The party’s election manifesto will include a list of possible events which the party feels would warrant calling another referendum, such as the United Kingdom voting to leave the EU in 2017 against the wishes of Scotland.
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“Our manifesto will set out what we consider are the circumstances and the timescale on which a second referendum might be appropriate”, Sturgeon told the Press Association news agency. In Scotland the SNP and Ms Sturgeon “own” authenticity, so for the first time they’ll have competition in the guise of the Member for Islington North.
If Labour don’t appear to have a credible chance of winning the next general election, the SNP leader said “many more people in Scotland are likely to conclude that independence is the only alternative to continued Tory government”.
Ahead of the party’s conference in Aberdeen next month, Ms Sturgeon has been under pressure to clarify her position on a second vote.
British Prime Minister David Cameron ruled out another independence referendum despite spectacular gains by Scottish nationalists in the May 7 election, saying Scots had “emphatically” rejected a breakaway in last year’s referendum.
The SNP are widely expected to win next year’s Scottish elections by a landslide.
A recent poll for the STV news channel found that 53 per cent of Scots would vote for independence in the event of another vote.
In a statement, the SNP leader said she wants to ensure that “at every single stage this is something that is driven by and decided by the people of Scotland, not by politicians“.
Ms Sturgeon also promised to continue the fight for LGBT equality in Scotland, as she discussed the “challenges we’ve still got to address”.
For example, her predecessor as SNP leader and first minister, Alex Salmond, has said that renewing the Trident fleet of nuclear armed submarines could be a reason.
Martin Crewe, director of Barnardo’s Scotland, said: “We know from our work with families that children affected by parental imprisonment are an extremely vulnerable group who often suffer in silence, unseen and unheard”. As polling shows this weekend, another referendum also flies in the face of public opinion.
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A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “Scottish Labour is changing and politics is changing”.
