We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Senior figures in Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) are drawing up plans for a second Scottish independence referendum that they plan to unveil when the coronavirus crisis is over. They are eyeing plans ahead of May’s next Holyrood election, where they would hope to strengthen their majority and in turn their mandate for independence to tear the Union apart.

Alyn Smith, an MP and the SNP’s policy development convener, has been in contact with around 30 local party branches to discuss plans including how a universal basic income would work in an independent Scotland, according to The Times.

The SNP’s Social Justice and Fairness Commission is also looking at policy plans ahead of the Holyrood election and a potential independence prospectus.

Mr Smith defended the plans saying it was “legitimate” to have discussions about Scottish independence.

He said: “We can be talking about that in the SNP as an energising prospect for how an independent Scotland would look different from the UK.

“The last thing anyone wants is any sense of politicking or taking advantage and that’s absolutely not where we are but it is legitimate to be having discussions about how we come out of this.”

The news comes despite Ms Sturgeon announcing her party had canned plans for independence to instead focus on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SNP blamed the coronavirus for finally calling off plans for a second independence referendum, with Scotland’s Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell writing to Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove saying planning for another vote has been “paused” to focus on the “unprecedented” impact of the invisible killer disease.

But in spite of this, SNP veteran Jim Sillars called for plans to drag Scotland out of the Union to take place during the UK lockdown, while SNP MP Joanna Cherry also said her party “must not be bullied or indeed flattered into stopping talking about independence”.

Ms Cherry argued that the coronavirus crisis hadn’t stopped Tory MPs pushing for Brexit to still happen.

DON’T MISS 
Piers Morgan’s brutal swipe at Nicola Sturgeon revealed – ‘Disaster’ [OPINION]
Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy hits out at Boris claiming SNP not consulted [INSIGHT]
Nicola Sturgeon and SNP slammed over Scottish care home death figures [REVEALED]

She told The National: “Next time the Scottish Tories say that continuing to talk about independence is irresponsible during the current crisis, they should be forcefully reminded that their London bosses haven’t let the current crisis stop them from pursuing the constitutional agenda for which they have a mandate. What’s sauce for the goose …

“The SNP and the independence movement must not be bullied or indeed flattered into stopping talking about independence.”

While First Minister Ms Sturgeon has been accuse of pedalling her nationalist agenda to break up the Union during the global coronavirus pandemic.

Critics have claimed Ms Sturgeon is trying to usurp the authority in Westminster by breaking away from the UK-wide strategy to tackle COVID-19.

Number 10 sources say it would be “naive” to believe Ms Sturgeon is “not considering the lens” of dragging Scotland out of the UK when she tackles the coronavirus crisis in her nation.

They accused Ms Sturgeon of spreading mixed messages and promoting a Nationalist agenda.

Source: Read Full Article