Keith Brown: Cross-party convention can advance independence cause

A cross-party convention of MPs, MSPs and councillors who support "Scotland's right to choose" can take the country to independence, the SNP's deputy leader has claimed.

In his address to the party's conference in Edinburgh, Keith Brown called for a convention that "will unite with every willing element of civic Scotland committed to the principle of self-determination".

He said: "In 2026, the people of Scotland must know that supporting the SNP, or those standing on our shared platform, means endorsing the right of our party to advocate for independence."

The MSP was speaking on the first day of the weekend event, which follows the loss of all but nine MPs in the general election.

Brown said the SNP had suffered under the same first-past-the-post voting system that delivered them "jackpot" wins in the past.

He said: "Our opponents would have you believe that the SNP and the cause of independence are over. They suggest it's time to pack up and go home. The same people who claimed that winning 56 or 48 out of 59 Westminster seats, or securing 63 or 64 seats in Holyrood, weren’t sufficient mandates now tell us that a party not achieving a majority of seats must accept defeat and abandon hope.  

 "These are rules that seem to apply only to us - does anyone remember these voices calling for Labour to abandon their cause, if they still have one, when they won only one out of 59 seats, or for the Tories to give up when they won zero seats in Scotland? It’s absurd."

On the route to achieving independence, he told delegates at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre that Labour and the Tories have decided Scotland cannot "vote on its future" and the SNP must take the issue "out of their hands".

He continued: "What higher power exists than Westminster? What stands supreme over the UK Supreme Court? The answer is simple: the people of Scotland, the sovereign people of Scotland."

Arguing that the convention could include politicians who are not supportive of independence itself, but of the public's right to vote on the matter, Brown stated: "We need to demonstrate this support through every democratic means available, and we will activate the growing international backing for Scotland’s right to self-determination.

"Through this convention, we will seize every opportunity to advance the mandate provided by the majority of representatives elected to Scotland’s national parliament."