Swinney says Scottish independence referendum could be held in 2028

John Swinney has never been one to shy away from a bold claim, but telling a live television audience that Scotland could be voting on independence as soon as 2028 is a statement that’s bound to follow him around for a while.

The SNP leader made the pledge during the BBC’s televised leaders’ debate ahead of next month’s Scottish Parliament election, insisting that a second independence referendum is not some distant fantasy but a realistic prospect within this parliamentary term. It was the kind of specificity that tends to either electrify a base or hand opponents a very convenient target.

Swinney argued that a fresh mandate from Scottish voters would give his party the moral authority to pursue another vote, even without Westminster’s blessing — a stance that puts him on a collision course with both Labour and the Conservatives, who remain firmly opposed to granting a Section 30 order.

“The question is not if, but when,” Swinney told viewers, framing independence as the natural next step for a country he believes has outgrown the union.

Opponents were quick to push back. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused Swinney of using the referendum as a distraction from record NHS waiting times and a cost-of-living crisis that is still biting hard across Scotland. It’s a line of attack that’s resonated before, and Labour clearly intend to keep pressing it.

The arithmetic matters here. The SNP currently governs as a minority administration after losing its majority at Holyrood in 2021. To deliver a referendum by 2028, Swinney would need either a stronger mandate in May or a working arrangement with the Scottish Greens — a partnership that collapsed rather acrimoniously last year.

Polling on independence has hovered stubbornly around the 50-50 mark for the better part of three years, suggesting the country remains genuinely divided rather than poised for a decisive shift.

Whether 2028 is a genuine timeline or a rallying cry designed to inject urgency into a campaign that’s felt a little flat, the real question is whether Scottish voters are actually ready to have that conversation again — or whether they’d rather someone fixed the A&E queues first.