ON the Debate Night panel a few weeks ago, I was fortunate to be representing the SNP, alongside the ex-leader and one-time titan of the party, Alex Salmond.

There were politicians from four elected parties – SNP, Labour, Tory, and LibDem – as well as Alex, from a party with no elected representatives but still regarded by some as a significant voice in our political discourse. He yet again demonstrated what a capable politician he is, with a very clear understanding of our national affairs and excellent communication, which makes him an attractive proposition to the media.

Folk watching the show witnessed the sustained attack on myself and the SNP from an individual in the audience known locally to be an Alba supporter, which was reported with so much glee by the Daily Telegraph, not to mention being met by an enthusiastic response by Tory MSP Roz McCall.

The audience member fumed that the only reason folk voted for me in Perthshire was to deliver independence.

But I also had many soft No voters vote for me because of my strong local roots to my constituency, my deep understanding of rural issues, and my childhood upbringing in Letham – a traditional working class area of Perth.

People voted for all those reasons but, there is no doubt, the overwhelming majority voted for me because I was in the SNP. A party that has a track record of delivering for the people of Scotland, and of course every one of those voters knew that the SNP stands for independence, that is a given.

Our campaign was all about winning a majority of seats so we could hold a referendum and give the people the choice of their own future.

The Tory campaign was all about stopping indyref2 – it was all over their literature (so they knew the rules of engagement). The battle lines were drawn and we won it hands down. Being one seat short of the absolute majority led to our co-operation agreement with the Greens – who also had a referendum commitment in their manifesto – meaning we secured the democratic mandate for an independence referendum and Westminster should have co-operated to facilitate it.

Instead, yet again, Westminster has denied Scottish democracy and is now actively trying to undermine our ability to govern at every turn.

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Holding a referendum like we did in 2014 is the understood “gold standard”. It has been so since the start of devolution – but I wonder how many readers here, when voting, rightly, for a devolved parliament in 1998, realised the price for devolution was that our future right to decide our constitutional affairs would be kept by Westminster. How many understood it would be up to them to decide whether we could make such a decision or not?

The Supreme Court ruling last year starkly emphasised that that is the legal position and no amount of abuse that folk throw at the SNP will change that.

It’s clear that was part of the deal for the Labour party from day one and we shouldn’t let them forget it. They thought devolution would kill the idea of independence – but put controls in the Scotland Act just to make sure.

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Alex Salmond was part of this process, which perhaps his supporters don’t want to talk about. And, of course, signing the Edinburgh Agreement under Section 30 set the precedent for where we are now.

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but perhaps if Alex had used that phenomenal 2011 win as a means of demanding to amend the Scotland Act to return the constitutional powers to Holyrood ad infinitum, rather than for a one-off kick of the ball, we wouldn’t be in the dilemma we are now?

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It is that reality we have now to wrestle with and why we must win next year’s General Election – and win it big.

For me, that is what our demand must be in the Westminster election. If we win, we should demand that constitutional affairs be returned to Holyrood so that it is within the powers of the Parliament that sits in Edinburgh to ask the people what they want their constitutional future to be.

It should have always been in the hands of the people of Scotland, it wasn’t the Labour party’s gift to give away. If we win, that power should be returned.

If either Labour or the Tories win the next election at a UK level, they simply cannot claim to be democrats if they refuse to return those powers to the people of Scotland after we take that argument to the parliament where they reside, and win.

That message needs to have a united front, we all agree we need to have that, so we must look to which party can actually win the election that will keep us moving towards that independent reality by returning those powers.

For the voting public, the SNP brand is utterly, inextricably and rightly recognised as the party that will deliver Scottish independence.

We have strong brand recognition, we have a very strong track record, we have a great story to tell, and we have the political clout and thinking that will grab people’s attention. But far more importantly, we have the most phenomenal campaigning machine in the country through our fabulous membership. They pound the streets in every campaign because of their absolute dedication to delivering independence.

Securing the powers to ask the people the question is the only route to make sure that never again can Westminster stand in the way of Scotland’s right to choose.