SNP offers election options on ‘defacto referendum’ at special conference

The SNP is set to put its resolution for an independence referendum to members.

The party’s NEC today unanimously agreed the wording of a draft resolution offering “election-based options” to be debated at its Special Democracy Conference in March.

The principal option is that the SNP contests the next Westminster election as a de facto referendum.

But, the alternative of contesting the next Scottish Parliament election as a de facto referendum is also set out.

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Inverness. (Pic: Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street)

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minster, had previously said she would make the next general election a “de facto referendum” of independence - a move dismissed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when the leaders met this week.

Her preferred route to independence remains a referendum - she said there is “cast iron democratic mandate” - but that has been blocked by the UK's top court.

The resolution proposes as the principal option that the SNP contests the next Westminster election as a de facto referendum.

The First Minister said: “The purpose of the special democracy conference is to allow the SNP to debate and decide which alternative route it wishes to offer the people of Scotland. Given the significance of this decision for both the party and the country, it is important that this debate is a full, free and open one - which is what the draft resolution seeks to enable.

"It sets out - as I did last June - the option of contesting the next Westminster election as a de facto referendum.

"However, in the interests of a full and open debate, it also sets out the alternative option of contesting the next Scottish Parliament election on this basis.

"While this will be a debate on the process of securing independence, it is one that will be guided by a fundamental principle - that the future of Scotland must and will be decided by the people of Scotland, not by Westminster politicians.”

She added: "I am looking forward to the discussions that the party will have in the run up to and at this important conference, and I know it will then unite behind a course of action that will enable us to make and win the case for independence.”