Mandate madness cloud over SNP's party conference

THE SNP has been plunged into fresh chaos ahead of a tense party conference with threats of legal action and anger directed towards John Swinney.

- By David Walker

The party is going through a difficult period with the First Minister facing calls to quit over his latest plans for breaking up the United Kingdom.

Mr Swinney claims a majority win for the SNP at the 2026 Holyrood election would give him a mandate to begin talks on Scottish independence.

Experts predict that this is “extremely unlikely” to happen, with the party polling well short of the level needed for only the second Scottish Parliament majority.

A number of SNP branches put forward an alternative plan, which claims that just a pro-independence majority at the ballot box would be enough for negotiations to be started with the UK Government.

Now the draft agenda for the SNP’s annual conference in Aberdeen in October shows the resolution wasn’t selected for debate by party bosses, despite being supported by 43 local branches.