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Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has called on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to formally rule out the prospect of a second independence referendum ahead of his party’s conference in Fife today.

While it remains to be seen how the SNP will treat the issue in its manifesto for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections, Mr Rennie insisted that Scotland now has to “move on” from last year’s No vote and focus on the issues that matter in the run-up to next year’s Holyrood poll.

Party members meeting at the Vine Centre in Dunfermline will debate a motion seeking a mandate for federalism in the 2016 elections, with a view towards seeking negotiations with Westminster for a new federal Treaty of Union.

“The SNP were saying the referendum was once in a generation, but the First Minister has put it back on the table very clearly and it could be something that happens in the next five years,” Mr Rennie explained.

“What I think we need to do is put all the differences behind us.

“Some of my friends’ relationships have been tested, and I met a lady in Anstruther last Friday who told me she had fallen out with her daughter over independence.

“There are lots of people like that.

“We understand all the issues about the finances and so on, but what really hurts is that the politics of the country intruded into people’s relationships and the relationships within families.

“Nicola Sturgeon wants to drag all that up again, but we need to put it behind us.

“I’m a democrat and if people want independence they can have it.

“But we’ve had that vote and we were promised that it wouldn’t be a ‘neverendum’ situation, but we’re veering towards that again.

“Let’s put the differences behind us, move on and focus on the issues that deserve to be focused on in Scotland.

“There’s no doubt that the Smith Commission is good.

“We need to see the final details of what’s agreed but I think the package is substantial.

“We’ll be able to raise the majority of money we spend, and we’ll have constitutional arrangements that are much more solid and will give Scotland a proper place within the United Kingdom.”

Today’s conference will hear keynote speeches delivered by Mr Rennie and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, as well as a number of other motions debated.

The party faces a huge task in rebuilding support north of the border after losing 10 seats in last year’s general election, but Mr Rennie reckons the Scottish Liberal Democrats are up to the task.

“In the general election, I think people had made up their minds pretty early on and had decided that they were going to the SNP,” he said.

“The referendum overhang was still pretty strong, but I think that’s faded a bit now.

“If you consider the GP and teacher shortage, the massive cuts to colleges, the threats to the governance in our universities, NHS waiting times targets set by themselves being missed, and then the utter chaos of Police Scotland.

“Do we really need another five years of that?

“The SNP took their eye off the ball during the referendum and those are the things that happened as a result.”