mr Swinney’s general election policy was “empty lip service”. [to independence] To liven up the party.”
An SNP source said it would have been better if they had reconsidered their independence platform and focused on the issue in the run up to the Holyrood vote in 2026. “We need to show real leadership on this issue. We need to assert ourselves again,” the source said.
Stuart MacDonald, the SNP candidate for Glasgow South, said: I He said Mr Swinney was “100 per cent right” to see independence as the best way to build “a fairer country and a more prosperous economy”.
The frontbencher said the independence issue was “not the defining issue it has been in the past”. [in previous elections]” he said, campaigning on his front porch.
But Mr McDonald said it remained an important issue for some voters, adding: “People want big ideas and while independence is not at the top of voters’ minds I think it’s a very powerful idea.”
“Vote SNP for an independent Scotland,” reads the SNP manifesto document.
“If people want to increase pressure to do this, their chance is to vote Scottish National to make sure it happens,” Mr Swinney said.
However, the SNP’s legal push for an independence referendum has hit a dead end after a Supreme Court ruling in 2022 ruled that the Scottish Government does not have the power to hold an independence referendum.
Pressed by reporters after the manifesto was published, Mr Swinney refused to say what would happen to the independence movement if the SNP lost its majority in Scotland on July 4.
“We can wait until July 5th and have all the discussions then, but as things stand, if we want to move forward on the issue of independence we need to vote SNP,” he said.
Pollsters have warned that raising the issue of independence could be counterproductive, losing the support of many “soft” nationalists who are focused on the NHS and other issues that matter to them.
Emily Gray, managing director of Scotland at polling firm Ipsos, said Mr Swinney had to try to appeal to the SNP’s “core supporters” by setting out a path towards independence.
she said I“It’s a tough balance to strike because it’s unclear whether it will be effective with voters who prioritise public services and the state of the economy.”
Alex Salmond, the current leader of rival pro-independence party Alba, said the SNP’s independence plans were “a mess”.
“No rational person believes the SNP can achieve independence by losing 19 seats in a general election – right on the basis set out in their own manifesto,” Alba said.
Mr Salmond promised a “serious plan” in Alba’s manifesto, to be published next week, and said stronger pressure was needed to generate “public support for independence” to achieve separation from the UK.
Meanwhile, Scottish Green Party co-leader Patrick Harvie said his party’s manifesto reaffirmed support for an independent Scottish Republic with an elected head of state.
Ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Mr Harvie called for Scotland to be given the power to hold a referendum on whether to create an independent republic, and said the monarchy was “increasingly irrelevant and ridiculous”.
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, Jackie Baillie, said the SNP manifesto showed Mr Swinney’s party was “out of touch with Scotland’s priorities”, and argued “no one has faith in the SNP’s latest string of half-baked and half-serious promises”.
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: “The SNP’s whole manifesto can be summed up in one word: independence. None of Scotland’s urgent issues will appeal to the SNP.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said the SNP manifesto ignored the “huge fiscal challenges” that an independent Scotland would immediately face.
Elsewhere in the manifesto, the SNP pledged to bring forward legislation at Westminster to block privatisation of the NHS, remove the cap on second child benefits and oppose any austerity measures imposed by the next UK government.
The document calls for a reversal of the Scottish Government’s capital budget cuts. Mr Swinney later told Channel 4 that the next UK government should be willing to raise taxes and borrow more, accusing Labour of “unnecessary levels of fiscal restraint”.
The party also reversed its previous stance of opposing new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, pledging instead to consider applications “on a case-by-case basis”.