MEMBERS at the upcoming SNP conference look set to debate plans for Scotland's "independence day".
The Herald reports that grassroots members lodged the motion after their initial proposal was dropped from debate at the annual conference, set to take place later this month.
The first proposal – which was backed by some 43 local SNP branches – argued a majority of list votes for pro-independence parties in 2026 would secure a mandate for independence negotiations with the UK Government.
However, it was knocked back by the SNP's conference committee, with members then drafting a revised plan.
The revised proposal is set to be submitted as an amendment to John Swinney's own conference motion, which argues an SNP majority in next year's Holyrood election would be a mandate for a new independence referendum.
It is being drafted by SNP members in Oban and Lorn, Tweeddale and Helensburgh.
While the draft amendment is still being finalised, The Herald reports that branches have been told the party is open to debate.
One SNP member told the paper: "There has been an indication from the conference committee that the substance behind our amendment will be debated.
"There was annoyance and frustration that the resolution was the one from the leadership and ours wasn't accepted for debate.
"We have heard from at least two sources on the conference committee that the feeling was it would be better to have the leadership resolution and welcome amendments to that.
"We are now hearing that might be quite a generous attitude taken and amendments heard. That would be a major step forward."
The "independence day" draft amendment was distributed to 41 local party branches, with members reportedly responding "favourably".
The revised amendment states: "Conference notes that it is current party policy as agreed at the October 2023 conference that – consideration should be given to fighting the next Scottish Parliament election in 2026 as a de facto referendum on independence; and that a majority at that election for the SNP – or the SNP and any other party with which we have reached a pro-independence agreement – will be considered a mandate to negotiate independence."
Under the sub heading "Dissolution Day" it adds: "Conference recognises that there is the practical process of moving from a partner in the Union to an independent state.
"Hopefully the rest of the UK Government will co-operate in negotiating a parting of the ways but that is not guaranteed, and the timescale involved in agreement may drag on to the possible detriment of the development of an independent Scotland.
"Conference resolves that the Union will be dissolved no later than 1 May 2027 regardless of whether the rest of the UK Government has entered and concluded negotiations to end the Union."
The amendment's timeline for Scotland to be independent would be less than a year after the Holyrood election on May 7, 2026, which is shorter than senior SNP politicians have proposed.
Writing in The National back in 2014, the late first minister Alex Salmond said that March 24 of that year would have been "independence day", had the referendum been won by the Yes side on September 18, 2014.
He wrote: "It could all have been so different. If Scotland had voted Yes to independence on 18 September 2014, 24 March is the day that it would officially have embraced its new status as a sovereign country of its own. The United Kingdom as we know it would have been no more.
Speaking to STV News last month, Swinney said the initial proposal from SNP members would not work.
When pressed if he would be prepared to debate the grassroots plan, the First Minister replied: "We [make independence a priority] by electing a majority of SNP MSPs to the Scottish Parliament and then taking forward the democratic path to independence, which will secure the future of our country.
“We only get that referendum if a majority of SNP MSPs are elected next May.”
It comes as the Scottish Government published a new paper on independence on Thursday morning.
Launching the paper, Swinney said he is "determined" to see the SNP win a majority of seats at the Holyrood election.
The first referendum was described at the time as being a "once in a generation" opportunity.
Responding to opponents who say it is too soon for another vote, the First Minister said:
“By 2030, there will be one million young Scots eligible to vote who were too young in 2014.
“Some of them will not even have been born then.
“That seems like a generation to me.”
