EDINBURGH (Sputnik) — The Scottish National Party (SNP) has failed to articulate the case for the country's independence since Scottish voters rejected secession from the United Kingdom in a referendum held in 2014, leader of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) Colin Fox told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"I honestly don’t think the SNP know what they are doing on Independence. They have not defended the case for two years now preferring instead to persuade hardened 'No' voters to back them in Westminster and Holyrood elections," Fox, a former elected member of the Scottish parliament, said.
The SNP manifesto published in March committed the party to "undertake new work, starting this summer, with the aim of persuading a clear majority of people in Scotland that independence is the best future for our country."
"This supposed summer campaign is just another example," Fox said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Tommy Sheppard, a leading SNP member of parliament at Westminster, told Sputnik his party had pushed back plans to hold a "summer" independence campaign and would now initiate an internal "political education" effort among their own members.
A total of 55 percent of Scottish voters rejected independence from the United Kingdom when the question was put before them in a referendum in 2014. But following a UK-wide referendum that backed the UK withdrawal from the European Union there have been calls for a second Scottish independence referendum aimed at securing an independent Scotland’s place inside the 28-nation bloc.
