SNP 'within touching distance' of majority win in May claims Flynn as party members tell UK government to prepare for end of 'abusive relationship'

The SNP is "within touching distance" of winning an overall majority at Holyrood, the party's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has claimed.

Addressing the SNP's one day conference, the last ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in May, he said that a victory for his party would enable a second referendum and "a fresh start with independence."

His comments came before party delegates unanimously passed a resolution telling the UK government to "prepare for independence" as Scotland exits an “abusive relationship”. 

Addressing the resolution, Norman MacLeod, a Glasgow city councillor, claimed Scotland had been subsidising the rest of the UK for too long. 

He said: “Rather than a velvet divorce, it’s my belief that as we move towards self-governance and an independent Scotland, we are not going through a divorce; we are departing an abusive relationship. 

“My dear neighbours [the rest of the UK] you are going to have to learn to stand on your own feet. No more guaranteed subsides from us."

He added: “We're constantly told the big lie that we live off the rest of the UK – nothing could be further from the truth. Scotland’s only problem is how wealthy we will be when we become independent.” 

Another delegate, Alex Orr, told the conference the motion was about “prudent planning” for the UK government and it would be “extreme fiscal negligence” on its part not to make arrangements in the lead up to independence.

In his earlier speech Stephen Flynn, who is standing to become an MSP in May, hit out at the "chaos" that he insisted was the "permanent pattern" of Westminster government, and insisted that John Swinney is "by far and away the best candidate for First Minister."

John Swinney has set the target of the SNP winning an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament on May 7, in a bid to force a second vote on independence.

And with polls showing the SNP in the lead in the race for Holyrood, Mr Flynn declared the party to be "within touching distance of the majority that will give our nation a fresh start with independence".

Ne said Scotland was "a wee nation", but added the country had "aspirations for something better" that he said were "far bigger than the confines of this union".

Independence, Mr Flynn claimed, would allow Scotland "back home in the European Union."

"When the world is so uncertain - there can never be a better time to create our own future. Because I don't want to live in the relic of Thatcher and Blair's Britain. I don't want to live in Starmer's Britain. I certainly don't want to live in Farage's Britain.

"If we want a different future, if we want change, then we need to create it for ourselves."

His speech saw him attack both Labour and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - criticising him for appointing Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US.

He told the conference that the former ambassador was a "known quantity" for the Labour Party.

"Make no mistake, they appointed that man to high office time and again, not because they didn't know who he was. But because they knew exactly who he was.

"They saw his ease with power, wealth, the dark arts not as alarm bells ringing, but as boxes ticked. This is a Labour Party scandal to its very core."

Mr Flynn went on to claim the decision to "eventually cut ties with Mandelson was nothing to do with the victims", instead claiming it was "all about trying to save Keir Starmer - whose defence is that he is the most gullible former director of public prosecutions in history".

Blasting the Prime Minister, he added: "To this Prime Minister the victims of Epstein were never a priority, he didn't even give them a second thought."

Responding to Mr Flynn's speech, Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton claimed it showed "the SNP only care about one thing, breaking up the United Kingdom."

The Tory MSP said: "He was crystal clear, if the SNP get a majority at the next election, they'll use secret tactics to secure another divisive independence referendum. This isn't a distant threat, the danger is very real. The future of the Union is on the line.

"We blocked an SNP majority in 2016 and 2021, and will always stand up for Scotland's place in the United Kingdom."