Michael Russell says 'leaked' SNP manifesto is 'nonsense'

Wings Over Scotland said it had a copy of "a draft SNP manifesto introduction" written by Michael Russell, Scotland's Constitutional Secretary.

A post on the site, which is run by Stuart Campbell, said: "We thought it best to present it to you exactly as it came to us, so it is with the gravest regret that we must inform you that it’s stuffed full of the curse of the modern amateur writer, Words that Have been Randomly and Inconsistently Capitalised despite Not in any Sense whatsoever being Proper Nouns.

"We hope they won’t get in the way too much, and that at some point a sub-editor will explain to someone that “MSPs” doesn’t have a sodding apostrophe in it."

IN FULL: This is the SNP’s plan for how to hold an independence referendum

The alleged SNP document is called "We pledge to Protect Scotland’s Parliament and honour the will of the Scottish People" and detailed how indyref2 would happen.

It said: "Tory government in Westminster, that has no Scottish mandate, has repeatedly chipped away at the powers of Holyrood and passed laws with devolved impacts over the express rejection of those laws by the Scottish People’s representatives both in Holyrood and Westminster.

"It has ignored the Scottish People’s elected representatives who voted against every single step of the EU Referendum process and has dragged Scotland out of the EU despite a clear instruction from the Scottish People not to do so."

Russell told The National he did not write the document, adding: "I didn’t write it and as far as I know there is no 'leaked manifesto'. That is all that needs to be said as all the other nonsense in the piece flows from those two entirely false claims."

The blog post went on to claim the alleged SNP document said: "The Scottish National Party will continue to press the UK government in Westminster to honour the will of the Scottish People to grant a Section 30 order and to participate in that referendum in good faith but we will not delay giving the People of Scotland the opportunity to express their will in this matter a moment longer than absolutely necessary.

"The UK government can choose to honour Scottish constitutional law or continue to operate in flagrant breach of it. Its choices in this matter will speak volumes in the international community."

Campbell wrote: "So that (or something very like it) is what you’ll be voting on. A vague promise to 'pass legislation' for a referendum 'as soon as it is safe to do so', whatever that means.

"There’s of course absolutely nothing on what they’ll do when the proposed referendum falls at the first hurdle (getting councils to co-operate with it), as it definitely will, and generally it’s just a rehash of the same old puffed-up cobblers you’ve been getting fed for the last five years, so good luck getting the UK government to take any notice."

Campbell told The National: "I have complete and absolute confidence in my source, who has leaked me numerous documents in the past which have all subsequently proven to be legitimate, often despite initial SNP denials.

"It's a shame the party feels unable to simply be honest and transparent with its members."

If pro-independence parties win the majority of seats at the Holyrood election in May – and almost every poll suggests they will – the SNP plans to “again request a Section 30 order from the UK Government believing and publicly contending that in such circumstances there could be no moral or democratic justification for denying that request”.

The SNP argues that the UK Government’s refusal would “be unsustainable both at home and abroad”.

However, the party made it clear to The National earlier this year that even if Downing Street doesn’t consent, they will hold a referendum anyway.

It will then be up to the UK Government to either “agree that the Scottish Parliament already has the power to legislate for a referendum” or “agree the Section 30” or “take legal action to dispute the legal basis of the referendum and seek to block the will of the Scottish people in the courts”.

READ MORE: SNP unveils plan to hold indyref2 – even if Boris Johnson says no

In 2019, Stuart Campbell said he was considering competing at the next Holyrood election in a bid to maximise the number of independence-supporting MSPs.

He told The Times the party would be broadly supportive of the Scottish Government’s key economic policies, but “strongly against” the SNP social policy on reforming the Gender Recognition Act.

READ MORE: Pro-independence Holyrood party plan scrapped by Wings Over Scotland blogger

Campbell said plans would only be activated “if it looked like there wasn’t going to be a pro-independence majority, which I think is a very real danger”.

But last month he told The National he could no longer see the point.

“The Wings party won’t be happening, for all sorts of reasons,” he said.

“One of the main ones is that if it had, I wouldn’t have been able to undertake all the investigative journalism Wings has run in recent months about the conspiracy against Alex Salmond, because it would have looked like party politicking.

“But the main one is that I could no longer see a point. I don’t think the problem for independence is going to be lacking a majority at Holyrood.

“The problem is an SNP leadership with no genuine intention of pursuing independence, and whatever happened we wouldn’t have been able to fix that.”

Wings Over Scotland is the nation’s most-read political blog, with about 250,000 unique visitors a month. Regular contributors include the SNP’s Kenny MacAskill.