Boost for SNP as membership hits 100,000 mark

The boost in membership means the SNP goes into its conference in Glasgow next weekend with the strongest pre-election support in its history. Picture: TSPL

Former first minister Alex Salmond confirmed the figure in an interview with the BBC.

He told the Andrew Marr Show: “The SNP membership has just reached 100,000 in Scotland this weekend.”

A huge surge in support has seen thousands of new members join the party following the No vote in the referendum on independence on 18 September, with the SNP previously describing the surge in its membership as the “incredible legacy of democratic engagement from the referendum”.

The boost for the party means it goes into its conference in Glasgow next weekend with “the strongest pre-election support” in its history.

Party managers are said to be preparing for 3,000 delegates at the conference, a 150 per cent increase on the numbers at conference in Perth last November.

The SNP is also promising the largest amount of doorstep activity ever undertaken by party activists. It said it is expected to conduct its millionth doorstep canvass of the campaign this weekend and deliver the ten-millionth leaflet of its campaign since the start of the year.

Recent polling has suggested the SNP could win more than 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats at Westminster.

SNP general election campaign director Angus Robertson MP said: “We have stronger support than going into any previous election – and we take absolutely nothing for granted.

“The polls indicate what we can achieve – hard work and commitment will determine what we do achieve and we are fully focused on winning a strong voice for Scotland.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour renewed its attack on the SNP’s record, saying Nationalists voted with the Tories more than 70 per cent of the time against the last two Labour governments.