Ian Blackford has claimed that plans for a 2023 referendum are still on and that an independent Scotland would be committed to getting rid of nuclear weapons despite the renewed threat from Russia.
The SNP Westminster leader has in the past said that the war in Ukraine should not affect plans for a second referendum.
But senior SNP figures have openly doubted the 2023 deadline and Boris Johnson has completely ruled out granting powers to stage a vote.
Asked directly by the BBC’s Sophy Raworth on Sunday if there would be a referendum next year, Blackford replied the SNP had a manifesto commitment to delivering an independence vote.
He said: “The First Minister has reiterated that in the local elections over the course of the last few days. Our intention is to have a referendum in the first half of the Scottish Parliament, which means before the end of 2023.”
“But this is a question for Boris Johnson and the Conservative government. Will they respect democracy? Will they respect the rights of the Scots who sent MSPs to the Scottish Parliament with a mandate to deliver that independence referendum?”
He added: “We were given a mandate by the people of Scotland in that election last year, an independence majority in the Scottish Parliament. It is the right of the people of Scotland.”
“The fact that we have a government in London, Boris Johnson’s government, with no normal moral authority, the fact that we’re facing the cost of living crisis, at the root of all of that as well the costs that come with Brexit as well.
"There has to be a better way forward for an independent Scotland and that is giving people that choice.”
Blackford also said SNP plans for nuclear disarmament under independence would be “an opportunity for other nations to get around the table and to negotiate reductions in nuclear warheads.”
When Raworth suggested it was naive to think that Vladimir Putin would get around a negotiating table any time soon the SNP leader blamed the UK government for failing to heed earlier warning about Russian aggression.
He said: “Over the last few years, we’ve been asleep at the wheel and we haven’t tackled Russian aggression. We simply have not done what we should have done to make sure that we were dealing with that Russian threat. And it’s the lack of ability of UK governments over a over a number of years that have put us in that position.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
