Nicola Sturgeon has offered her full support to the SNP’s new independence strategy, according to reports. The former first minister spoke to the media as she arrived at the party’s gathering in Aberdeen, Scotland on Monday. Ahead of the conference, party members voted against Sturgeon’s plan to use the next general election as a pseudo-referendum on Scottish independence, with First Minister Humza Yousaf instead calling for a focus on securing a majority of seats. The amendment passed by delegates stated that a majority of votes for the SNP at the next general election would spark independence negotiations with Westminster, with a push for a second referendum to follow.
After her arrival, Sturgeon received applause from conference attendees, including Yousaf. She told reporters, “I believed I’d given it my all in moving the country to independence but that I had taken it as far as I could,” in reference to her own efforts over the years to achieve a Scottish breakaway from the United Kingdom. Sturgeon added that she had been monitoring proceedings “from afar” and had no intention of stealing attention from Yousaf, who she said was firmly in charge of the conference.
Following the conference, Sturgeon reportedly urged the SNP to keep the focus on “making the connection” between independence and people’s priorities and not to lose sight of why the party had enjoyed repeated success in previous elections. She also denied that she had spoken to police in the wake of an investigation into SNP finances that led to her arrest in June, saying, “No.”
The Scottish Parliament has no power to hold a referendum without agreement from the UK government and following a recent Supreme Court ruling that confirmed this, Sturgeon unveiled plans to use a general election as a proxy for a vote on independence. The amendment passed during the conference suggests that if a majority of SNP votes are secured in the next general election, talks will be held with Westminster about Scottish sovereignty with a second referendum a possibility. If this approach also proves fruitless, the party may consider another pseudo-referendum in the form of the Scottish Parliament election of 2026
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