Swinney set for independence showdown with SNP activists at party conference
John Swinney is set for a showdown with SNP activists over independence today in a turbulent start to his party’s annual conference in Aberdeen. The First Minister will demand backing for his plan to make an outright SNP majority at the Holyrood election the basis for seeking a second referendum. But with the SNP sagging in the polls and a survey this week showing trust in the Scottish Government at an all-time low, many of his own members want a much lower bar. A proposal backed by nine branches says the SNP should stick with its previous policy and fight next May’s election as a ‘de facto referendum’. If all the separatist parties combined then won the most list votes that would be read as a mandate for independence and the creation of a ‘provisional government’. Mr Swinney, who says only a repeat of the SNP majority seen in 2011 can jolt the UK Government into granting a referendum, will face fierce challenges from his critics. Mr Swinney told LBC last night that if he won a majority ‘Keir Starmer won’t be the Prime Minister, and I’ll be negotiating with somebody else’, and said of the rival independence proposal: ‘I don’t think it would work.’ The SNP leader also faces a moment of jeopardy tomorrow, the first anniversary of Alex Salmond’s death, when Nicola Sturgeon visits the conference on the eve of his keynote speech. The former First Minister, who overshadowed Humza Yousaf’s one and only conference as SNP leader in 2023, is due to speak at a fringe about The Promise, her flagship plan to help children in care which watchdogs this week exposed as shambolic. On Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon urged downhearted independence supporters to ‘keep the faith’ at a book event in Edinburgh, claiming the union would end sooner than they thought. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn will today accuse Keir Starmer of taking ‘broken Britain’ from ‘bad to worse’ and claimed Scotland needs a ‘fresh start’ with independence. Opening the conference, the Aberdeen South MP will say the UK Labour Government has ‘power but no purpose’ and the Westminster system ‘isn’t working for Scotland’. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the SNP was ‘desperately out of touch squabbling over independence while services across Scotland are at breaking point’. He added: ‘We can’t risk a third decade of this tired and incompetent government.’