Swinney will call vote on referendum powers after Scottish elections

John Swinney will call a vote seeking independence powers on the first day of the next Scottish parliament even if he fails to win an overall majority, his aides have said.

The Scottish National Party leader’s senior adviser indicated that if necessary, he would rely on support from the pro-independence Scottish Greens to win that vote in order to demand the UK government gives Holyrood the legal powers to hold a second referendum.

Swinney told his party’s conference last year that an overall SNP majority was the “clear and unambiguous” precondition for seeking those powers – a stance reinforced in the party’s 2026 manifesto.

However, a strategy document unveiled by Swinney on Monday, setting out what an SNP government would do in its first 100 days, did not specify whether a majority was needed.

The document said the SNP would “bring forward” a vote in early May on the parliament’s first sitting day if the SNP took power, without any preconditions.

Russell Findlay, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said the SNP was out of touch with its focus on independence. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Swinney was asked repeatedly by reporters to say whether that vote would take place if he failed to win a majority, and he refused to do so. The first minister stressed he would prefer a majority but added: “I’m simply saying to people, vote SNP and let’s get on with it.”

Swinney’s most senior policy aide told reporters the vote would take place even with a minority government. “You continue to pursue your agenda to the maximum amount, as all governments do,” he said. “If we’re elected as a government that manifesto stands. Otherwise what’s the purpose of a manifesto? The whole manifesto stands.”

The first 100 days document said the SNP would publish a draft referendum bill at a later date with the same yes or no question on independence from the 2014 referendum.

If it is produced, that draft bill would have no legal standing and would be highly unlikely to be formally tabled at Holyrood. Attempts to do so by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon were blocked by the lord advocate, Scotland’s chief law officer, because those powers are solely reserved to Westminster.