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SNP leader says there is rising support for independence at start of party conference

The Scottish National party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has said she will request another independence referendum from the prime minister in “a matter of weeks”.

Speaking at the start of the SNP’s autumn conference in Aberdeen on Sunday, Sturgeon set out imminent plans to formally ask the British government for another section 30 order of the Scotland Act 1998 which, if granted, would make way for “indyref2”.

Appearing on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, she said the Scottish public’s support for independence had risen to 50%.

“I am putting legislation through the Scottish parliament right now to put the rules and regulations in place. I’ve said as recently as a few weeks ago that as legislation progresses, we will make request for a section 30 order. We see rising support for independence,” she told Marr.

When asked about a possible timetable, Sturgeon said: “It’s likely to be over the next matter of weeks. It is coming soon.”

As well as not backing Boris Johnson’s deal, the SNP’s Westminster MPs would not enter into a formal coalition with any party after a potential general election, she added.

On backing Labour if Jeremy Corbyn’s party was elected without an overall majority, Sturgeon said she would only work with someone who agreed there should be another independence referendum.

“I don’t favour coalitions. We would favour a progressive type alliance. But I would say this to Jeremy Corbyn, or any Westminster leader who is looking to the SNP for support, if you don’t accept Scotland’s right to choose at our choosing – don’t even bother picking up the phone to me.”

Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday Show about a possible partnership with the SNP after a general election, Corbyn said: “We are not going into coalition with anybody.”

He added that an independent Scotland was not a good idea economically, and if he was prime minister he would not consider offering a second referendum in the first few years he was in office, as it was “not a priority” for Labour.

To hold another referendum, the Scottish parliament must also first vote on whether it wants to pursue the section 30 order.

After the 2014 independence referendum, in which 55% of voters chose to remain in the UK, a section 30 request submitted in 2017 was turned down by Theresa May, the then prime minister. May said at that stage it was not the right time for another ballot because it was too early to judge the outcome of Brexit.

Sturgeon has so far been categoric in not backing Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal, and none of her party’s 35 MPs support it either.

She said: “Proposals that are on the table from Boris Johnson and any likely amendment of them would not be acceptable to the SNP. It would take Scotland out of the EU, out of the single market, out of the customs union with all the damage that would do and against our will.”

The Scottish first minister’s preferred strategy for Westminster in the next few weeks and months would be to back a vote of no confidence in Johnson, securing an extension to article 50 and then holding a general election.

Despite Scottish independence not having a specific debate slot on the conference floor at the three-day event, speculation is mounting that the SNP MP Angus MacNeil and Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny, may try and publicly call for more attention to a “plan B” proposal.

This strategy demands Scotland begins independence negotiations with the UK if the SNP wins a majority of seats at a general election. A victory would be a mandate to negotiate, campaigners say.

Sturgeon expressed her continued reluctance towards the idea on The Andrew Marr Show, despite saying she recognised it would make her life easier in the short term to just tell SNP supporters what they wanted to hear.

She said: “The process we undertake to chose our own future has to be capable of delivering independence. I’ve campaign for independence all my life. If I thought there was a quicker way, an easier way, a plan B, I would have taken it by now.

“What we have to do is have a process that firstly allows us to demonstrate there is majority support in Scotland for independence and secondly we have to have a process that is legal and accepted, otherwise our independence will not be recognised.”

She said Catalonia had demonstrated that it was possible to hold a referendum but not necessarily become independent.

“I have to deal with reality,” she said.