SNP playing 'old tune' on independence, says Lorna Slater

John Swinney is playing an “old tune” on independence, Scottish Green leadership candidate Lorna Slater has said.

First Minister John Swinney said on Monday that an SNP majority at next year’s Scottish Parliament election should be enough to secure a second vote on independence, as it was for the first IndyRef in 2014.

Slater, who launched her campaign for re-election as party co-leader in Edinburgh on Wednesday, said she does not expect an SNP majority next May.

The former Scottish Government minister accused Swinney of being “a little disingenuous”.

“This is an old tune that the SNP have been playing,” she said.

“There are several pro-independence parties in the Scottish Parliament – the Greens have been there all along, from the beginning.

“We had a successful pro-independence majority with the Bute House Agreement that the SNP decided to end.”

Slater said it is up to those who believe in independence to “build support” for it.

She said politicians should do that by setting out what independence looks like and why it’s important.

“Scottish independence would allow us to build a compassionate asylum system, it would allow us to rejoin the EU, it would allow us to rethink our taxation of wealth, for example,” Slater said.

“Instead of waiting, waiting, waiting for the Government in Westminster to decide what to do, we could make those kinds of decisions here in Scotland, and that’s how we win Scottish independence, by getting more people to share that vision.”

SNP MSP Keith Brown said independence was the only change that would work for Scotland.

“We will set out an ambitious and radical vision for Scotland’s future – showing that with independence we can use our immense energy resources to raise living standards, power Scotland’s economy and transform public services,” he said.