John Swinney has said that the second referendum campaign for Scottish independence \u201chas already begun\u201d, revealing a nationwide effort to renew the argument for leaving the UK in his keynote address to the SNP party conference.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the Scottish first minister said that the SNP would launch its \u201cmost sophisticated campaign in history\u201d to convince Scottish of the benefits of independence, backed by \u201ca six-figure war chest\u201d. Called Choose Scotland<\/a>, the campaign aims to build the consensus for leaving the union.<\/p>\n John Swinney told the SNP party conference in Aberdeen that the \u201cstars were aligning\u201d for the pro-independence cause, arguing that nationalist first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had panicked pro-union parties.<\/p>\n \u201cFor centuries, people in the Celtic nations have been told that we are not good enough. Our languages were derided, our cultures suppressed, our histories rewritten,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I stood on a stage recently with pro-independence leaders from Wales and Ireland, it certainly upset some of our opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom their point of view, they are right to be worried. Watching us pledge to work together and seeing the love and respect we feel for each other\u2019s nations. Never again can they portray us as separatists.\u201d<\/p>\n During the event in Aberdeen, leading SNP figures said that a hung Westminster parliament is the most realistic path to securing a second independence referendum in Scotland as the nationalists would probably \u201chold the balance of power\u201d in forming a future progressive government.<\/p>\n The party currently holds just eight MPs in parliament, but recent polling indicates that if a vote was held today, that number would surge at the Labour party\u2019s expense in Scotland, although there is uncertainty surrounding how many seats they would gain.<\/p>\n Deputy first minister Jenny Gilruth said that her party would welcome an early general election to reenergise the push for independence. \u201cThe polling, of course, suggests that the SNP would hold the balance of power in a hung parliament and really strong support for the SNP across the country allowing us to regain a number of seats,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The sentiment was echoed by Lara Bird, the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, who told a podcast<\/a> by the pro-independence newspaper The National that they could negotiate another poll if the overall results were tight.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a really great opportunity at the next general election to be in a position where that negotiation can seriously start with the next iteration of the Westminster government, whether we have a hung parliament, which is looking very likely, or different coalitions. Perhaps now we are talking about a Lib Dem-Labour coalition. The SNP are polled at getting somewhere between 40 and 50 MPs at the general election. That\u2019s huge. Let\u2019s put it to Westminster and put the onus on them to meet us at the table and set that plan out for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n