In what already feels like a different political era, but was really only last year, Nicola Sturgeon named this Thursday as the target date for a second referendum on Scottish independence. That proposal soon collided with constitutional and legal reality. It was superseded by a plan B, to treat the next UK general election as a “de facto referendum” on independence. Then the first minister abruptly resigned and her party was consumed by scandal.
Earlier this week, Humza Yousaf used his first Scottish National party conference as party leader and first minister to set out a new process for getting to the cherished goal of independence. The first line in the SNP’s general election manifesto will underline a causal link between voting for the SNP and getting independence. If a majority of Westminster seats is won, the result will be presented to Downing Street as grounds to negotiate a path to independence.
