MSPs have voted to back a motion in support of Scottish independence.
The Holyrood debate and vote came on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the 2014 independence referendum.
Tabled by John Swinney, the motion said “it is only with all the powers of a normal independent nation that Scotland would truly be enabled to take its own decisions to fully meet the needs of the people of Scotland” – with MSPs voting by 68 to 56 to back it.
A Green amendment which called for the creation of a constitutional convention was also passed.
Meanwhile, Tory, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Alba amendments to the motion fell.
In a set-piece speech on Wednesday morning, the First Minister said Scotland is now closer to independence than it was 10 years ago, later saying in the Holyrood debate that the “people of Scotland should have the opportunity to take that decision again”.
“The people of Scotland were able to take their decision (in 2014), and my firm view in opening this debate today is that the people of Scotland should have the opportunity to take that decision again,” he said.
“This parliament has confirmed its belief that it should be open to any nation of the United Kingdom to choose to withdraw from the union by democratic means – that is my view and I believe the view of this parliament should be respected.”
He added the “challenge” for independence supporters is now to convince more Scots that their priorities could be better addressed outside of the UK.
Swinney said: “I think we are closer to achieving that than we were in 2014.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (above), meanwhile, highlighted what he branded “failure” by the Scottish Government in areas such as housing, the NHS, drug and alcohol deaths, and education as he demanded: “What has this SNP Government been doing for the last 10 years since 2014?
“The truth is the reason why we have made so little progress over the last 10 years is because this SNP Government has been leading a campaign, not a Government.
“They have been trying to hide their failures behind the smokescreen of the constitution.”
Continuing his attack, he insisted the SNP is “the party of the past” and of “failure, decline and incompetence”.
But Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said the last decade had “only deepened” his party’s support for independence.
He highlighted how there had been “10 years of Tory government, Brexit, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now a Labour government but no change from those Tory policies”.
Greer added: “Greens believe in independence for a simple reason – we think the best decision-makers for Scotland are the people who live here.
“The Scottish Greens believe that this isn’t as good as it gets for Scotland.
“We can be a fairer, greener nation with the powers of a normal independent country.”
Alba MSP Ash Regan argued that with pro-independence parties having a majority in Holyrood, they can still push the issue forward.
She stressed she wants to maintain the “spirit of the referendum” in which supporters of different parties “put our differences aside for independence”.
Regan said: “There are three pro-independence parties in this chamber. If we start working on it today, we still have the time, we have the arithmetic, to turn this ship around and achieve independence.”
