Scottish independence can be won with a message of “optimism and ambition”, the SNP’s deputy leader has said.
Keith Brown told the party’s conference that Scotland is being restricted by the “negativity, can’t-do attitude and complete lack of vision” of Westminster and unionist parties at Holyrood.
In his keynote address at the start of the SNP’s four-day virtual conference, Mr Brown also said the “future of our planet” depends on independence and that the climate crisis is “too important to be left to the Tories”.
Mr Brown insisted Scotland can have a better post-Covid future with independence rather than a Westminster system that he described as “quite clearly broken beyond repair”.
He claimed the SNP secured an “undeniable mandate” at May’s Holyrood election for another referendum and the campaign is “well under way”.
He said: “The Scottish Government is resuming its crucial work on an updated and detailed prospectus for independence.
“That new Government work will be essential to help voters make their fully informed choice and we await the delivery of that new prospectus with eager anticipation.
“Meanwhile, our combined task is clear. We must bring to life our vision of a better, fairer, more sustainable Scotland.
“The pandemic has shown everyone what really matters and what kind of country we want Scotland to be.”
Mr Brown said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gave a “tantalising preview of how the world will welcome Scotland to the top table of nations” when Glasgow hosted the Cop26 climate summit earlier this month, adding the world “loved what they saw”.
Referencing the climate emergency, Mr Brown highlighted the UK Government’s decision to overlook the north east’s bid for a carbon capture scheme and said Scotland needs “so much more than the constraints of the union”.
However Pamela Nash, chief executive of the pro-UK campaign group Scotland in Union, said: “With a new opinion poll revealing that 59% of people in Scotland want to remain part of the UK, Keith Brown is hopelessly out of touch.
“He has nothing to offer but tired old rhetoric and the arguments of yesterday, while the country has moved on and is looking to the future.
“Rather than obsess about how to divide Scotland’s communities, we have a positive future ahead of us in the UK where nobody is left behind and we build a recovery for everyone.”
