Alex Salmond has written to every SNP MP urging them to support an independence pact at the next general election.
The Alba leader and former First Minister has called on all pro-independence parties to field a single independence-supporting candidate in each constituency.
He said the vast majority should be SNP but some should be Alba, Greens and independents.
Salmond claimed that without a 'Scotland United for Independence' pact, the SNP will lose seats and it will set back the cause.
This comes just weeks before the SNP is set to hammer out its plan for achieving independence at a special conference in Dundee.
Salmond said: "At a time when Westminster is refusing to agree to a referendum, a single pro-independence candidate on each ballot paper creates the opportunity for a Scotland United victory to provide the mandate to enter straight into independence negotiations with the UK Government.
“Back in 2014, support for the SNP was at near 50% and support for independence was around 30% at the start of the referendum campaign. Now we have the opposite - support for independence is about 50% and it is the support for the SNP which is much lower."
He claimed that uniting the independence movement at the general election would make independence the central issue of the campaign.
He also said it would provide a mandate for the Scottish Government to commence negotiations over leaving the UK if this resulted in a majority of independence-supporting MPs in Scotland.
Salmond said in his letter: “At a stroke, the entire dynamic of the election will change.
"The focus will no longer be on how many SNP seats will be lost to Labour but how many of the ten remaining unionist seats will be lost to the Scotland United coalition.
"Election debate will be centred on independence and how to get it, and not on the government record or current internal difficulties of Scotland’s major party.”
The letter was met with a mixed reaction from SNP MPs. When asked what they thought of a potential pact, one member of the Westminster frontbench team replied with a cry-laughing emoji.
But Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil did not dismiss the idea. He said: "The majority in Scotland want independence so we have to explore all options to make that work. Independence is bigger than politics."
The SNP has been contacted for comment
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