09/10/2025
SNP members will vote this weekend on a proposal to create a “provisional government” to prepare for independence if there’s a pro-Yes majority at the 2026 Holyrood election.
What’s being proposed?
SNP member Graeme McCormick has lodged an amendment to John Swinney’s official independence strategy. His plan has two main parts:
A Provisional Government
Made up of all pro-independence MSPs elected in 2026.
Could expand by up to 100 additional members, divided proportionally across Yes parties by vote share.
Would exist in parallel with the Scottish Parliament but have no legal powers.
Would automatically dissolve on May 1st, 2027 — the proposed “Independence Day.”
Its purpose is to give democratic cover and visibility to preparations for independence, acting like a symbolic national government-in-waiting.
An “Independence Delivery Unit”
A group of 12–15 experts appointed by Swinney (in consultation with other Yes parties).
They’d prepare practical plans on reserved issues like pensions, currency, banking and other immediate post-independence priorities.
They’d draft a proposal before the 2026 election, then implement preparations if a pro-indy popular vote is won.
Strategy behind it
If Yes parties win a majority of the popular vote in the 2026 election, this provisional structure would begin actively preparing to “deliver independence in a practical sense.”
If Westminster refuses to cooperate, the plan is to declare independence anyway by May 1, 2027.
The UK Government couldn’t stop the work, McCormick argues, because the structures would sit outside Holyrood and the Scottish Government.
Historical echo
The proposal is compared to the Revolutionary Dáil of 1919, when Sinn Féin MPs set up an alternative assembly rather than take their Westminster seats.
SNP leadership’s current stance
John Swinney prefers a different mandate test: he wants a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament to trigger talks on a referendum — not the creation of a provisional government.
