JOHN Swinney is set to call for the “immediate establishment” of a constitutional convention to “marshal support” for Scottish independence, The National can reveal.
The SNP leader will ask party members to support the move in a motion put forward at the upcoming conference in Aberdeen in October.
It comes after Swinney revealed some of the details of his upcoming motion on Monday, where he urged voters to deliver an SNP majority in Holyrood in order to secure a second independence referendum.
The SNP leader argued that the only time a referendum had been secured was after the SNP’s historic majority win in 2011, when it returned 69 MSPs.
And now, we can reveal that the FM intends to set up a “Scottish constitutional convention” to “marshal support for Scotland’s right to decide through gathering support from the people of Scotland, civic bodies and international opinion”.
The full conference motion, seen by The National and titled “Winning independence”, states: “Conference believes that the Scottish election in 2026 offers the people of Scotland a fresh start for our nation; that an SNP majority in that election, repeating the precedent of 2011, is the only uncontested route to delivering a new referendum.
“It is essential that, as before, the pro-independence campaign in that referendum should be broad-based and inclusive of the wide range of pro-independence campaigning bodies, representing a cross-section of Scottish society.”
Previously, Culture Secretary Angus Robertson explicitly ruled out holding a convention of independence supporting parties this summer. It came after SNP depute leader Keith Brown told the party’s conference in 2024 that he would support an independence convention that included other Yes-party representatives.
Brown said the move puts independence "at the very heart of the 2026 election campaign".
"A majority SNP government in 2026 is the catalyst to secure a legal independence referendum – exactly as it was in 2011," he told The National.
"As SNP depute leader, I have spoken to thousands of grassroots Yes activists across the country.
"I know how important the establishment of a civic convention will be for our movement –it has been pushed by some of our leading Yessers and The National newspaper itself.
"Together, we will deliver it and make this campaign a reality. That will be welcomed by activists across Scotland."
Brown said it would be crucial to "build a broad coalition of support" in order to win independence.
He added: "Westminster control – either from the Tories or Labour – is holding Scotland back. This strategy ensures an [[SNP]] victory in 2026 as the springboard for the people of Scotland taking charge of our own future with the full powers of independence.”
According to the pair's conference motion, the Holyrood 2026 election campaign will focus on an “ambitious, aspirational” case for Scottish independence, setting out how leaving the Union could make lives better for Scots.
This includes setting out how it would be different to the “broken” Westminster system in terms of public services and energy policy.
It also asserts that how Scotland becomes independent “matters”.
“That process must be agreed, democratic, constitutional and legal so that our nation gains recognition both at home and abroad,” the motion reads.
“That process must also seek to maximise participation as part of ensuring popular consent.”
It then affirms what Swinney has said before, that the democratic route to independence is through a legal referendum.
The motion adds that as Westminster has repeatedly refused a second referendum to go ahead, the Scottish public “must now insist that their democratic wishes and Scotland’s right to self-determination, are respected”.
It sets out Swinney’s three-point independence strategy, as exclusively reported by The National earlier this month, and will ask the SNP membership to back his plan.
He said that building support for independence, upping the pressure on Westminster to allow Scotland to assert its right to choose through a democratic referendum, and urging the public to vote SNP at the election would form the three prongs of his strategy.
In response to the FM’s latest call for voters to back the SNP on both electoral lists, Swinney was accused of “self-preservation” and being obsessed with the issue of independence.
On Monday, he insisted that there was “no shortcut” to securing independence and that the 2011 precedent was the only route forward.
