Scottish Independence seems to have fallen away from the headlines in recent years, but John Swinney’s SNP are making it their flagship issue heading into the 2026 Holyrood election.
Following the UK Supreme Court blocking Scotland’s ability to call a second independence referendum without the UK Government’s approval back in 2022, the SNP and Scottish Governments of Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and John Swinney all went quiet on the issue of independence.
The concept of using the 2024 general election as a ‘de facto referendum’ was pitched in 2022, but the idea went nowhere.
The following years proved turbulent for the SNP between leadership changes, the breakdown of the Bute House Agreement and a party finance scandal.
However, following the SNP’s disastrous result in the 2024 general election, the party is now fully focused on the independence issue.
One MSP candidate for the SNP told Brig that “Humza (Yousaf) and late-stage Sturgeon were seen as having lost their way… Amongst core supporters, there was the question of ‘why have you not delivered independence?
“I think the party got sidetracked into process, not principle… We need to get back to what we’re for and that’s independence.”
In September, the Scottish Government published a paper called Your Right to Decide.
The paper “sets out the Scottish Government’s view that it is for the people of Scotland to decide on their constitutional future. It calls on the UK Government to make a clear commitment to respect the people of Scotland’s right to choose their constitutional future.”
With major issues like the cost-of-living crisis, fears over immigration and the housing crisis, the SNP believe that independence is the only way to address these issues by gaining full economic control and joining the European Union.
“There’s never a perfect time (but) I think the UK is operating on a model that’s run out of road”, the SNP candidate told us.
Heading into next year’s Scottish Government election, the SNP are seeking a majority in Holyrood in order to recreate the circumstances which led to the first independence election.
The Your Right To Decide paper concludes by saying, “The Scottish Government believes that the precedent of 2011 demonstrates that it is for the people of Scotland to decide when a referendum is to be held, and that when they do it is for the governments of Scotland and the United Kingdom to take the steps required to facilitate that.”
However, achieving such a majority will be a challenge for the Party as Holyrood is designed to prevent majorities.
But, while the SNP may be the loudest voice in the independence conversation, they are not alone, as both The Scottish Greens and The Alba Party also support Independence.
If the SNP do not achieve a majority, they may seek to form an ‘independence coalition’ with the Scottish Greens and/or Alba; however, SNP leadership have yet to make firm comments on this strategy.
Independence will be the defining issue of this Scottish Government election for every party, so expect the topic to become more and more prevalent in conversation as we enter the new year and campaigning truly kicks off.
Featured Image Credit: Barbara Carr / Three Saltires at the Border via Wikimedia Commons.
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