We are living in truly extraordinary times.
Never did I think we would reach the stage where a UK Government of any party would openly talk of flouting the law in the way the current regime is doing.
Never did I imagine any Westminster administration would do something as reckless and irresponsible as willingly driving the UK over the cliff edge of a catastrophic No Deal Brexit.
This is all the more hard to take as back in 2014 during the independence referendum the No campaign told people in Scotland that if they voted No we would stay in the EU.
The talks between Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar suggest there may still be the makings of a proposed Brexit deal.
But with all the focus on avoiding no deal, in the background the UK Government has been, by stealth, drawing up plans to move further away from the EU, its social protections and the huge European Single Market.
With the people of Scotland voting overwhelmingly to remain, the SNP can’t back a deal that would leave us vulnerable to an extreme hard Brexit.
We go into our conference in great shape. We take nothing for granted but polls show significant and growing leads for the SNP at Holyrood and Westminster.
However, a key part of political leadership is knowing when not to make a miscalculation that those in opposing parties would like you to make.
That is why I will not fall into the trap that our unionist opponents want me to, by deviating from our current path of ensuring the next independence referendum is legal and constitutional.
We don’t need to be talking about plan B when we have a perfectly good plan A – especially when any plan B is exactly the route many opponents of independence would like us to go down.
If we were to try to hold a referendum that wasn’t recognised as legal and legitimate – or to claim a mandate for independence without having demonstrated majority support for it – it would not carry the legal, political and diplomatic weight that is needed.
It simply would not be accepted by the international community, including our EU friends and partners. Our opponents want to push us to talk about plan B, because they know plan A is the right one to deliver independence.
The reason they’re so desperate to block a referendum is because they’re likely to lose it.
I understand the frustrations felt by some in the SNP and the wider movement – I am impatient myself for independence because the need has never been so great and the case has never been more compelling.
Democracy must prevail and mandates delivered by the people must be respected.
As the Labour Welsh government said, for Westminster to try to stand indefinitely in the way of independence for Scotland or Wales would be “both undemocratic and inconsistent with the idea of a Union based on shared values and interests”.
Scotland doesn’t want to be taken out of the EU. There is no mandate for it – but there is a mandate for a referendum on independence.
I am determined to give the people of Scotland that choice.
