THE SNP may coast to victory in May but they cannot coast to independence, RISE will warn this week, as it challenges Nicola Sturgeon to set out hard plans for securing a Yes next time.
The left-wing, anti-austerity alliance will accuse the First Minister of weakening the case for independence by putting off voters through timidity and triangulation.
Rooted in the Radical Independence Campaign and Scottish Socialist party, RISE is fielding candidates on the regional lists in the hope of returning far Left MSPs.
After its first party political broadcast and an endorsement from the RMT last week, RISE will launch its manifesto in Glasgow on Tuesday, the day before the SNP's launch.
RISE says its first priority at Holyrood would be a vote to assert the parliament’s right to hold a second referendum when it chooses, without Westminster’s permission.
Organiser Jonathon Shafi said: “We intend to lay down a challenge to the other Yes parties. The SNP may be coasting this election but securing, and then winning, a second independence referendum is another thing altogether.
“The SNP doesn't seem to be thinking strategically. Nicola Sturgeon has triangulated to the centre during this campaign, on income tax, on local government tax, on fracking. Her aim is to win over small-c conservative middle Scotland with a completely inoffensive policy pitch.
“She is a conviction social democrat hampered by deeply cautious political instincts.”
He said the SNP has erred in 2014 by focusing on things such as the currency ans monarchy which would stay the same after independence, instead of on radical change.
“No matter how heavily it is sugar-coated, independence is a radical proposition. It means breaking-up one state and starting another.
"Voters know that intuitively. That's why they found the SNP's 2014 prospectus, as expressed in the White Paper, so uninspiring.
“Who's going to campaign for an independent Scottish version of Britain? It is very important that the SNP uses its power to shift the whole centre of Scottish debate to the left. "
A key RISE manifesto pledge will be a living income of £10,400 for Scotland’s army of 170,000 unpaid full-time carers.
The £1.8bn bill will be funded through tax hikes for the well-off, including a 60p top rate of income tax, a social service tax instead of council tax and a £1bn whisky tax.
The SNP said “fracturing the pro-independence vote” would only play into Unionist hands.
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