INDEPENDENCE remains an “immediate priority” for the SNP despite an ongoing crisis in the party and no official route to a referendum, Humza Yousaf’s top deputy has said.
Shona Robison insisted that the constitutional question was still live – despite independence being mentioned just once in the First Minister’s speech outlining his top priorities for government.
Questioned on whether independence was on the backburner for now, the deputy first minister said the SNP were “not going to stop talking about independence” but added that “back at the ranch under devolution, we have a job to do” in government.
Robison said: “It is an immediate priority. It will remain an immediate priority.”
She added the government had “listened” to the concerns of businesses about the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and those of local government about plans for a National Care Service and said the government was focused on the “immediate priorities of how we’re going to spend the money, under devolution, that we have to the best effect”.
The SNP would be “relaunching” the campaign for independence, Robison said, adding the party wanted to be on the “front foot”.
She said: “The purpose of the prospectus was about the government of Scotland for the next three years and it was about reset, it was about refocusing and it was about reform.
“Now that is in the context of the immediate priorities of where we spend the money, how we manage the finances, how we manage to deliver on the priorities of supporting household incomes.
“Independence, as Humza Yousaf set out yesterday, would be the best solution to all of these things.
“But meantime, back at the ranch under devolution, we have a job to do and that’s what he was setting out yesterday. No one has rolled back on support for independence.
“We’re not going to stop talking about independence. We’re going to talk about independence because that’s the best route forward for the country.
“We’ll be relaunching the campaign for independence, Humza Yousaf is talking about doing that and getting the party geared up and working around building support for independence and making sure that we get on the front foot with that.
“So there’s no question about stepping back on support for independence but what yesterday focused on was the immediate priorities of how we’re going to spend the money, under devolution, that we have to the best effect to make sure that we address some of the concerns, so we’ve been listening to things around business concerns around DRS, we’ve been listening to local government around the National Care Service and resetting some of that and making sure that we can spend every pound that we have around the priorities of the people of Scotland given that we’ve just seen inflation figures today still high impacting on the cost of living and household budgets.
“All of that is really, really important and that’s what yesterday was. But in answer to your question, Humza Yousaf made very clear that the best way to resolve these matters was for Scotland to have full powers so that we weren’t relying on the UK Government and their budgets.”
Speaking in Holyrood on Tuesday, Yousaf mentioned independence once in his speech outlining his priorities and referred vaguely to the limits of devolution throughout.
He said: "In fact the cost to Scotland of Westminster control – the cost of not being independent - has never been clearer."
