Credit: Flickr / Tom Donald
Reporter
With support for Scottish independence growing, this initiative aims to build support for a second independence referendum
The SNP has announced a new initiative to encourage 50,000 SNP party members to hold conversations regarding Scottish independence. This initiative will take place on 29 September during a planned Day of Action aimed at building support for a second independence referendum.
Support for Scottish independence has increased recently among growing concerns over the possibility of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a comprehensive Brexit agreement. This push seeks to spur political discussions nationwide on the advantages of an independent Scotland and rally further support for the SNP, now the UK’s second largest party after Labour.
Deputy Leader of the SNP Keith Brown who announced this initiative said, “With 125,000 members, the SNP is now the second biggest political party in the UK, we have more members than the Tories and proportionally more than Labour do UK-wide. It is vital for us to harness this strength and utilize the potential of so many people.”
“In the coming months we will step up work to build the fresh case for independence – and as the UK government teeters on the brink of collapse, we will remain campaign ready for any snap general election.”
The news of this SNP initiative has received mixed reactions from the Scottish Labour and Conservative parties. Neil Findlay, MSP for Scottish Labour, stated: “Anyone who has spent time on the doorsteps in the past year or so knows that people are sick and fed-up of the SNP’s obsessions with another independence referendum. The real divide in Scotland is between the richest and the rest of us – not the false divisions of another referendum.”
While Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “The SNP party faithful can get together for coffee and a blether as often as they wish but it doesn’t alter the fact that the people of Scotland voted decisively to remain part of the United Kingdom in 2014.”
In his concluding remarks, Brown stated: “The Westminster parties are riddled with division and on the brink of implosion over Brexit – meanwhile our party and the independence movement have our sights on a far more positive future for Scotland as an independent country.”
