As the SNP begins its annual party conference, a new poll suggests the nationalists are on track to be the biggest party in Scotland at the next general election.
The SNP is beginning its annual party conference by launching what it says is the “biggest pro-independence campaign since the referendum”.
The party is also predicting it will be “in the most powerful position at Westminster in our history” after a new poll put them on track for an “emphatic win” in Scotland.
The new campaign will be called ‘Choose Scotland’ and will run until Christmas, including what it says will be a national day of action on St Andrew’s Day.
First Minister John Swinney said: “As we approach conference, the wind is in the sails of the SNP and the Yes movement - we have been emphatically re-elected, we have the biggest pro-independence majority in the history of the parliament, independence is in the lead, the momentum behind constitutional change across these islands is building, and there is a growing consensus we have the right to decide our own future.
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“Our task is to build on that momentum, which is why at this conference we will be launching the ‘Choose Scotland’ campaign - the biggest since the referendum and what will be the most sophisticated pro-independence campaign Scotland has ever seen.
“We will be inviting people in Scotland to choose a better future, where we make our own decisions - to choose using our energy wealth to bring down bills, to choose re-joining the EU in our own right, to choose a future where our pensioners aren’t short-changed to pay for personal care in England, and all of that comes choosing the fresh start of independence.”
The campaign will include online and digital ads, a pro-independence party political broadcast, and an independence survey which will be delivered to 1.5 million people. This will be the party’s biggest ever online ad campaign outside of an election. Thursday morning’s conference agenda will also focus on independence issues, with resolutions tabled on independence, EU membership, further devolution, and abolishing the Scotland Office.
It comes as a new poll suggests the SNP is on course for an “emphatic win” in Scotland at the 2029 general election.
Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth, who is due to make her own conference speech on Friday, sayidthis could put the SNP “in the most powerful position at Westminster in our history”.
Survation puts the nationalists on track to win 34 per cent of the vote at Westminster, up from the 30 per cent the party secured in 2024 when their numbers in the House of Commons dwindled to just nine.
The poll also put Scottish Labour support at Westminster at just 20 per cent, down from 35 per cent.
Ms Gilruth said: “This poll makes it abundantly clear that if there is a Burnham bounce, then it stops at Berwick.”
The poll puts Reform UK in third on 18 per cent, the Scottish Conservatives on 12 per cent, the Scottish Lib Dems on 8 per cent, and the Scottish Greens on 6 per cent.
When it comes to independence, the SNP said the poll put Yes on 52 per cent, once the ‘don’t knows’ were removed.
Ms Gilruth added: “As we head into SNP conference this weekend, we do so with independence once again in the lead and the SNP on course for an emphatic win at the Westminster election.
“Everyone knows that Westminster is heading for a hung parliament and the SNP will wield significant influence.
“We will be in the most powerful position at Westminster in our history, and Andy Burnham will not be able to ignore Scotland’s right to decide our own future.”
The Prime Minister is due to make his first major public visit to Scotland on Friday, clashing with the second day of the SNP conference.
Mr Burnham says the visit will focus on devolution, and the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero has shut down suggestions that an announcement on the future of the Jackdaw and Rosebank oilfields in the North Sea could be made during his time in Scotland.
In the 18 months since the investment was announced, the Labour government has spent billions on saving British Steel in Scunthorpe, the Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire, and steelworks in Yorkshire and the West Midlands. Grangemouth is still waiting to receive the millions it was promised from the UK Government.
Martyn Day, the SNP MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, said: “The Labour Party promised it would save Grangemouth but instead stood aside and let the refinery die and we are now seeing the disastrous results right before our eyes with hundreds of highly-skilled jobs gone and diesel prices soaring to record levels.
“The Labour Party couldn’t get the chequebook out quick enough when it came to bailing out similar industrial sites in England but still Grangemouth awaits a single penny of the cash we were promised 18 months ago.
“With the Prime Minister set to finally find his way to Scotland this week, the time for empty promises has passed - he simply better be coming to Grangemouth armed with that chequebook to finally come good on the support which was promised.”