THE SNP have announced the line-up for their annual national conference which takes place next month.
Thousands of members are expected to attend the 84th national conference from Sunday 7 October until Tuesday 9 October at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow.
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The opening day of the conference includes a welcome to delegates from Glasgow Lord Provost Eva Bolander and an address by Cabinet Secretary for Justice Humza Yousaf. On Monday 8 October SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford will give the morning keynote remarks, with Cabinet Secretary for Finance Derek Mackay, Depute Leader Keith Brown and Deputy First Minister John Swinney speaking in the afternoon.
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Ian Hudghton MEP will present the President’s Prize, and a representative of Plaid Cymru will also address delegates in a “fraternal address”. On Tuesday 9 October Michael Russell and Jeanne Freeman will open the last day of the event, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon giving the closing remarks.
Those remarks will be closely followed by party supporters anxious to hear about concrete next steps towards independence for Scotland. However, Ian Blackford has already warned that any announcement on another Scottish independence referendum would be “presumptuous” before the House of Commons has voted on the terms of the UK’s Brexit deal. This is only likely by the end of the year with Brexit negotiations unlikely to have meaningfully moved on by the time of the SNP conference.
Last month Blackford said: “You’ve probably got to give us a bit of time. It would be presumptuous of us to give you an outline of what we will do until we know what the Brexit destination is.”
SNP Business Convenor Derek Mackay told the Sunday National that the Annual National Conference would be a great event for members, many of whom travel from across the country to attend. “We look forward to SNP conference in the great city of Glasgow with the party in great spirits – fresh off the back of our highly successful National Assemblies and the planned nationwide day of action on Saturday September 29.”
The Day of Action will see MPs, MSPs and party activists attempting to make the case for independence to 50,000 people across Scotland.
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