PEOPLE unsure about independence should no longer vote for the SNP, one of the candidates in the party’s leadership contest has suggested.

Ash Regan said that under her plan, only those who wanted their vote to be treated as a clear call for independence should vote SNP in future elections.

She cited Ireland and the United States as examples of countries which had similarly become independent fromBritain without referendums, despite both exits involving prolonged war and bloodshed.

The Edinburgh Eastern MSP also claimed SNP ministers were being “held hostage” by their junior Scottish Green partners in government.

Ms Regan, the underdog in the three-way race, made the comments in an appearance on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, in which she explained the “voting empowerment mechanism” for independence which she wants to implement if she becomes SNP leader and first minister.

She insisted the idea was different from Nicola Sturgeon’s de facto referendum plan, although both involve treating a majority of Yes votes in an election as a mandate for independence.

Ms Regan said a de facto referendum meant fighting a single election on the “single issue” of independence, whereas her plan would treat a majority vote for all Yes parties in any election fought on a broad-based platform as a mandate for independence.

Asked if SNP supporters who liked the party running the country, but not necessarily independence, were therefore unable to vote SNP, Ms Regan said: “Yes.”

Host Martin Geissler said: “Okay, so if I am an SNP supporter at the moment, and I'm voting for you because I think on balance you're probably the best people to run the country, but I'm not completely wedded to the idea of independence, I can't vote for you now, because you will use my vote as a demonstration of a will for independence?”

Ms Regan replied: “Yes, it will be very clear, because it's all the first line of our manifesto, what their vote will be for.

“But, as I said, it will not just be that. There will also be policies in there as well.

“So it will be up to the voters to decide who they want to vote for.” 

Ms Regan was pressed again if voters who liked all SNP policies bar independence would be unable to vote for the party any more.

Mr Geissler said: “If I don't like independence, I can't vote for you, can I?”

READ MORE: Yousaf accuses Neil of smear to boost Forbes as SNP race gets 'dirty'

Ms Regan replied: “Well that's what I'm saying. If you want independence, then you will vote for… you know, you’ll vote for the SNP. 

“And this is an opportunity, a great opportunity to hold the SNP to account.”

Asked what would happen when Westminster refused to negotiate, Ms Regan, who appeared to be consulting notes at several points in the interview, said: "Okay, well, there's 65 countries have become independent from either the UK or the British Empire over the last while, and most of them actually didn't use referendums.

"That's not the normal way for this to occur.

"So obviously you'll know Ireland, USA, countries like that, etc."

Reminded both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer had ruled out negotiating independence on the back of an election rather than a referendum, Ms Regan said: "So we demonstrate the will of the Scottish people for independence to rising popular support. That's the normal way to do this.

"And in every case out of those 65 countries that I mentioned earlier, the UK government initially refused permission to recognise but eventually, because of pressure from the international community, they succumbed to that and eventually they agreed to do it.

"And also, you must remember that there is the UN Charter, article 1.2 Respect for self determination. That's what we're talking about here."

Pressed again what she would do if the UK Government rejected a demand for independence based on a multi-facted manifesto, she said: "Well, I believe that would be a very, very clear instruction from the Scottish people.

"Are we saying that the voters in Scotland don't matter and what they're interested in for the governing of their own country?

"Are we really saying that, you know, the UK Government would not respect that?

"I don't believe the UK Government would have a legitimate right to refuse us."

Ms Regan also tried to appeal to SNP members by attacking the Green partners in the joint government, saying they had too much power.

She said: “We can't have a situation where the tail is wagging the dog.”

Asked if the coalition was holding the SNP back, she said: “Well, we can't have a situation where the tail is wagging the dog.

“You know, the SNP got 45% of the vote at the last election, and the Greens only got 4%. So we can't be held hostage by that situation.”

“I think there is a perception out there in society, that the government is not prioritising things that are of importance to the people of Scotland. I think that's out there. 

“I want to reprioritize onto the things that the people in Scotland think are really important, so that things like the NHS, the cost of living crisis, and the economy.”

Mr Geissler pointed out none of those was under the purview of the Greens, so she must therefore be blaming SNP colleagues for shortcomings.

Leadership rival Humza Yousaf is in charge of health, rival Kate Forbes the economy.

Ms Regan said: “Listen, we’re a coalition government. We’re taking decisions on all of these things in a joint way. 

“What I'm saying is that if we want to build support for independence, and I think this is something the SNP used to believe very strongly in, that if you can create trust with the public by good governance, then the support for independence will naturally follow.

“It will be inevitable.”