JOHN Swinney has vowed his upcoming speech at the SNP conference will deliver an “optimistic and hopeful” case for independence.
It comes after reports emerged that Swinney told SNP members in an internal election review on Friday that the party has been “consumed by the process of independence”.
When asked to expand on this and how the SNP intends to achieve independence, the First Minister (below) told the Sunday National: “Obviously there’s been a lot of discussion about the process of independence, and I think people want a solution to that.
“They also want to ensure that there’s a positive and optimistic and hopeful case made for independence, and that’s exactly what I intend to offer [in tomorrow’s speech].”
When pushed further on the SNP’s plans for achieving independence, Swinney added: “The most important thing is that we’ve got to build support for independence.
READ MORE: LIVE: All the latest updates from day two of SNP conference
“We’ve got high levels of support for independence, but I think we’ve got to make them evermore convincing to accelerate the pace and the timescale of achieving independence.”
He made the comments whilst speaking to the media on Saturday afternoon, a day before his planned address to conference.
When asked by the media whether government spending on independence was going to be curbed after Finance Minister Shona Robison confirmed a freeze in public sector recruitment in all but "essential frontline" posts, Swinney said: “It won’t be a surprise for you to hear that I think independence is an essential necessity for Scotland.”
Looking ahead to his speech on Sunday, he said: “I’ll say more about how to ensure there’s an urgency around the case for independence tomorrow.
“I want to do that by relating independence to the everyday lives of people in Scotland because that’s how you build public support.”
Swinney is meant to deliver his speech at 3.30pm on Sunday.
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