Alex Salmond ridicules SNP independence plan as leadership confirm party-winning majority of seats will 'start negotiations' on indy Scotland

It confirms the plan set out by Humza Yousaf earlier this year.

The SNP winning the majority of seats at the next general election will see the party begin negotiations with the UK Government to “give democratic effect to Scotland becoming independent”, a motion to the party’s conference from the leadership has confirmed.

Plans first laid out by Humza Yousaf at the party’s independence convention in June will be put to members in October at the annual conference in Aberdeen.

However, former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond criticised the party for what he termed a “go it alone approach”.

Humza Yousaf speaking at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, after it was announced that he is the new Scottish National Party leader, and will become the next First Minister of Scotland.

The motion from the leadership confirms that the party will publish a “Withdrawal from Westminster – a New Partnership Agreement” document if it wins a majority of seats, setting out the “detailed terms we would seek in discussions with the UK Government for Scotland becoming an independent country” and include draft text of the legislation needed to transfer powers from Westminster to Holyrood.

Mr Yousaf would also begin a consultation on a draft interim constitution for an independent Scotland and send an envoy to Brussels in the hope of preparing the ground for rejoining the European Union.

The motion states: “Conference agrees that the SNP manifesto for the UK General Election should state on page one, line one, the following simple and powerful statement: Vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country.”

However, Mr Salmond whose party has so far failed to convince the SNP to back his plan for a single pro-independence candidate on the ballot in each constituency, said it failed to be a “Scotland United for Independence strategy”.

Alba are widely expected to lose both of their seats, held following defections from incumbent SNP MPs, during the general election having failed to make an electoral breakthrough at any level of Scottish politics since it was launched in 2021.

He said: “No one seriously believes that proposing a majority of seats as an independence mandate is at all credible. Given that Westminster have been allowed over repeated elections to dismiss a majority of SNP seats as a mandate for a mere referendum, why on earth would they concede it as a mandate for negotiating independence itself?

“The correct mandate to seek is a majority of votes for ALL of the independence parties working in harmony not for a single party winning most seats. The correct democratic implementation is through the establishment of an Independence Convention to mobilise Scottish and international opinion to face Westminster down and force them into independence negotiations with the Scottish Government.

“Humza Yousaf and Stephen Flynn must decide why they want to talk about independence at all.

“Either they want it just as a political shield to protect them from the SNP grassroots, impatient after nine years of inaction, or they see it as a realisable and urgent goal. If the latter, then they are required to propose a real strategy or lose all credibility.”

The SNP were contacted for comment.