THE SNP’s Kenny MacAskill has been approached by politicians from other parties interested in discussing independence.

The former justice secretary wouldn’t name names, but said the other elected representatives were keen to get their parties involved in a new Constitutional Convention.

His comments came just 24 hours after Boris Johnson rejected Nicola Sturgeon’s demand that the powers to hold a legally watertight referendum be permanently devolved to Holyrood.

The First Minister, who wants to hold indyref2 this year, has said she will spell out her next steps to MSPs before the end of the month.

READ MORE: Henry McLeish: Labour is voting against democracy in blocking indyref2

Last week MacAskill proposed a new Constitutional Convention in the mould of the body of Scottish political parties, unions, religious and civic groups who campaigned during the 80s and 90s and ultimately paved the way for a Scottish Parliament.

MacAskill’s call picked up support from colleagues following the Prime Minister’s unsurprising rejection of Sturgeon’s indyref2 request.

Joanna Cherry tweeted that the SNP and the indy movement needed to “advance a multi-faceted strategy to defeat this anti-democratic approach”.

She added: “Ideas such as @KennyMacAskill’s constitutional convention should not be dismissed by those desperate for action or those overly conservative in approach. We should embrace them and we should heed the lessons of the history of constitutional change in Scotland.”

Yesterday, speaking to The National, MacAskill called for Yessers to “organise and mobilise”.

“We’ve got to make sure we turn out a huge crowd for the big demonstration in Glasgow in the coming months, and we’ve also got to organise both politically and at grassroots level.

“That’s why I do hope that, whether it’s through the SNP or the Scottish Trades Union Congress or anybody else that we bring together, we bring together civic Scotland.

“Because it has to be at both a high political level, and also a grassroots level because we have to make sure that when we move, we take the people of Scotland with us.”

“This will take us as long as it takes us,” he added. “I would like independence yesterday. We’ll get it when we achieve it.”

READ MORE: Alex Rowley backs 'sovereign right' of Scotland to decide its future

The East Lothian MP, who made his maiden speech in the Commons yesterday, said he’d “had communication with some other elected representatives in some other political parties”.

“I don’t want to name them,” he added, “but I’ve had private emails from them saying they agree, and that they’ve been working on their party. And it wasn’t the SNP or Greens, so you can read into that as you wish.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Government Constitutional Relations Secretary Michael Russell said the SNP administration still had many options over indyref2. He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland: “If Boris Johnson wants to be a dictator that simply says ‘other people’s votes don’t matter, Scotland doesn’t matter, Scotland isn’t a nation’, that is a decision which cannot hold in my view, because it goes so much against the views of the people of Scotland.”

Ian Blackford said the only union Boris cared about was his union with Donald Trump

Johnson defended his decision during an exchange with Ian Blackford in yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, telling the SNP man to “change the record” .

“Alex Salmond and his protegee, Nicola Sturgeon, who said at the time of the referendum that it was a once-in-a-generation event. He said it, they said it. They were right then. Why have they changed their minds?”

Blackford said the only union Johnson was “truly interested in is his union with Donald Trump”.