NICOLA Sturgeon used her resignation speech to give SNP members permission to scrap the plan to use the next general election as a 'de facto referendum.'

The First Minister said her decision to quit would "free" the party to "choose the path it believes to be the right one."

However, with less than a month until the special democracy conference in Edinburgh, one senior activist has called for a delay to give the candidates vying to replace Ms Sturgeon a chance to set out their competing plans for securing independence.

Otherwise, Toni Giugliano, the party’s policy development convener, warned that whoever became the SNP’s next leader would end up having to implement “Nicola's strategy.”

READ MORE: Alex Salmond: 'Kate Forbes is an incredibly able young woman'

In her resignation speech, Ms Sturgeon said she feared she was no longer helping the independence movement. 

"Is me carrying on right for the country, for my party and for the independence cause I have devoted my life to?" she asked.

"I understand why some will automatically answer ‘yes’ to that second question. But in truth, I’ve been having to work harder in recent times to convince myself that the answer to either of them - when examined deeply - is ‘yes’.

"And I’ve reached the difficult conclusion that it’s not."

The First Minister later signalled that her party should use her resignation to consider the way forward and whether or not it should continue with her preference of using the next Westminster election as a de facto referendum.

She said she feared SNP members would back that process not because they believed it was the right option, but because opposing it would lead to questions over her future. 

"By making my decision clear now, I free the SNP to choose the path it believes to be the right one, without worrying about the perceived implications for my leadership - and in the knowledge that a new leader will steer us on that path," she said.

SNP members are due to meet in Edinburgh in March to debate two possible ways forward for the independence movement. 

The first plan argues that if a majority of voters back SNP or other pro-independence party candidates at a general election, then “we will consider that a mandate to enter negotiations with the UK government to secure independence”. 

The second would treat a majority of votes as a fresh mandate for a second referendum. If that demand was once again refused by the UK Government, the SNP would then contest the subsequent 2026 Holyrood election as a “de facto referendum”.

READ MORE: Sturgeon resigns: Possible SNP leader and First Minister candidates

If pro-independence candidates win a majority of votes at this election then this would be considered a mandate to start negotiations.

With the debate looming and branches submitting amendments to the motion, a number of high-profile SNP politicians have come forward to urge the party to look again at the de facto referendum plan.

Last week, Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald described it as “deficient”.

Former SNP minister Alex Neil said it would be an “own goal.” 

“Even if we were to repeat the 2015 result when we won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at Westminster, we would still only get 49.7% of the vote. The de facto referendum will have been lost. Why hang that noose round our independence necks?” he said.

Speaking to The Herald, Mr Giugliano said: “The actual debate on what we do next, what the strategy should be, I do think that that should absolutely be postponed. I don't see how it could possibly go ahead, because our focus needs to be the leadership.

“I think it would be totally unacceptable and inappropriate for the party to agree to a strategy before the next leader is in place.  

“Because we do need to give consideration to who our future leader should be. That is where all of the focus and energy now for the party needs to be. 

“Choosing the right person to succeed Nicola Sturgeon is no easy task. “

He said deciding would lead the fight for independence was “just as important as deciding on the strategy.” 

READ MORE: OPINION: It's time for the Yes movement to break with the SNP

"If we are to get over the line and secure independence, we need a leader that can take us there and build on Nicola’s legacy. So that has to be the focus right now. But it would be inappropriate - as Nicola has suggested in her own resignation speech today - to bind the next leader on strategy.”

“If we went ahead with this conference, we would effectively put in place Nicola's strategy for the next leader to implement and that would be totally inappropriate.” 

Mr Giugliano said that for party members it would “be helpful to hear directly from each of the candidates on what their preferred strategy is.” 

“Let's do this properly, because the person that we elect as leader is the person that will take us to independence and it needs to right.”