The SNP’s longest-serving MP has admitted that Humza Yousaf’s plan to claim a mandate for a new independence vote on the back of a general election victory is unlikely to succeed. 

Pete Wishart said the UK Government would “probably not” enter negotiations just because pro-independence parties won a majority of seats at the next vote. 

Last month, the First Minister told a gathering of SNP activists in Dundee that a referendum remained his “Plan A”

However, he said he would regard winning 29 or more of the 57 Scottish seats as a mandate to either open negotiations on independence or let Holyrood hold a referendum.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf claims SNP general election win would be mandate for Indy

The First Minister told the party faithful that independence would be "page one, line one" of the party's manifesto in a bid to “break the logjam” on the constitution.

Mr Yousaf said the party would include a manifesto pledge reading: “Vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent nation.”

“If the SNP does win this election then the people will have spoken. We will seek negotiations with the UK Government on how we give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent nation,” he added.

Speaking to Holyrood magazine ahead of the convention, Mr Wishart said that while he supported using “every election as a referendum”, he was not convinced it would have its intended effect.

He also said the party would need to win the popular vote, rather than Mr Yousaf’s much lower threshold of just winning the most seats. 

The Perth and North Perthshire MP said: “We would need 50 per cent plus one of all that vote. Would the UK accept it? Probably not.

“But we are not responsible for how the UK responds to these situations and what we will have done is demonstrate to the UK and the world that Scotland has decided to be an independent nation and whether that elicits some sort of positive response from the UK, I don’t know, but they might actually go ‘oh, alright, you’ve done it’, and it will move things forward.”

The politician said there was a “chance” Scotland could be independent “in the next five years” but the “easy route” to doing that has “all but been closed down”.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf's Indy plan thrown into confusion

The SNP won 48 of 59 seats at the 2019 general election, but boundary changes will reduce the total in Scotland to 57, meaning a majority would be 29.

Under Mr Yousaf’s plan, the SNP could claim a mandate for independence even if it lost a greater proportion of its MPs than it did at the 2017 general election

In the wide-ranging interview, Mr Wishart also spoke about working with former SNP leader Alex Salmond, who he described as “one of the smartest people you’d ever meet in politics”.

Mr Salmond, who was first minister between 2007 and 2014, was charged with 14 offences, including attempted rape and sexual assault, in 2019.

He was acquitted of all charges after a high-profile trial in 2020.

Mr Salmond, who now leads the pro-independence Alba Party, also won a court battle with the Scottish Government over its botched handling of allegations made against him.

 

Mr Wishart said: “I always thought there was a way back for Alex, you know, but I think it would have had to have started with assuming responsibility for some of the things that he had said and done. But he’s never been prepared to do that."

He continued: “The moment for any sort of healing between Alex and the party is past now. I don’t really think there’s room for that anymore. I don’t think there’s any opportunity to do that.

“I think there was a point in the early days of all this where that was maybe possible and that conversation could have been had, but I don’t think that exists anymore. Too much has been said and done. And relationships have been so flawed and broken.”