SNP leader John Swinney has dismissed an independence strategy backed by more than 40 party branches, saying it is “not going to work”.
The First Minister was speaking at an Unspun event held by The Herald at the Edinburgh Fringe when he was asked about the rival, grassroots proposals to his own independence strategy.
Writing in The National in July, Swinney had laid out his three-point plan to secure a Yes vote: building support for independence among the voting public, upping the pressure on Westminster to allow Scotland to assert its right to choose in a referendum, and urging the public to vote [[SNP]] to do so.
However, 43 SNP branches responded by backing a rival proposal, which called for the list votes at the 2026 Holyrood election to be treated as a de facto independence referendum, with ballots for pro-independence parties and Unionist parties representing Yes and No votes respectively.
Speaking to columnist Brian Taylor on stage at Summerhall, Swinney was asked if he had “any truck” with the rival proposal.
“No, I don't,” he said. “Because I don't think that is an argument that would have any legal force at the end of it, because it's not an agreed process.
“It might be what we would like to do – I would love Scotland to be independent today, but it's not going to deliver that process of Scotland becoming an independent country.”
Asked if the [[SNP]] branches should then drop their proposals, the First Minister said: “Well, I don't think it's an idea worth pursuing because I think it's going to lead to the type of situation that has emerged in Catalonia.
“Without an agreed process, Catalonia tried to secure its independence and it did not succeed.”
He added: “Totally I understand the frustration of people inside my own party – and outside my party and across the community. I totally understand that frustration and I feel it – but I don't think I am serving people well if I put in front of them a proposition that I know in my heart is not going to work.”
He said a legally agreed referendum, like the one held in 2014, would be “crucial to get domestic and international legitimacy for the independent Scotland”.
Swinney said that ahead of the 2026 elections, the SNP would be urging voters to “look at the precedent” in place.
“We did have a majority of MSPs committed after 2021 to the principle of a referendum on independence, but we were not able to secure that referendum,” he said.
“So I'm simply saying to people, look at the precedent for all of this. When we got a majority in 2011, it led to the legislation which gave us a referendum.”
Since the 2014 vote, Unionist politicians have often looked to dismiss calls for a second referendum by pointing to the rhetoric that the initial ballot was a “once in a generation” opportunity.
Addressing that, the First Minister told the audience in Edinburgh: “We are a sovereign country.
“Go back to the roots of Scotland and representative democracy. The identity and the foundations of our ethos as a country is based on the sovereignty of the people … it's deeply founded in how Scotland has influenced the world.”
He added: “By 2030, a million people will be in Scotland who were not eligible to vote in 2014. So let's start talking about what a generation is.”
The SNP leader further said there would be “no mucking about” and that voters would be in no doubt that a vote for his party in 2026 would be a vote for Scotland to be an independent country.
