Scottish independence

This is from The National on Monday 19th October 2026 from the Politics section.

Independent Scotland could walk away from UK military assets by Laura Pollock.

An independent Scotland would have a legitimate claim on its share of UK military equipment.

But the SNP would be prepared to walk away from some of those assets rather than weaken the rest of the UK's armed forces.

Dave Dugan has said...

He further said he expected negotiations over the division of military assets following a future yes vote to be conducted cooperatively rather than becoming another source of conflict between Edinburgh and London.

That's the world we will actually enter after independence, Dugan said.

It will be about constructive and mature discussion about here's where we were, here's how we are, here's where we want to get to and how we do that in the best interests of an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Let's get back to today's headlines.

John Swinney claims the Scottish independence debate has turned a corner ahead of the SNP conference.

John Swinney has said the drive for Scottish independence is now moving in a more favourable direction.

Speaking to party delegates in Aberdeen, the First Minister pointed to two developments to argue the independence debate had advanced.

Remarks made by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons suggesting a further referendum remained possible if public demand warranted it, and a joint agreement reached among the leaders of pro-independence parties across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

However, hours after those Commons remarks, the Prime Minister restated his position that Scottish independence falls outside the boundaries of his role and did not alter his views in response to the Cardiff Agreement.

Pressed on whether the Prime Minister's remarks had been walked back almost immediately, Swinney expressed the view that statements made before Parliament carry little weight if they are liable to be retracted.

He maintained that the case for independence had reached a new stage, with acceptance of the need to revisit the question now far broader than before, and that the SNP's performance at the May election had been a contributing factor in that shift.

Following last week's speech by Andy Burnham, we're catching up on what's been happening elsewhere across the political spectrum.

We'll also be hearing from a little bird, Laura Burd, to be exact, about life in Westminster, Scottish independence plans, and navigating the spotlight as a woman in politics.

Another week, another two party conferences.

Over the weekend, it was the Greens' turn in Brighton and the Tories currently in Birmingham.

[upbeat music] Okay.

As we said before the break, we are knee-deep in conference season, and there is no letup either as the SMP prepares for theirs next week.

Some have been accusing the SMP leader, John Swinney, of crying wolf on another Scottish independence referendum.

How achievable is the central mission of the SMP?

Any show that ends with just bringing a bunch of random people on stage with their, like, magic phone numbers and then yeeting some...

I think he was doing the dance of the Thousand Hands for Scottish Independence, where he just ended up throwing some inflated marigold gloves into the audience.

And then to make sure that us up in the gods got them, he actually had a massive catapult on stage and just pinged them off into the...

You could see health and safety off to the side going, Oh, God, marshals need catapults.

Next question.

The question is, if someone was to offer us a lot of money to write a pro Scottish independence role playing game, what would we write, and how would we convince people it's a great idea? Well, the convincing people it's a great idea is twofold.

One, Robin and or I have written it, ergo it's a great idea.

[laughs]

And two, who doesn't love Scottish independence? I mean, you know, speaking as the guy whose country told the English to screw off 200 odd years ago-

[laughs]

... and it worked out pretty well, yeah, go, go for it.

We could just, you know, shorten this assignment by, you know, just writing a pamphlet for you, which would be, "Would you like to have a prime minister that lasts for more than one year?"