John Swinney “doesn’t seem to have a clue” about how to win independence, a former SNP cabinet secretary has claimed.
Alex Neil said the SNP leader should be concentrating on raising support for Scotland leaving the UK rather than “a debate about the process” at Holyrood.
He hit out the day after the Scottish Parliament backed a motion from the First Minister calling on Westminster to grant a Section 30 order, transferring powers to Holyrood to allow a second independence referendum to take place.
While the vote was passed with the support of SNP and Scottish Green MSPs, the result was immediately dismissed by Sir Keir Starmer, with a Downing Street spokesperson making clear: “The UK Government does not support independence or another referendum.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Neil, who served as both health secretary and social justice secretary in previous Scottish governments, said: “There’s nothing wrong with holding the vote, but the reality is that the SNP leadership doesn’t seem to have a clue on how to advance the independence cause.
“They know the answer they’re going to get from Westminster. What they need to do now in my view is not a one-off debate, they need to run a consistent campaign to build up support for independence to a much higher level so that Westminster cannot say no.”
He called on the SNP to “learn the lessons of how we won the devolution battle” as it seeks to make the case for taking Scotland out of the UK.
He told how support from devolution became the “settled will of the Scottish people” between the first referendum in 1979 and the second vote in 1997 – saying this resulted in a “massive majority” of Scots backing the establishment of the Parliament in Edinburgh.
Mr Neil urged the SNP to “learn from that experience”, telling BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme: “The difference was we persuaded many more people between 79 and 97 that devolution was right for Scotland.
“We need to repeat that and start doing the homework.”
He insisted a second independence referendum will not take place “until we get support for independence consistently above 55% and nearer 60%”.
The former MSP insisted: “That is the prerequisite to success, that is what we have got to concentrate our efforts on. Not a debate about the process.”
He added that the SNP must also “update the case for independence”, saying that “it’s not the same as it was in 2014, the world has moved on, things have changed, we’ve had Brexit and a whole host of other things as well.”
Mr Neil said the party also must “spell out to people why they would be better off in an independent Scotland”.
His comments came as he insisted: “It’s independence Scotland needs, you just need to look at the state of the country, look at the state of Scotland.
“If we don’t escape from Britain going down the tubes, we are going to go down the tubes along with them.”
The Scottish Parliament voted for Scotland to have the powers to hold an independence referendum.
— The SNP (@theSNP) May 26, 2026
Because Scotland’s future should be decided by the people of Scotland. pic.twitter.com/H2dj80c9Gn
Mr Swinney said, however, Tuesday’s vote showed that having another referendum is “the will of Parliament”, with the SNP leader vowing to raise this when he meets Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer next month.
He also insisted that the SNP “has got a very clear strategy” for independence, with the First Minister saying that this “is about making sure that the future of our country is taken into the hands of our people, and we have the ability to decide on our constitutional future”.
He welcomed the vote at Holyrood as an “important development” saying that the “Scottish Parliament has expressed its democratic view… that our Parliament should be enabled with the powers, through a Section 30 order, to call a referendum on independence”.
Speaking to the Press Association, Mr Swinney said: “That is the democratic wish of the people of Scotland, it is the democratic aspiration set out by the Scottish Parliament.”
He added: “There’s a fundamental democratic question here, that Westminster just cannot ignore the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland.”
Saying that the SNP had “won the confidence of the people of Scotland” in the recent Holyrood election, he said there was also now a “parliamentary endorsement of the transfer of powers from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament to allow us to hold a referendum on independence”.
The First Minister said: “We now need to make sure the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland are implemented. That is exactly what I am going to do.”
However, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay insisted a second referendum would be a “monumental act of self harm” and would be “the worst possible thing for Scotland”.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, the Tory MSP hit out at the “constant agitation by John Swinney and the SNP to break up the country”.
Looking back at the recent Holyrood election, Mr Findlay added: “Of those who did vote, 60% voted for pro Union parties. So John Swinney can shout and bawl all he wants, there is no mandate.
“What people want is for their government to get on with the day job, cutting taxes, improving Scotland’s schools, improving opportunities for young people, dealing with the NHS waiting lists.”
But he added: “That’s not what is happening, we’re plunged back into this neverendum drama of the SNP.”
