SCOTLAND — Scottish First Minister John Swinney will call a vote on independence powers on the first sitting day of the next Scottish parliament even if the Scottish National Party fails to win an overall majority, aides said. The move marks a shift from the position Swinney set out at his party's conference last year, when he described an overall SNP majority as the precondition for seeking independence powers.

A senior adviser said Swinney would rely on support from the pro-independence Scottish Greens to secure the vote and to demand that the UK government grant Holyrood legal powers to hold a second referendum. His most senior policy aide said the vote would take place even with a minority government.

The SNP's 2026 manifesto reinforced the stance that an overall majority was the precondition for seeking independence powers. A strategy document unveiled by Swinney on Monday did not specify whether a majority was needed to bring forward a vote. The SNP's first 100 days strategy document said the party would "bring forward" a vote in early May on the first sitting day of parliament if the SNP took power, without any preconditions. The document also said the SNP would publish a draft referendum bill at a later date, with the same yes or no question on independence used in the 2014 referendum.

Swinney declined to say whether the vote would take place if he failed to win a majority. "I'm simply saying to people, vote SNP and let's get on with it," he said.

"My message to people in Scotland who are independence supporters is that I'm offering a pathway for Scotland to have a choice to become independent and I would encourage any independence supporters to vote for the SNP to make sure that happens," Swinney said.

Attempts by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon to introduce a draft referendum bill were blocked by the Lord Advocate, Scotland's chief law officer, because powers to legislate for an independence referendum are reserved to Westminster. The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that only the UK government could legislate for an independence referendum, and Sturgeon resigned as first minister after the ruling. The UK government has repeatedly said it would refuse to approve a referendum on Scottish independence.

Swinney declined to say whether he would go to court to attempt to force the UK government to delegate referendum powers if there was a majority vote at Holyrood. He has previously said a legal challenge would be based on the 2012 decision by the then Conservative-led UK government to give Holyrood referendum powers, granted largely because the SNP had won an overall majority in the 2011 Scottish parliament election.

Opinion polls suggest the SNP is on course for a victory on 7 May, although only about 75% of Scotland's pro-independence voters are expected to back the SNP, with many supporting the Scottish Greens or other parties.

"John Swinney's plot to make the first vote of the new parliament about an independence referendum confirms how breathtakingly out of touch he is with the people of Scotland," Scottish Conservatives leader Russell Findlay said. "Instead of focusing on the cost of living crisis, jobs, education or the NHS, he's hellbent on plunging Holyrood into fresh constitutional chaos."