Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to hold a special SNP meeting to decide the next steps in its push for Scottish independence should be delayed following her shock resignation, the party’s Westminster leader has said.
The outgoing first minister had planned to fight the next general election as a de facto referendum on independence.
Party members due to gather to approve or reject the plan in the coming weeks.
But speaking to Sky New on Thursday morning, Stephen Flynn said this should now be “paused” until a new leader was chosen.
“I think it’s sensible that we do hit the pause button on that conference and allow the new leader the opportunity to set out their vision.”
Sturgeon’s exit has kickstarted the search to find a successor. The SNP’s national executive committee is expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the timing for a leadership contest.
The SNP’s president, Michael Russell, has said he expects that process to be “shortened” and for there to be a “contested election”.
Though there is no obvious candidate to succeed the outgoing first minister, potential candidates include: external affairs secretary Angus Robertson; finance secretary Kate Forbes; health secretary Humza Yousaf and deputy first minister John Swinney.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar suggested there was now a belief in Scotland that a UK Labour government was possible for the first time since the party lost power in 2010.
At the same time, he said it would require the party to make “significant gains” in Scotland at the next general election – expected in a little over 12 months – for that to happen.
“For 12 years I don’t think people in Scotland have believed that a Labour UK government was possible. I think that is changing now. I think people believe a UK Labour government is possible,” he told BBC.
The Scottish Tories, meanwhile, had no warm words for the departing First Minister, with the party leader Douglas Ross insisting Ms Sturgeon had “presided over a decade of division and decay in Scotland”.
Ross also rubbished claims that Labour could win across Scotland at the next general election.
He told the BBC’s Newsnight: “Labour currently have one MP in the whole of Scotland, the Conservatives have six. We are the second biggest party at Holyrood, we are the second biggest Scottish party represented at Westminster.
“We are the the clear challengers to the SNP in multiple seats across Scotland.”
The SNP’s vote share in opinion polls in Scotland has dipped in recent months, though the party remains ahead of its rivals across the board.
While the SNP enjoyed ratings in the high 40s or low 50s for much of the period after the December 2019 election and through the pandemic, in 2022 the figures started to drift downwards, briefly touching 42% in April and 41% in November.
This was mirrored by a rise in support for Labour, whose ratings had hovered around 20% for much of the previous two years, but which began to see an increase from early 2022.
The latest monthly average puts the SNP on 43%, Labour on 30%, the Conservatives on 16% and the Liberal Democrats on 6%.
At the 2019 general election, the SNP won 45% of the vote in Scotland, with the Tories on 25%, Labour on 19% and the Lib Dems on 10%.